INDIAN
ARCHITECTURE
INDIAN
ARCHITECTURE
• Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent
• Characterized by Hindu and Buddhist Monuments
• Structures sometimes share the same site, have
rhythmic stratified motifs, and profuse carved
ornamentation, often combining the religious and
the sensuous.
ARCHITECTURAL
CHARACTER
• Generally obscured
• Overwhelmed by a rhythmical
multiplication of pilasters,
comics, mouldings, roofs, finials,
and an exhuberant overgrowth of
sculptural decorations
Indian Architecture is the outcome of:
• Diverse religious beliefs
• Pattern of worship
• Prevailing climatic conditions
• Available building materials
• Available building technologies
• Prevailing social structure
• Topography
• Climate
• Culture
• Historical and linguistic patterns
• Symbolism
• Sculptures
• Paintings
• Shape of superstructure
• Defense against invaders/wild
animals
HISTORY
INFLUENCES
• Third great civilization to emerge in a fertile river
valley
• Indus River 2500 BC, present-day Pakistan and
Northwest India
• Major Cities were Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
• Each City was ruled by priest-kings, citadels atop the
city
• Lasted only 800 years
• 1500 BS Aryans from the north moved to India
• Set-up 16 separate Kingdoms all over
• Established the Mauryan Empire in 300 BC under
King Ahsoka
RELIGION
INFLUENCES
• HINDUISM
- Main Religion in Asia
- Along with Judaism, the world’s oldest surviving
reliigion
- From indigeneous Dravidians and Aryan invaders
- Chief Gods: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
- Belief in Reincarnation, the soul comes back to life in a
different body
- Caste System: Priests, warriors and nobles, farmers
and traders, laborers and servants, untouchables
RELIGION
INFLUENCES
• BUDDHISM
- Many people disliked the way Hindu Society
divided people into castes
- Gautama Siddhartha 563-483BC, gave up his
princely life to search for wisdom
- After six (6) years of wandering, hefound
enlightenment through a deep thinking
process called meditation
- Overcome human weakness including greed
and anger
- Salvation or Nirvana
Styles of Different
Periods:
1. Buddhist Architecture
• Stambha or lath- Columns which were carved
wth inscriptions crowned by emblems such as
elephant or lion, reminescent of Persipolitan
Architecture
• Stupa or Tope- Mounds containing sacred relic
called “Dagoba”
• Chaitya- Used as assembly halls which were
excavated out of a solid rock resulting in the
presentation of one external façade.
• Vihara- A monestery designed with courts or
shrines with a central square space surrounded
by priest’s chambers.
Styles of Different Periods:
• Jain Architecture
- Temples were patterned from
Buddhist Temples
• Hindu/Brahman Architecture
- Combination of the verdict
Cult, Buddhism and Brahmansism
• Ancient Indian people who
united northern India and
established an empire 320
BC
• Architecture shows the
cultural influence of Persia
and the first use of dressed
stone (stone worked to
desired shape and smoothed
on the face)
Mauryan Dynasty
The Site of Sanchi
• Comprises a group of Buddhist Monuments- Monolithic Pillars, Palaces, Temples and Monasteries)
• It is the oldest Buddhist Sanctuary in existence and was a major Buddhist center in India
The Great Stupa, Sanchi
• The oldest existing Stupa in India
Gupta Dynasty
• Court was the center of
classical Indian Art and
Literature
• Pallava, Hindu state
established in Southern
India, which contributed to
the expansion of Indian
Culture into Southeast Asia
• Dravidian, style of Indian
Architecture in the Pallava
Period
Kiva
• Large underground or partly underground chamber used by the men for religious ceremonies
or councils
BUDDHISM
• Believing that if a person releases their
attachment to desire and the self, they
can attain Nirvana. This is a state of
liberation and freedom from suffering.
Buddhist Structures
Stambha
• Also called lats
• A freestanding memorial pillar
bearing carved inscriptions, religious
emblems or statues.
Stupa
• A Buddhist memorial mound to enshrine a relic of
Buddha
• Ceylon, Dagoba; Tibet and Nepal, Chorten
• Dome-shape mound on a platform, crowned by a
chattri, surrounded by ambulatory (stone vedika)
with four toranas.
Dhamek Stupa, Varnasi, India
• Said to mark the spot where the Buddha gave the first sermon to his first disciples after
attaining enlightnment.
Parts of a Buddhist Stupa
Torana
• Elaborately carved, ceremonial gateway in Indian Buddhist
and Hindu Architecture with two or three lintels between
two posts.
Vedika
• Railing enclosing the stupa.
Chattri
• Umbrella-shaped finial symbolizing dignity, composed of a
stone disc on a vertical pole.
Medhi
• A shallow berm ringing the base of the hemispherical
mound.
Other Buddhist Structures
• Vihara
- Monastery often excavated
from solid rock
• Chaitya
- Shrine carved out of solid
Ajanta Caves, cell entriess off a vihara hall
rock on a hillside
- Form of an aisled basilica
with a stupa at one end
MAHABODHI TEMPLE
• Great Awakening Temple
• Located at Bodh Gaya
• A Unesco World Heritage Site
• A Buddhist temple where the Buddha is said
to have attained enlightenment.
• The temple was built directly to the east of
the Bodhi Tree, supposedly a direct
descendant of the original Bodhi Tree.
NALANDA
• A renowned Buddhist
Monastic University in
ancient Magadha (Bihar),
India
• Considered to be the
world’s very first
residential university.
Belief in a Supreme Being and
adherance to certain concepts such as
HINDUISM Truth, Dharma, Karma, Reincarnation
and Belief in the authoruty of the
Vedas (sacred scriptures).
Brahmin
Kshatriyas
THE
CASTE Vaisyas
SYSTEM Shudras
Untouchables
HINDU TEMPLE
• “Mandir” in India
• A symbolic house, seat of body
of divinity for Hindus
• A structure designed to bring
human beings and Gods
together using symbolism to
express the ideas and beliefs of
Hinduism.
• Monolithic
Rath • Freestanding Hindu temple cut out of solid rock.
Parasurameswara Temple, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Jagannath Temple, Baripada Lingaraja, Bhubaneswar
Chaturbhuj Temple, Khajuharo
Vimana • A sanctuary of a Hindu Temple in which a diety is
enshrined.
SHIVA vs VISHNU
TEMPLES
• SHAIVITE TEMPLES
- for Shiva
- faces east
• VAISHNAVITE
- for Vishnu
- faces west
Sri Ranganathaswamy
Temple
• World’s largest functioning Hindu
Temple; Largest temple in India
• VIshnu
• Houses the tallest gopuram (temple
tower) across Southern India
• Dedicated to Lord Ranganatha
Shore Temple, Tamil Nadu, India
• One of the oldest freestanding Hindu Temple; built with granite
