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INTRODUCTION
INDIAN
CHARLES
. FABRI
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720. 95 1* Fabri
An introduction to Indian
architecture
Rafael, California
General Education Reading Material Series
No. 5
AX
INTRODUCTION
TO
INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
GENERAL EDUCATION READING MATERIAL SERIES
GENEKAL
NATURAL SCIENCES
SOCIAL SCIENCES
LITERATURE
An
Introduction
to
Indian Architecture
by
<
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
1963
^ 1 . i 5V
115u42
PRINTED IN INDIA
By Z. T. Bandukwala at Leaders Press Private Limited, Bombay
and Published by P. S. Jayasinghe, Asia Publishing House, 119
West 57th Street, New York
L
Foreword
The vital role that general education can play in our universities
is now being gradually recognized in academic circles. The
Radhakrishnan Commission Report published in 1950, first em-
phasized the need for general education and made certain recom-
mendations for its provision. The Ministry of Education organized
Conferences and Seminars and drew the attention of universities
towards its significance. A number of teachers and scholars drawn
from various universities visited the United States and the United
Kingdom to study the working of general education at various centres
and to get first hand knowledge about the progress of various pro-
grammes of study. The University Grants Commission has now
engaged the services of an expert to advice Indian universities on
the implementation of general education programmes and fifteen
universities have already made these programmes a part and parcel
of their regular course of studies.
Aligarh Muslim University was among the first adopt a full
to
and integrated programme of general education courses. Experi-
ence showed clearly the need for reading material to be specially
prepared for the purpose of this new type of teaching which differs
from the traditional one in method as well as in content. When
approached, the University Grants Commission entrusted Aligarh
Muslim University with the task of preparing reading material
suitable for general education courses at Indian universities.
The series here presented, like general education itself, may not
find agreement among all concerned. It is not meant to serve as a
text which would be completely digested, let alone memorized or
crammed. On the contrary it is intended to arouse curiosity,
Foreword
Delhi
June 1962 Charles Fabri
Contents
Introduction i
8. Mughal Architecture 40
Bibliography 64
List of Plates 65
Plates i to 34 69-96
Index 97
Introduction
[i]
Indian Architecture
stage must be well made for the plays and the players, and the
dressing rooms and the workshop (where the stage sets are being
made) must be suitable for the purpose and conveniently placed.
If you build a living house, your lavatory should, obviously, not
be near the kitchen, nor should rooms where a great deal of noise
goes on be so designed as to disturb the master who wants peace
and quiet in his study. The very situation of a house must be so
designed that it suits the climate you should build very different
:
and thus the architect who does not take these factors into consi-
deration, will build badly, not functionally. His house will be un-
suited for living, and the habitants will spend a good part of their
lives in darkening the huge windows through which a relentless
sun blazes into their rooms. Ancient Indian architecture was fully
alive to these problems, and some of the solutions evolved veran-
dahs, chajjds, 1 thick walls, small windows are admirably functional,
ideally suited to the climate and the living manners of the people
in this country.
Sensible use of raw materials and functional building well suited
for the purpose are two important criteria but they do not make
;
the whole of good architecture. For, when all is said, there is the
fact that the architect is an artist, and good architecture is an art.
1
For technical terms consult the Glossary, p. 58.
M
Introduction
posed beauty, but inherent in all the structure, in every part making
the whole.
[3]
Indian Architecture
[4]
Introduction
of the type of houses in which people lived from the 17th century
onwards.
Temples, mosques and tombs, nevertheless, constitute most of
our material, because they were built of the best and most lasting
materials, and respected enough to be preserved well for posterity. 2
ever known its countless treasures ask for appreciation and admi-
;
* There has been some destruction by fanatics, but much less than some people
presume.
