Indian Subcontinent

Vedic Period (1500 – 500 BCE) - Ashoka’s edicts

- Is the period in the late Bronze Age and Edicts – official order of proclamation issued by a
early Iron age of the history of India when person in authority.
the Vedas were composed in the northern
Indian subcontinent, between the end of - Rock edicts
the urban Indus Valley Civilization and a - Pillar edicts
second urbanization which began in the - Ashoka Pillar at Vaishali
central Indo-Gangetic Plain c. 600 BCE. - Epics
- Invasion of the Aryans o Stories in Brahmi scripts
- Vedic knowledge from Vedic Literature:
Ashoka’s Edicts
o Liturgical texts which formed the
basis of the influential  Group 1
Brahmanical ideology o 14 major rock edicts
o Contain details of life during this o Inscribed on rock in Brahmi Script
period that have been interpreted  Group 2
to be historical and constitute the o 3 minor rock edicts
primary sources for understanding o Found in Deccan Valley, Ganges
the period.
River, Yamuna River
o Composed and orally transmitted
 Group 3
with precision by the speakers of o 7 pillar edicts in Brahmi Script
an Old Indo-Aryan language.
o 2 minor pillar edicts
o Rig Veda, Sam Veda, Yajur Veda,
Artharva Veda
 Emphasis
Early Vedic Period (1500 – 1100 BCE) o Mindset of Ashoka
o His trauma of Kalinga War
- Political assemblies or councils o Ashoka’s confession
o Sabha and Samiti o Ashoka’s desire for justice and
o Monumental stone sculptures fairness
- Vernas system: o Sense of self discipline
o Buddhism o Humanist path
o Jainism o Effort in securing medical help
o Non violence to humans and
animals
Maurya Period (322 BCE)
o Truthfulness
- 322 BCE o Respect for parents and elders
- Founder: Chandragupta o Respect for teachers
- The largest, most extensive, and strongest
Mauryan World
political authority in the Indian
Subcontinent. - Agriculture – the village – the economy
- Internal and external trade, agriculture, - Urban life: 3 types of settlements
and economic activities thrived and o Grama – the village; most
expanded across South Asia due to the
numerous
creation of a single efficient system of
o Nigama – town; administrative or
finance, administration, and security.
market center
o Grand Trunk Road – oldest and
o Nagara – city
longest major roads in Asia.
 Mahanagara – great city
- The population of the empire has been
 Rajdhani – capital city
estimated to be about 50-60 million.
 Sakha nagaraka –
Ashoka satellite town or branch
city
- As monarch, he was ambitious and - Settlements
aggressive, re-asserting the Empire’s o Grid plan
superiority in southern and western India. o Surrounding wall with 3 outer
- Kalinga War gates and 4 middle gates
o An estimated 100,000 soldiers o Central area for royal functions
and civilians were killed in the
furious warfare, including over - Architecture:
10,000 of Ashoka’s own men o Large wooden palaces, halls,
Ashoka and Buddhism barns
o Stonework
- Buddhist shrines and cities o Brickwork
- Buddhist missions o Secular/religious
 o Domestic
- Religious Architecture
o Buddhist Religion
 Stupa – a mound-like or
hemispherical structure
containing Buddhist
relics, typically the ashes
of Buddhist monks.
 E.g. Stupa I of
Sanchi
 Chaitya(s)/Chaitya
Griha(s) – prayer halls or
later referred to as
temples.
 E.g. Lomas rishi
cave
Early Stupas
- Before Buddhism, great teachers were
buried in mounds. Some were cremated,
but sometimes they were buried in a
seated, meditative position. The mound of
earth covered them up. Thus, the domed
shape of the stupa came to represent a
person seated in meditation much as the
Buddha was when he achieved
Enlightenment and knowledge of the Four
Noble Truths.
- The middle portion is the Buddha’s body
and the top of the mound, where a pole
rises from the apex surrounded by a small
fence, represents his head. Before images
of the human Buddha were created, reliefs
often depicted practitioners demonstrating
devotion to a stupa.
Stupa(s)
- The initial function of a stupa was the
veneration and safeguarding of the relics
of the Buddha.
- A stupa (literally meaning “heap”) is a
mound-like or a semi-hemispherical
structure containing Buddhist relics,
typically the ashes of Buddhist monks,
used by Buddhists as a place of
meditation.
- Stupas originated as pre-Buddhist earthen
burial mounds, in which ascetics were
buried in a seated position.
- After the death of the Buddha, his remains
were cremated and the ashes divided and
buried under eight mounds with two further
mounds encasing the urn and the embers
(coal).
o Some stupas, such as the
Sarnath and Sanchi, seem to be
embellishments of earlier
mounds.
- The stupa was elaborated as Buddhism
spread to other Asian countries becoming,
for example, the chorten of Tibet and the
pagoda in East Asia.
o The pagoda has varied forms that
also include bell-shaped and
pyramidal styles.
- In general, a stupa is used for a Buddhist
structure of India or Southeast Asia, while
the pagoda refers to a building in East
Asia which can be entered, and which may
be secular in purpose.
Example: The Great Stupa at Sanchi
- The ‘Great Stupa’ at Sanchi is the oldest
stone structure in India and was originally
commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the
Great in the 3rd century BCE.
o Its nucleus was a simple
hemispherical brick structure built
over the relics of Buddha.
- The construction work of this stupa was
overseen by Ashoka’s wife, Devi herself.
Types of Stupa
- Built for a variety of reasons, Buddhist
stupas are classified based on form and
function into five types:
o Relic stupa
o Object stupa
o Commemorative stupa
o Symbolic stupa
o Votive stupa
 Relic stupa – In which the relics or
remains of the Buddha, his disciples and
lay saints are interred.
o After his death, Buddha was
cremated, and the ashes divided
among his disciples. Originally his
ashes were to go only to the
Sakya clan to which Buddha
belonged; however, sever royal
families demanded the body
relics.
o To avoid fighting, a monk divided
the relics into ten portions, eight
from body relics, and one form the
ashes of Buddha’s cremation
pyre, and one from the bucket
used to divide the relics.
o After the Buddha’s Parinibbãna
(death), his relics were enshrined
and worshipped in stupas by the
royals of eight countries.
 Object stupa – in which items interred are
objects that belonged to the Buddha or his
disciples such as a begging bowl or rope,
or important Buddha scriptures.
 Commemorative stupa – built to
commemorate events in the lives of
Buddha or his disciples.
 Symbolic stupa – to symbolize aspects of
Buddhist theology.
 Votive stupa – constructed to
commemorate visits or to gain spiritual
 beliefs, usually at the site of prominent 1. Anda – hemispherical mound symbolic of
stupas which are regularly visited. the mound of dirt used to cover Buddha’s
remains.
Construction of a Stupa 2. Harmika – square railing on top of the
- To build a stupa, transmissions and mound.
3. Chhatra – central pillar supporting a triple
ceremonies from Buddhist teacher is
umbrella form.
necessary.
4. Torana – Indian gateway, usually of stone,
- Which kind of stupa to be constructed in a
marking the entrance to a Buddhist shrine
certain area is decided together with the
or stupa or a Hindu temple.
teacher assisting the construction.
5. Yasti – At the top of stupa is a yasti, or
Sometimes the type of stupa chose is
spire, which symbolizes the axis mundi (a
directly connected with the events that
line through the earth’s center around
have taken place in the area.
which the universe is thought to revolve.)
o Building a stupa is considered
6. Medhi – circular terrace
extremely beneficial, leaving
very positive karmic imprints in Circumambulation [verb]
the mind.
o Destroying a stupa, on the other - walks around
hand, is considered an extremely
- An energetic and circular movement
negative deed, similar to killing.
around the stupa raises the body’
Early Evolution of the Stupa (BUTKARA Great temperature. Practitioners do this to mimic
Stupa, 3rd Century BCE – 2nd Century CE) the heat of the fire that cremated the
Buddha’s body, a process that burned
1. Mauryan (3rd Century BCE) – coinage: away the bonds of self-hood and
Mauryan; Schist and plaster attachment to the mundane or ordinary
2. Indo-Greek (2nd Century BCE) – world.
coinage: Menander | Schist and plaster;
Niches for figured panels or relief-work Rock-cut Architecture
3. Indo-Greek (2nd Century BCE) –
- Is the practice or creating a structure by
Coinage: Menander | Schist and Plaster
carving it out of solid natural rock. Rock
4. Late Indo-Greek/Indo-Scythian (End of
that is not part of the structure is removed
1st Century BCE) – Coinage: Azes II
until the only rock left makes up the
Soapstone and plaster
architectural elements of the excavated
5. Kushan (2nd Century CE) – Coinage:
interior.
Kushan Soapstone and plaster.
o Indian rock-cut architecture is
Later Evolution in Buddhist Architecture mostly religious in nature.
- Over 1500 known in India
a) Early Indian stupa (3rd Century to early - Contain artworks – stone carvings
1st Century BC) - Structural engineering and craftsmanship
b) Later Indian Stupa (2nd Century AD)
- Decorated rock quarry
c) Chinese Pagoda (5th – 7th Centuries)
- Religious Architecture
d) Japanese Pagoda (7th Century)
o Buddhist Religion
Treasury  Vihara – initially were
only temporary shelters
- All stupas contain a treasury filled with used by wandering
various objects. Small offerings called monks during the rainy
Tsa-Tsas fill a major part of the treasury. season, but later were
- Jewelry and other precious objects are developed to
also placed in the treasury. accommodate the
growing and increasingly
Tree of Life
formalized Buddhist
- A very important element in every stupa is monasticism.
the Tree of Life. It is a wooden pole - In India
covered with gems and thousands of o Sacred places
mantras and placed in the central channel o Free-standing ones are designed
of the stupa. to have cave-like feeling
- It is placed here during a ceremony or  Small, dark, without
initiation, where the participants hold natural light
colorful ribbons connected to the Tree of o Oldest rock cut architecture
Life.  Barabar cave, Bihar
 3rd Century BCE
Parts of a Stupa  Buddhist shrine and
monastery
 Hard granite
Early Construction

