Stupas are amongst the earliest Indian monuments that survive in the Buddhist and Jaina traditions. Recent excavations near Nalanda (in Bihar) have also unearthed a large mud stupa built between the eighth and the 10th centuries BCE. This may be a stupa of the Ajivikas, an ascetic sect that were also known to have stupas.

In Indic thought, the final truth is formless, arupa or nirguna. The concept of the stupa (in Buddhist, Jaina and Ajivika worship) and the linga (or a “symbol” of the Hindu tradition) are explained in the Vishnudharmottara Purana: “The best way in which the eternal is to be imagined is without form.” The most revered linga of Tamil Nadu is in the Chidambaram temple. On the parting of the silver curtains in front of the linga, one sees nothing but empty space. This is the ultimate presentation of the Upanishadic concept of nirguna, or the formless eternal.

“For seeing the true world, the eyes are to be closed in meditation.” Thus, a simple form that does not remind us of men or women, animals, the fruits of the earth or any of the shapes of the material world around us is the best thing to have before us when we wish to meditate upon the eternal.

The Indian temple or stupa complex is a place where the cosmos is replicated and explained to the devotee: from the representation of the unmanifest eternal to the multitude of forms of the world. When the devotee comes to the temple (or to the railings around the stupa), he circumambulates, or goes around it. Here, on the temple walls or stupa railings, are the multiplicity of the forms of the world around us: men and women, animals, birds, flowers and fruits.

The blossoming of the world of nature is a tradition that is seen in the earliest-surviving railings of the stupas and even in the walls of temples that are built today. A vine of creative abundance is often depicted, running up the door jambs and across the architraves. The artists playfully combine humans, animals, birds and plants as composite creatures. This is the depiction of the maya or mithya, which is the world around us, albeit with a playful and delightful touch.

A great tradition began with the earliest-surviving Buddhist stupa railings of the second century BCE in Bharhut and Sanchi in India. It is a tradition that continues even today, even as far away as in the temples of Japan. While the focus of one’s meditation lies beyond the railings of the stupa (or inside the temple), the outer sections of the edifice reverentially present the natural forces and the abundant fertility of the world around us.

While travelling in Spain, Portugal and Italy, my co-researcher Sujata Chatterji and I were pleasantly surprised to find images in early church art that were remarkably similar to those of ancient Indian art; images that are seen everywhere in Bharhut, Sanchi (both in Madhya Pradesh) and others filled the wall paintings and other depictions in the early churches of Europe.

Spain and Portugal were under Arab rule for about eight centuries from the early eighth century onwards. This was the period in which Western Europe imbibed many concepts in science, mathematics, medicine, agriculture, art, literature, music, rational thinking and knowledge of Greek philosophy and science from Arab rulers. This was the period that transformed Western Europe. Much of what the Arabs brought to Europe was Indian in origin, including Arabic translations of the ancient Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhatta. In fact, the numerals of mathematics that the Arabs brought to Europe were called “Hindi” by them as they came from the Indian subcontinent.

Along with ideas of astronomy and mathematics, the Arabs must have been carriers of the highly developed motifs of ancient Indian art found in the early European churches. European art historians were not familiar with ancient Indian art and called these thousands of representations “pagan”. Actually, these are highly developed philosophical themes of ancient Indian art that appear to have travelled to Europe.

Thousands of composite creatures found across the early churches in Spain, Portugal and Italy show a striking similarity with the themes of ancient Indian art from the second century BCE onwards. Just as in the art of the Sunga period, these creatures show the connectedness of all life forms. The endless vine of life is also seen, often coming out of purna-ghatas (vases of plenty). These vines of creative abundance move sinuously across the paintings and onto the doorjambs of the churches, as they did on the stupa railings and temple doorways, bringing with them the numerous forms of the world. In later Indian temples of the ancient and medieval periods, this theme is made in parallel bands, which are made on the sides and above the doorway. It is fascinating to see this manner of depiction followed exactly on the doorways of early churches.

Benoy K. Behl is a film-maker, art historian and photographer. He has taken over 50,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage and made 142 documentaries, which are screened regularly at major cultural institutions worldwide. His photographic exhibitions have been held in 59 countries, and he has delivered lectures in departments of Asian art in universities and museums around the world. His book The Ajanta Caves is published by Thames & Hudson, London, and Harry N. Abrams, New York. His recent book The Art of India: Sculpture and Mural Painting of Ancient and Medieval Periods, in two volumes, has been published by Frontline magazine of The Hindu Group. His book Buddism: The Path of Compassion was published in 2018. The present feature is the result of extensive travel and research by Benoy Behl and his co-researcher, Sujata Chatterji, over the past eight years.