The Pataliputra capital is a monumental rectangular capital with volutes and Classical Greek designs, that was discovered in the palace ruins of the ancient Mauryan Empire capital city of Pataliputra (modern Patna, Eastern India). It is dated to the 3rd century BCE.

Discovery The monumental capital was discovered in 1895 at the royal palace in Pataliputra, India, in the area of Bulandi Bagh in Patna, by archaeologist L.A. Waddell in 1895. It was found at a depth of around , and dated to the reign of Ashoka or soon after, to the 3rd century BCE."Report on the excavations at Pataliputra (Patna)" Calcutta, 1903, page 16 The discovery was first reported in Waddell's book "Report on the excavations at Pataliputra (Patna)"."Report on the excavations at Pataliputra (Patna)" Calcutta, 1903, pages 16, 17, 40 and 59 The capital is currently on display in the Patna Museum."A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture" by Deborah S. Hutton, John Wiley & Sons, 2015, p.438

Construction

The capital is made of unpolished buff sandstone. It is quite massive, with a length of , and a height of . It weighs approximately 1,800 lbs (900 kg). During the excavations it was found next to a thick ancient wall and a brick pavement."Report on the excavations at Pataliputra (Patna)" Calcutta, 1903, page 40

The Pataliputra capital is generally dated to the early Maurya Empire period, 3rd century BCE. This would correspond to the reign of Chandragupta, his son Bindusara or his grandson Ashoka, who are all known to have welcomed Greek ambassadors at their court (respectively Megasthenes, Deimachus and Dionysius), who may well have come to Pataliputra with presents and craftsmen as suggested by classical sources.Presents were exchanged between Greek and Mauryan rulers. Classical sources have recorded that following their treaty, Chandragupta and Seleucus exchanged presents, such as when Chandragupta sent various aphrodisiacs to Seleucus: "And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters as to make people more amorous. And Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrakottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love" Athenaeus of Naucratis, "The deipnosophists" Book I, chapter 32 Ath. Deip. I.32. Mentioned in McEvilley, p.367Chandragupta's son Bindusara 'Amitraghata' (Slayer of Enemies) also is recorded in Classical sources as having exchanged present with Antiochus I and asked for a philosopher: "But dried figs were so very much sought after by all men (for really, as Aristophanes says, "There's really nothing nicer than dried figs"), that even Amitrochates, the king of the Indians, wrote to Antiochus, entreating him (it is Hegesander who tells this story) to buy and send him some sweet wine, and some dried figs, and a sophist; and that Antiochus wrote to him in answer, "The dry figs and the sweet wine we will send you; but it is not lawful for a sophist to be sold in Greece" Athenaeus, "Deipnosophistae" XIV.67 The Literature Collection: The deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned of Athenæus (volume III): Book XIV The Indo-Greeks again possibly had a very direct presence in Pataliputra about a century later, circa 185 BCE, when they may have captured the city, although briefly, from the Sungas after the fall of the Maurya Empire.Buddhist Landscapes in Central India, Julia Shaw, Left Coast Press, 2013, p.46 Students' Britannica India, Popular Prakashan, 2000, p.165A History of India, Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund, Psychology Press, 2004, p.75

Design content The top is made of a band of rosettes, eleven in total for the fronts and four for the sides. Below that is a band of bead and reel pattern, then under it a band of waves, generally right-to-left, except for the back where they are left-to-right. Further below is a band of egg-and-dart pattern, with eleven "tongues" or "eggs" on the front, and only seven on the back. Below appears the main motif, a flame palmette, growing among pebbles.

The front and the back of the Pataliputra capital are both highly decorated, although the back has a few differences and is slightly coarser in design. The waves on the back are left-to-right, that is reverse of the waves on the front. Also, the back only has seven "eggs" in the egg-and-dart band (4th decorative band from the top), compared to eleven for the front. Lastly, the bottom pebble design is simpler on the back, with less pebbles being shown, and a small plinth or band visually supports them.Views of the front: (mirrored image), , , . Views of the back: , .

Influences

Hellenistic style

The capital is decorated with Classical Greek designs, such as the row of repeating rosettes, the ovolo, the bead and reel moulding, the wave-like scrolls as well as the central flame palmette and the volutes with central rosettes. It has been described as quasi-Ionic,A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture by Deborah S. Hutton, John Wiley & Sons, 2015, p.438 displaying definite Near Eastern influence,"Buddhist Architecture" by Huu Phuoc Le Grafikol, 2010, p.44 or simply Greek in design and origin.the "pilaster capitals with Greek florals and a form which is of Greek origin (though generally described as Persian) go back to Late Archaic."in "The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity" John Boardman, Princeton University Press, 1993, p.110

The Archaeological Survey of India, an Indian government agency attached to the Ministry of Culture that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural monument in India, straightforwardly describes it as "a colossal capital in the Hellenistic style".