- When Buddhist missionaries arrived, they

naturally gravitate to caves for use as
temples and abodes, in accord with their
religious ideas of asceticism and monastic
life.
- Early examples of rock-cut architecture
are the Buddhist and Jain cave temples
and monasteries.
- The ascetic nature of these religions
inclined their followers to live in natural
caves and grottos in the hillsides, away
from the cities and these became
enhanced and embellished over time.
- E.g. Kanheri caves

Second Wave of Construction

- Possibly due to the rise of Mahayana

Buddhism and the associated intense
architectural and artistic production
- 6th Century BCE
- A profuse variety of decorative sculpture,
intricately carved columns, and carved
reliefs are found, including exquisitely
carved cornices and pilaster.
o Crafted living rock to imitate
timbered wood.
o Architectural elements were
ornamental and not functional in
the classical sense.
- Later many Hindi kings from Southern
India patronized many cave temples
dedicated to Hindu god and goddesses.

Final Wave of Construction

- 6th – 15th Century BCE

- Concentrated on Jainism

Monolithic Rock Cut Temples

- A rock cut temple is carved from a large

rock and excavated and cut to imitate
wooden or masonry temples with wall
decorations and works of art.
- Sculptures of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain
were carved into the side of the plateau
rock.

Stepwells

- The stepwell is a large hole in the ground

with steps at one or more sides.
o They are used in India to collect
and conserve water from the
monsoon rains, for use in the dry
season.
- The steps allow access to the water
whatever level it is at.
- First appearing in the Bronze Age Indus
Valley Civilization.
- Many have walls lined with stone brought
from elsewhere for the purpose, but many
are truly rock cut.
- The most elaborate are highly decorated.
- They are mostly found in drier states.