Architecture of India

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File:Hampi1.JPG

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi

Indian architecture is that vast tapestry of production of the Indian Subcontinent that encompasses a multitude of expressions over space and time, transformed by the forces of history considered unique to the sub-continent, sometimes destroying, but most of the time absorbing. The result is an evolving range of architectural production that none the less retains a certain amount of continuity across history.

Indus valley civilisation and the Vedic Village

The earliest production in the Indus Valley Civilization was characterised by well planned cities and houses where religion did not seem to play an active role. The presence of drainage systems and public baths showed advanced standards of hygiene and sanitation and ingenious planning. Later the Aryans reverted to the village or the grama as a unit of settlement and the features of the Vedic village influenced elements subsequent architectural production.

Religion and architecture

The evolution of Hinduism as a synthesis of Dravidian and Vedic / Aryan gods, and the two other important religions, Buddhism and Jainism, gave rise to a rich and varied range of buildings for worship.

Buddhist and Jaina architecture

Buddhism gained prominence during the reign of the emperor Ashoka. It is primarily represented by three important building types- the Chaitya Hall (place of worship), the Vihara (monastery) and the Stupa (hemispherical mound for worship/ memory)- exemplified by the awesome caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi Stupa. Some of the elements of Buddhist architecture show influences from the structures of Vedic villages. The Hinayana and the Mahayana phases of Buddhism influenced the nature of rock-cut art, the former being represented by artefacts used by Buddha, and the latter by the images of Buddha himself. The influence of Greek sculpture on the images has been well established.

The Jaina temples are characterised by a richness of detail that can be seen in the Dilwara temple in Mt.Abu.

The Hindu temple

Early beginnings of Hindu temple architecture have been traced to the remains at Aihole and Pattadakal in presentday Karnataka. Later, as more differentiation took place, the Dravidian/ Southern style and or the Indo-Aryan/ Northern/ Nagara style of temple architecture emerged as dominant modes, epitomised in productions such as the magnificient Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, and the Sun Temple, Konark. The older terminologies of Dravidian and Indo-Aryan are not used in current practice because of their inaccuracy and racist origins. Buddhist elements and motifs have influenced temple architecture to a considerable extent.

Early temples were rock-cut, later structural temples evolved. The Kailasanatha temple at Ellora is a good example of the former, excavated from top to bottom out of a massive rock face.

The pyramid formed an essential architectonic element in any temple composition- stepped in the Dravidian style, stepped and slightly curved in the Northern style. The structural system was essentially trabeated and with stone being the basic raw material for the Indian craftsman, construction could be carried out with minimal or no mortar. Decoration was fundamental to Indian architecture and is seen in the myriad details of figured sculpture as well as in the architectural elements. The concept of fractals has been used to examine the form of the Hindu temple, both in terms of its planning and external appearance.

The garba-griha or the womb chamber forms the central focus housing the deity of the temple and is provided with a circumamulation passage around. However, there are also many subsidiary shrines within temple complexes, more particluarly in the South Indian (the Dravidian style) temple. As the Hindu temple is not meant for congregational worship, the garba- griha is small in scale when compared to the whole temple complex. However, it is articulated externally by the vimana or the sikhara. Pillared halls or mandapas are found preceding the garbagriha.

The spatial experience of a South Indian temple complex is considered particularly rich and meaningful. In many of them, such as the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam, the concentric enclosures or prakaras along with the series of gopurams or entrance gateways reducing in scale as they move towards the garba-griha set up a rhythm of solids and voids as well as providing a ritual and visual axis.

The principles of temple architecture were codified in treatises and canons such as the Silpashastras(Vaastu Shastra). These offered an ordering framework yet allowed some amount of scope for individual articulation according to context.

Today most of the thriving ancient temples are in South India as the subsequent forces of Islam transformed the cultural landscape of India more dominantly in the North.

File:Qutbminar1.jpg

Qutb Minar, Delhi

Islamic architecture

With the advent of Islam, the arch and dome began to be used and the mosque or masjid too began to form part of the landscape, adding to a new experience in form and space. The sahn or the open courtyard for congregational worship with the enclosing cloisters or liwans and the sanctuary at the Western end offered a different architectural vocabulary. The fundamental difference lay in the fact that Islam prohibited idol worship and therefore a concentrated point of focus such as the garba-griha was unnecessary. However, the mihrab on the Western wall of the sanctuary articulating the Qibla or the direction towards Mecca offered a notional focus. As idolatory was prohibited, the main means of adornment was surface decoration through the use of geometry, arabesque and calligraphy. Early Indian mosques were built on the sites of Hindu temples, literally on their plinths, reusing the mortarless temple material after some minor forms of desecration. Later, mosques began to be built with original material. The Jami masjid at Delhi is a representative example of an Indian mosque.

The most famous Islamic building type in India is the tomb or the mausoleum which evolved from the basic cube and hemisphere vocabulary of the early phase into a more elaborate form during the Mughal period where multiple chambers are present and tombs were set in a garden known as the char-bagh. The tomb chamber houses the cenotaph below which is the grave. Well known examples are the Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur and the Tajmahal, Agra, the latter renowned for its beauty in white marble, its minarets and its setting.

Islamic architecture was also represented by distinct regional styles that drew a lot of inspiration from the local context. Over time, Hindu and Islamic architecture produced a synthesis that is exemplified in the glorious production of Akbar- the city of Fatehpur Sikri, considered by many to be superior to the Taj Mahal (often seen as representing India) in terms of what it has to teach to civilisation- syncretism, tolerance and the best of different worlds.

Secular architecture

The colonial attention towards Indian architecture was mainly focused towards religious buildings and hence there is much scholarship in this area. In recent times, the secular production of India is gaining the attention it merits. Cities of the desert region in the North such as Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, towns such as Srirangam in Tamil Nadu evolving around the temple as nucleus, the stepped wells of Gujarat, the vernacular architecture of the warm, humid area of Kerala- all these are unique in their response to socio-cultural and geographic context.

Architecture under the colonial rule

With colonisation, a new chapter began. Though the Dutch, Portuguese and the French made substantial forays, it was the English who had a lasting impact.The architecture of the colonial period varied from the beginning attempts at creating authority through classical prototypes to the later approach of producing a supposedly more responsive image through what is now termed Indo-Saracenic architecture- a mixture of Hindu, Islamic and Western elements. Institutional, civic and utilitarian buildings such as post offices,railway stations, etc., began to be built in large numbers over the whole empire. The creation of New Delhi in early 20th century with its broad tree lined roads and majestic buildings generated lots of debate on what should be an appropriate architecture for India.

Post-independence architecture of India

With the introduction of Modern Architecture into India and later with Independence, the quest was more towards progress as a paradigm fuelled by Nehruvian visions. The planning of Chandigarh- a city most architects hate/love- by Le Corbusier was considered a step towards this. Later as modernism exhausted itself in the West and new directions were sought for, in India too there was a search for a more meaningful architecture rooted in the Indian context. This direction called Critical Regionalism is exemplified in the works of architects such as B.V. Doshi, Charles Correa, etc.,

Conclusion

Indian architecture as it stands today is a pluralistic body of production that cannot in all justice be exemplified by the approaches, buildings and architects cited above. In fact, there are always voices that strive to be heard above the overwhelming hegemonic discourse. But it is an unavoidable fact that certain expressions tend to get magnified and others reduced when set against the vast canvas of the world. In that sense, there is a distillation to an essence that does not have all the ingredients. A more representative selection can occur only at a deeper level of study.

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