[5]
/
CHAPTER I
The Harappa (or Indus) Civilization does not seem to belong, strict-
ly speaking, to our history of Indian architecture. At Mohenjo-
daro and Harappa, at Rupar, Chanhu-daro and Lothal, a most
commendable building activity went on in the period roughly datable
to 2000-1000 B.C. (the earlier date, 3500 - 2300 B.C. is no more held
to be correct). Burnt brick was widely used, town planning was
splendid, roads and city drains were laid out with astonishing fore-
thought, the corbelled arch was known, and baths were constructed
with knowledge and skill. Yet, wit;h the exception of some large
fortification walls and the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, not one of
these many buildings shows the slightest aesthetic consideration,
and the dull plainness of the architecture has been compared to a
present day workmen's town in Lancashire.
More than that, there does not seem to be any connexion be-
tween these cities, built with great civic sense of first-rate, well-fired
brick structures, and the architecture of the subsequent thousand
years or so. A vast gap exists that can only be explained by sur-
mising, with high probability, that the Harappa people were defeat-
ed, partly slain, partly driven away, partly subjected to slavery
by the newcomers, the Aryan-speaking people from the North.
There is ample evidence of these ddsus or ddsyas ("slaves"), who
were dark-skinned and "noseless" (i.e. with flat noses) and whose
towns (puras) Indra (i.e. the Aryan newcomers) destroyed.
Against this stands the fact that the people of India in Vedic
and pre-Buddhist times and, in fact, a great deal later too
lived in houses made of mud and mudbrick, bamboo and timber.
Leaves and straw and thatch were used everywhere; and, in essence,
[6]
The Earliest Remains
almost any hamlet in the Gangetic plain. Even the more sophis-
ticated houses, in larger fortified towns, were built entirely of mud
bricks, with timber or bamboo balconies, wooden pillars and vaulted
roofs, which were made of bent bamboo, arch-shaped "beams," over
which straw or leaf was fixed for covering.
carving ison one of the upright pillars of the railing round the
Great Stupa of Sanchi, and shows a great fortified city gate, from
which a royal procession emerges. The high, double-towered
town gate is made of mud bricks, with a bamboo balcony over it
(a sort of look-out for the guard), crowned by a barrel roof. Behind,
shown in a primitive attempt at perspective, is seen the town within
the gate, with houses built of mud and timber, the verandahs and
balconies filled with curious townsfolk. Prominent is the railing,
from which the later Buddhist stone railing is derived, and the
arch-shaped ends of vault roofs. Far back, in the top left corner,
is a hut altogether made of mud.
[7]
Indian Architecture
back to the 6th century B.C., or at least to the end of the 5th.
But Sisupalgarh is a very different affair. Here, in the 2nd
century B.C. or at the latest in the 1st, stone masons were at work,
who fashioned large blocks of laterite (a porous type of local stone)
into a highly organized fort entrance that could be closed with
gigantic doors, turning on hinges, whilst a small passage, excellently
guarded, allowed a single person to enter by a side entry when the
main gate was barred.
What has happened between these two dates, that of Old Rajagriha
and that of Sisupalgarh?
There is abundant evidence that stone masonry and stone
carving were imported in the emperor Asoka's days from Achae-
menid Iran. Not only is there evidence that the carving of stone
images started during Asoka's reign, who mentions that he had sent
emissaries to Iran, but in the remains of a Mauryan palace, un-
earthed at Pataliputra, his capital (now Patna), stone masons' marks,
identical with those in Persepolis, have been found. There are
many other indications that the art of using stone for building was
introduced during Asoka's reign; perhaps the most striking being
Plate 2 the one and only pillar capital so far found. It can be seen that every
single element, from the rosette to the palmette, the volutes and
the bead-motif, are derived from similar motifs in Archaemenid
art. The pillared hall at Patna is essentially identical in design
with the Hall of Pillars at Persepolis; with the curious difference, that
in Pataliputra the Indian masons, accustomed to work with wood,
rested every stone pillar on blocks of wood sunk into the ground.
Typical of this period of transition is that remains have been
found of a great timber wall that once surrounded the imperial
capital, and to which there is a clear reference in the description
of a Greek contemporary traveller who mentions that everything
in his days was built in India of timber.
