Vihāra
[1][2] The term evolved into an architectural concept wherein it refers to living quarters for monks with an open shared space or courtyard, particularly in Buddhism.
The term is also found in Jain monastic literature, usually referring to temporary refuge for wandering monks or nuns during the annual Indian monsoons.
The word means a form of rest house, temple or monastery in ascetic traditions of India, particularly for a group of monks.
Later it referred to a form of temple or monastery construction in Buddhism and Jainism, wherein the design has a central hall and attached separated shrines for residence either for monks or for deities and sacred figure such as Tirthankaras, Gautama Buddha.
[12] During the 3rd-century BCE era of Ashoka, vihara yatras were travel stops aimed at enjoyments, pleasures and hobbies such as hunting.
[14] In and around the Bihar state of India are a group of residential cave monuments all dated to be from pre-common era, reflecting the Maurya architecture.
The earlier monastic residences of Ajivikas, Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains were likely outside rock cliffs and made of temporary materials and these have not survived.
[17] The earliest known gift of immovable property for monastic purposes ever recorded in an Indian inscription is credited to Emperor Ashoka, and it is a donation to the Ajivikas.
These shelters were normally accompanied by donation of revenue from villages nearby, who would work and support these cave residences with food and services.
Reference to five kinds of dwellings (Pancha Lenani) namely, Vihara, Addayoga, Pasada, Hammiya and Guha is found in the Buddhist canonical texts as fit for monks.
It consisted of a roughly square rectangular hall, in rock-cut cases, or probably an open court in structural examples, off which there were a number of small cells.
This was despite the rock-cut vihara shrine room usually offering no path for circumambulation or pradakshina, an important ritual practice.
[20] In early medieval era, Viharas became important institutions and a part of Buddhist Universities with thousands of students, such as Nalanda.
It is distinguished by elaborate gavaksha and railing relief carving around the cell-doors, but especially by having a rounded roof and apsidal far end, like a chaitya hall.
[22] The earliest Buddhist rock-cut cave abodes and sacred places are found in the western Deccan dating back to the 3rd century BCE.
[24] According to Behrendt, these "must have been the architectural prototype for the later northern and western Buddhist shrines in the Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad, Ellora, Nalanda, Ratnagiri and other sites".
[24] Behrendt's proposal follows the model that states the northwestern influences and Kushana era during the 1st and 2nd century CE triggered the development of Buddhist art and monastery designs.
In contrast, Susan Huntington states that this late nineteenth and early twentieth century model is increasingly questioned by the discovery of pre-Kushana era Buddha images outside the northwestern territories.
[29] Some of these viharas and temples though evidenced in texts and inscriptions are no longer physically found, likely destroyed in later centuries by natural causes or due to war.
[29] As more people joined Buddhist monastic sangha, the senior monks adopted a code of discipline which came to be known in the Pali Canon as the Vinaya texts.
According to the stories, the rules were devised on an ad hoc basis as the Buddha encountered various behavioral problems or disputes among his followers.
[31] In 3rd century CE, this repeated when King Mahasena donated the Jetavana vihara to an individual monk, which led to his expulsion.
According to Tibetan sources, five great mahaviharas stood out: Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura, Odantapurā, and Jagaddala.
[34] Other notable monasteries of the Pala Empire were Traikuta, Devikota (identified with ancient Kotivarsa, 'modern Bangarh'), and Pandit Vihara.
Excavations jointly conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India and University of Burdwan in 1971–1972 to 1974–1975 yielded a Buddhist monastic complex at Monorampur, near Bharatpur via Panagarh Bazar in the Bardhaman district of West Bengal.
Recent excavations at Jagjivanpur (Malda district, West Bengal) revealed another Buddhist monastery (Nandadirghika-Udranga Mahavihara)[35] of the ninth century.
