HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3

LECTURE

WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

At the end of the lesson, the students are learner will be able to:

• Understand the development, cultural impact and Architectural

legacy of Indian Architecture

• Appreciate and Understand the Importance of History of

Architecture and its effects in Architectural Design today
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
Gupta architecture
• For reasons that are not entirely clear, for the most part the Gupta period represented a
hiatus in Indian rock-cut architecture, with the first wave of construction finishing before
the empire was assembled, and the second wave beginning in the late 5th century, after it
ended.
• This is the case, for example, at the Ajanta Caves, with an early group made by 220 CE at
the latest, and a later one probably all after about 460.
• Instead, the period has left almost the first surviving free-standing structures in India, in
particular, the beginnings of Hindu temple architecture. As Milo Beach puts it: "Under the
Guptas, India was quick to join the rest of the medieval world in a passion for housing
precious objects in stylized architectural frameworks", the "precious objects" being
primarily the icons of gods.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN
ARCHITECTURE
The Ajanta Caves are
approximately 30 rock-cut Buddhist
cave monuments which date from
the 2nd century BCE to about 480
CE in Aurangabad district of
Maharashtra state of India. The
caves include paintings and rock-
cut sculptures described as among
the finest surviving examples of
ancient Indian art, particularly
expressive paintings that present
emotions through gesture, pose
and form.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

• The most famous remaining monuments in a broadly Gupta style, the caves at Ajanta,
Elephanta, and Ellora (respectively Buddhist, Hindu, and mixed including Jain) were in
fact produced under other dynasties in Central India, and in the case of Ellora after the
Gupta period, but primarily reflect the monumentality and balance of Guptan style.
Ajanta contains by far the most significant survivals of painting from this and the
surrounding periods, showing a mature form which had probably had a long
development, mainly in painting palaces.
• The Hindu Udayagiri Caves actually record connections with the dynasty and its
ministers, and the Dashavatara Temple at Deogarh is a major temple, one of the earliest
to survive, with important sculpture.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site

and a collection of cave temples predominantly
dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. They are on
Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally "the city of
caves"), in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi)
east of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahārāshtra.
The island, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the
Jawaharlal Nehru Port, consists of five Hindu caves
and a few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to
the 2nd century BCE, as well as a small group of two
Buddhist caves with water tanks.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN
ARCHITECTURE

Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage

Site located in the Aurangabad district
of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the
largest rock-cut monastery-temple
cave complexes in the world,
featuring Hindu, Buddhist and Jain
monuments, and artwork, dating
from the 600–1000 CE period.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
The Udayagiri Caves are twenty rock-
cut caves near Vidisha, Madhya
Pradesh from the early years of the
5th century CE. They contain some of
the oldest surviving Hindu temples
and iconography in India. They are the
only site that can be verifiably
associated with a Gupta period
monarch from its inscriptions. One of
India's most important archaeological
sites, the Udayagiri hills and its caves
are protected monuments managed
by the Archaeological Survey of India.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
• There are a number of different broad models, which would continue to be the case for
more than a century after the Gupta period, but temples such as Tigawa and Sanchi
Temple 17, which are small but massively built stone prostyle buildings with a sanctuary
and a columned porch, show the most common basic plan that continues today.
• Both of these have flat roofs over the sanctuary, which would become uncommon by
about the 8th century.
• The Mahabodhi Temple, Bhitargaon, Deogarh and Gop already all show high
superstructures of different shapes.
• The Chejarla Kapoteswara temple demonstrates that free-standing chaitya-hall temples
with barrel roofs continued to be built, probably with many smaller examples in wood.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3
LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

The Mahabodhi Temple (literally: "Great

Awakening Temple") or the Mahabodhi Mahavihar,
a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but
much rebuilt and restored, Buddhist temple in
Bodh Gaya, marking the location where the
Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.
Bodh Gaya (in Gaya district) is about 96 km (60 mi)
from Patna, Bihar state, India.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

A tetrastyle prostyle Gupta

period temple at Sanchi
besides the Apsidal hall with
Maurya foundation, an
example of Buddhist
architecture. 5th century CE.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

A tetrastyle prostyle Gupta

period temple at Sanchi
besides the Apsidal hall with
Maurya foundation, an
example of Buddhist
architecture. 5th century CE.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

Dashavatara Temple,
Deogarh is a Vishnu Hindu
temple built during the
early 6th century, near
the end of the Gupta
period.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

The Buddhagupta pillar

at Eran (c.476–495 CE).

Vishnu temple in Eran,

5th-6th century.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 3 LECTURE
WEEK NINE - INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
RESOURCES

• A Global History of Architecture, Francis D.K.Ching

• Architecture A Visual History, Jonathan Glancey
• World Architecture: The Masterworks, Will Pryce
• World History of Architecture, Michael Fazio
• World Architecture: A Cross Cultural History, Richard Ingersoll
• Various Internet websites