There is, nevertheless, one important exception to that. This
exception is the rock-cut architecture of India. Caves, no doubt,
are not usually included in the history of architecture; but Indian
cave temples and monasteries must, undoubtedly, be considered,
for they are certainly masterpieces of "organizing space" with beauty
in view as well as convenience.
[8]
The Earliest Remains
[9]
Indian Architecture
Plate 5 cathedral chaitya at Karle. This too is in Poona District, dug into
the living rock, and may well be considered to be one of the greatest
works by the hand of man. Few structures, built up stone by stone,
or brick by brick, anywhere in the world, can match it for its lofty
timber imitations any more, and they express the artist's good
sense for proportion, for the bulky size of these pillars gives the
impression that only such wide and such strong columns could
hold that vast mass of rock vault above. Simplicity is handsomely
combined with well-used sculptural, ornamentation only the pillar
:
capitals are rich, the rest is utmost plainness even the simple stiipa
;
of the Master remembered here, to bring the still quiet voice of the
very inside of the hill bear upon the troubled mind and lift up this
puny soul towards those greater things that matter most. If dignity
and impressiveness were aimed at, they have been achieved to
perfection.
[10]
CHAPTER II
The Buddhist stupa stands, one might say, alone in the history
of architecture as a structure into which one cannot enter.
Though there are at least three orthodox explanations of what the
stupa "symbolizes" each cancels out the other the obvious ration-
al explanation is that the stupa is a glorified, beautified, enlarged
funereal mound ; what was once a grave or the resting place of the
bones and ashes of a holy man, has become an ever larger and ever
more shapely structure. Like so many sacred places, it was sur-
rounded first by a wooden paling, which became the beautiful stone
railing or balustrade of the Buddhist stupas when stone was adopted
in the place of wood. And whilst it is possible to argue that the
hemispherical stupa, the dome itself, is not "true architecture," inas-
much as it does not organize space, the complex that includes the
stupa and the railing is, surely, a most original work of architectural
art, in which the sanctity of the central structure, the resting place
of the ashes, is monumentalized by the elegantly balustraded circum-
ambulatory path moreover, as time passes, the domical structure
;
["]
Indian Architecture
shaft that holds first one, later three, and then gradually more and
more stone umbrellas, diminishing in size upwards.
The stone railing itself becomes an object of great beauty and
one that stands alone in the history of architecture. One or four
gates are provided, based on bamboo construction, but their "trans-
lation" into stone is done with skill and a sense of proportion. Those
at Bharhut, Sanchi and Bodh Gaya are the most famous and the
most brilliantly executed in the North; those of Amaravati and
Nagarjunakonda in the South. Upright pillars and cross bars, the
coping stone and the transverse "planks" ("suchi" in Sanskrit,
i.e. "needle") are made use of to carve in relievo the favourite symbols
of Buddhism, the lotus, and the four animals elephant, bull, lion
:
and horse, and gradually to cover much of these surfaces with the
story of the Buddha and the legends of the saints of Buddhism-
This sculptural decoration gives the surface of these stones a variety
Plate 6 and riches, that, standing out against the sky or against the large
bulk of the hemispherical stupa, give a splendid contrast between
plain and ornate surfaces.
Buddhism was a monastic order {sahgha) and the brethren lived
mostly in communal monasteries. Even in the rock-cut caves of old,
cells for the monks (usually extremely small and frugal) were arrang-
ed; as a rule,on three or four sides of a central hall that could be used
as a meeting place for discussion or as a refectory, where the monks,
having returned with their almsbowls filled, shared their midday
meal. The simplicity of the cells did not prevent the artist from
decorating the walls of the hall of assembly; at first, almost exclusively
with facsimile representations of bamboo huts, later with sculptural
work. Early Buddhism did not approve of the representation in hu-
man shape of the Master Himself, and for four hundred years we do not
meet Buddha images; around the first century a.d. they become com-
mon; and often a cell or two are set aside for imagery or for small stupas
containing the remains of a much loved teacher who had passed away.