The Pataliputra capital may reflect the influence of the Seleucid Empire or the neighboring Greco-Bactrian kingdom on early India sculptural art. In particular the city of Ai-Khanoum being located at the doorstep of India, interacting with the Indian subcontinent, and having a rich Hellenistic culture, was in a unique position to influence Indian culture as well. It is considered that Ai-Khanoum may have been one of the primary actors in transmitting Western artistic influence to India, for example in the creation of the manufacture of the quasi-Ionic Pataliputra capital or the floral friezes of the pillars of Ashoka, all of which were posterior to the establishment of Ai-Khanoum. The scope of adoption goes from designs such as the bead and reel pattern, the central flame palmette design and a variety of other moldings, to the lifelike rendering of animal sculpture and the design and function of the Ionic anta capital in the palace of Pataliputra.

Achaemenid influence

Achaemenid influence has also been noted, especially in relation to the general shape, and the capital has been called a "Persianizing capital, complete with stepped impost, side volutes and central palmettes", which may be the result of the formative influence of craftsmen from Persia following the disintegration of the Achaemenid Empire after the conquests of Alexander the Great."The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c.6500 BCE-200 CE" Robin Coningham, Ruth Young Cambridge University Press, 31 aout 2015, p.414 Some authors have remarked that the architecture of the city of Pataliputra seems to have had many similarities with Persian cities of the period."The architectural closeness of certain buildings in Achaemenid Iran and Mauryan India have raised much comment. The royal palace at Pataliputra is the most striking example and has been compared with the palaces at Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis" Aśoka and the decline of the Mauryas, Volume 5, p.129, Romila Thapar, Oxford University Press, 1961

These authors stress that they are no known precedents in India (baring the hypothetical possibility of now-lost wooden structures), and that therefore the formative influence must have come from the neighbouring Achaemenid Empire.

Hellenistic anta capital However, according to art historian John Boardman, everything in the capital goes back to Greek influence: the "pilaster capitals with Greek florals and a form which is of Greek origin go back to Late Archaic.""The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity" John Boardman, Princeton University Press, 1993, p.110

Anta capital

For him, the Pataliputra capital is an anta capital (a capital at the top of the front edge of a wall), with Greek shape and Greek decorations."For architecture, Pataliputra offers a stone capital in the form of a Greek anta capital and with Greek decoration – flame-palmettes, rosettes, tongues and bead-and-reel. The same form appears elsewhere, better disguised." in "The Greeks in Asia" by John Boardman Thames and Hudson, 2015, Chapter 6 The general shape of flat, slaying capital is well known among Classical anta capitals, and the rolls or volutes on the side are also a common feature, although more generally located at the top end of the capital."These flat, splaying members with cavetto sides, have a long history in Greek architecture as anta capitals, and the rolls at upper and lower sides are also seen" John Boardman, "The Origins of Indian Stone Architecture", p.19 : "An interesting flat capital which, though differing from the classic forms, bears a distinct resemblance to the capitals of the pilasters of the Temple of Apollo Didymaeos at Miletos" He gives several examples of Greek anta capitals of similar designs from the Late Archaic period.

Volutes and horizontal moldings This type of anta capital with side volutes are considered as belonging to the Ionic order, starting from the archaic period. They are generally characterized by various moldings on the front, arranged in a rather flat manner in order not to protrude from the wall, with superposed volutes on curved sides broadening upwards."CHAPITEAU D'ANTE À VOLUTES LATÉRALES : il s'agit d'un chapiteau ionique, d'époque archaïque, caractérisé par le fait que sa face antérieure présente un kymation, ou une succession de moulurations, tandis que ses faces latérales présentent des volutes superposées. All. ANTENKAPITELL (n) MIT SEITLICHEN VOLUTEN (f. pi.); angl. ANTA CAPITAL WITH VOLUTE SIDES; it. C. D'A. CON VOLUTE LATERALI; gr.m. έπίκρανο (το) παρα-στάδας μέ πλευρικές έλικες. Ce chapiteau se caractérise aussi par le fait que sa face antérieure montre un profil globalement convexe ou droit, tandis que ses faces latérales sont nettement concaves, élargissant la pièce vers le haut." in "Dictionnaire méthodique de l'architecture grecque et romaine. II. Eléments constructifs : supports, couvertures, aménagements intérieurs" de René Ginouvès p.106

Central "flame palmette" design The central motif of the Pataliputra capital is the flame palmette, the first appearance of which goes back to the floral akroteria of the Parthenon (447–432 BCE),NEW FRAGMENTI'S OF THE PARTHENON ACROTERIA, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens and slightly later at the Temple of Athena Nike,The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens: Architectural Stages and Chronology, Ira S. Mark, ASCSA, 1993, p.83 and which spread to Asia Minor in the 3rd century BCE, and can be seen at the doorstep of India in Ai-Khanoum from around 280 BCE, in antefix and mosaic designs.

Central "flame palmette" designs in Greek art

Construction Structure as a pillar capital