INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

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INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
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History of India
Islamic influence
Mughal empire
Indus valley civilizations
Hindu temples
Buddhist influence
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Indian architectural order
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• Priestly caste
• Asserted their beliefs in everything

Brahmins
Principles (That guided the Hindu builder)

• Indian guild of stone cutters masons
• Construction knowledge was inherited
• Temple sites took generations to complete.

Senis
Vastusastra

• Giver of cohesiveness
• Ensured overall similarity of form and function
• Impedes the imagination of the craftsmen. 

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Brahmins
No central political authority-filled by the
priestly
Assumed power-almost every aspect of life
By cash or others
Senis
Vastushastra was sometimes more of a hindrance
than a help to the craftsmen. 
Vastushastra
Created beauty simply by plasticity
Traditional knowledge was passed on
TEMPLE- more than one generation of master
cutters and masons- settle around the building
site for years.
regional variations introduced for the building
of a particular temple
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Buddhists Stupas
Too dynamic for the GODS
Gods-in buildings symbolizing unity, inertia and
permanence
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Square Mandala

• Subdivided into smaller squares in a grid, those
  containing 64 or 81 being the most common.
• Each of these smaller squares was then invested
  with a resident deity, each with his own special
  attributes and powers.
• The distance of the deities from the center was
  according to their power and perceived
  importance.

circle
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Square Mandala
Lesser gods
Brahma-the creator
Grid-64 or 81 most (common)
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Humanistic façade-given to the square -able to
accommodate a figure in a convoluted yogic
posture. 
Human figure - basis of a system of proportion
European Renaissance by Leonardo de Vinci
Le Corbusier Modulor system of measurement 
Complex of forms with their basic unit remaining
the square
Basic grid for the greatest temples of India
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HARRAPPA, INDUS VALLEY
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HARRAPPA, INDUS VALLEY
Earliest urban civilization in Indian
sub-continent- earliest in the world
Nomads from Sumeria (modern day Iran) through
Mula Pass across the Himalayas
God's blessed land-ample water, fodder, clay and
fuel supply
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Complex urban planning-Romans achieved 2500 years
later
Mohenjo-daro and Harappa
Representative that planning principles found
here are followed practically without change at
all other sites
Harappan house suited to the climate
Advanced drainage system (INDUS RIVER)
Left nothing monumental for posterity to marvel
at
Principles and response of the architecture to
climate are a lesson to us all
Peaceful life- bred a sense of complacency
Aryan invaders encountered little or no
resistance. City after city fell the pathetic
remains were either assimilated into the
conquerors' way of life or fled further south
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Buddhist influence Stupa of Sanchi
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Sanchi - the center of the Heavens
After Ashoka, by 200 B.C., Buddhisms popularity
was on the wane
Brahmanism regained
Buddhist monks retired from urban conglomerates
to secluded spots, where they built their places
of worship and in general led a life of
meditation
Mercantile class helped
Craftsmen labored for over a 100 years to make
Sanchi a point of pilgrimage for devoted
Buddhists and scholars from all over Asia for
centuries.
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Temple Architecture
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Principal architectural features of a temple
SHIKHARA
MANDAPA
VIMANA
garbha-griha
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Mini Shikhara repeating themselves
Dravida (south)
2 types make up the Indian temple 'orders
Sculpture on a mass scale
Indo-Aryan (north)
Little structural inventiveness or technical
ingenuity
Structure to stand-piling of massive blocks one
on top of the other ensured stability without
using mortar
Fine appreciation of mass value effects of
shadow to a marked degree
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Makeshift battlements around their cities,
towns-the temples
Reduced in appearance to a fortress
Raise the gates of the fortress to the level of
architecture
Gopurams-entrance gateways of the temple cities
of the south 
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Gopurams
Towering, massive impressive
Importance of the temple within the city
precincts without in altering the form of the
temple
Natural population increase
Rectangle dynamic form
Erect yet another wall around the existing one
City grew much like the annular rings of a tree
Buddhist origin
Great temple of Srirangam at Tiruchirapalli
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Gopuram
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The Islamic Influence
Superior tactics weaponry infighting amongst
Hindu princedoms made the forces of Islam
irresistible
New Muslim rulers feverishly start building
activity as another sign of their missionary zeal
Pre-eminence of prayer that dominates much
religious architecture in Islam
TUGHLAQ 1320-1413AD
SAYYID 1414-1444AD
KHILJI 1290-1320AD
LODI 1451-1557AD
SLAVE 1192AD-1246AD
MUGHALS 15261857
Constraints a mosque-form begins to evolve
Second major religious building type was the tomb
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Need for strong fortifications
Developments in the West - influence Holy Land -
the Middle East
Defensive forts developed into cities in which a
large number of other structures were built -
wells, palaces, stables and halls of audience
Benefited from the other's knowledge
Evolved new style of architecture - Persian in
inspiration but Indian in execution

• TEMPLES
• Mysterious
• Encloses
• Phantasma of
• Darkness
• Rhythmic

• MOSQUE
• Clarity
• Inviting publicly
• Light air
• Formal

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MUGHAL ARCHITECTURE
Mughal dynasty established with the crushing
victory of Babur at Panipat (15261857)
Combined elements of Islamic art and
architecture, which had been introduced to India
during the Delhi Sultanate (11921398)
Secure framework to flourish commanded wealth
resources unparalleled in Indian history
Mughal rulers themselves were extraordinary
patrons of art, whose intellectual calibre and
cultural outlook was expressed in the most
refined taste.
Qutb Minar - Persian art and architecture
Monuments are found chiefly in Northern
India-many remains in Pakistan
end