The structural monasteries follow this pattern. Most of them are
built as a square or oblong, with a great yard, open to the sky, in
the centre, surrounded by rows of cells; sometimes a covered verandah
runs in front of the cells; often a stupa is in the middle of the yard;
though it is equally often that the stupa is outside the monastic
[12]
The Stupa and the Monastery
WOOD STQME
Text Figure 2: Essence of
trabeated construction, show-
ing change from timber post
^PJLJ-AK
and lintel with bracket to a
similar structure in stone.
[13]
CHAPTER III
1
One of the three "cities" of Taxila.
[14]
The Earliest Temples
square cell inside, where the god lives (the Sanskrit word garbha-gnha
signifies "womb-house"), in front of which there is a covered
:
dah. Neither has the architect discovered that when you build a
roof, you have to allow the rainwater to run off. There are no
gargoyles.
There is neither elegance, nor grace in this bulky, rather rough
little structure, which may be looked upon as an early experiment
in creating a structural temple. The probable date of this temple
is300 to 350 a.d. And it is fascinating to observe how this idea has
developed in the coming fifty years or so. In Plate 8 I reproduce the Plate 8
famous little Temple No. 17 from Sanchi, 2 the date of which is
about 400 a.d. Everything attempted in the previous temple is
done much better here. The stones are much smaller and much
more neatly laid in rows; the roof has been finely separated, so that
the portico has a slightly less prominent height. The architect has
discovered that gargoyles are necessary to let off rainwater. The
four back pillars have beenvery sensibly turned into pilasters,
the two front ones have been made into four, much more slender and
beautifully caned, and so arranged that there is enough space to
pass between the two in the middle. Charming also is the entrance
for which small steps are provided on both sides. Most important
" Sanchi is near Bhopal.
[15]
I 'I'/H/WtHHtlUltMH,
'4
'ma. 1
f?L & my?.
DURGA
TEMPLE
AIHOLE
c.5B0a>.
DEVi JAGAT),
AMB) TEMPLE
KHAJURAHO
1000 a. d.
showing how both the outline and the interior structure change from century to century
even within 50 years.
The Earliest Temples
slightly higher, slightly broader and slightly longer than the veran-
dah.
This feeling for sensible, rational proportions is one of the most
important elements in what is called classical style. A complete lack
of any exaggeration, a careful balancing of parts, a strong liking
for harmony and dignity mark this style, which was prevalent
during the Gupta period (320 to 500 a.d.). 3 Even in the decoration
of the pillars, this good sense prevails ornament is sparsely used,
:
and used only where the structure demands, i.e. where one form joins
an other one. Thus we have an ornament of an inverted lotus where
the top of the shaft joins the capital; or we have little lions, addorsed,
employed as it were to act as supports where the roof rests on top of
the pillar. Elegance, dignity and nobility are the characteristics of
this marvellous little shrine, a gem of classical architecture, with
no pretences.
Now be observed that the ground plan of this temple is
it will
extremely simple a quadrangle. And as we continue to observe
:
[17]
Indian Architecture
of pillars. Brackets support the beam of the roof across the wider
opening of the entrance. This is a lovely and almost revolutionary
temple, richer than the previous ones, but still without "fuss,"
4
See above, p. 15.
[18]
The Earliest Temples
without that rich elaboration that later centuries bring. This style,
following the strictly classic period of 320 to 500, a.d. is called the
"mannerist" style.
For a comparison with much later temples, Text Figure 3 shows
the ground plan of the Devi Jagadambi Temple of Khajuraho,
built about 1000 a.d. A single glance will show how the outlines of
the temple evolved. There are now 90 angles on the ground! Broken
and complicated into many facets, the simple quadrangular temple
has become almost like a star now, with salient and re-entrant
angles multiplied, almost year by year.
But it was a slow process. The charming little temple illustrated in
Plate 11 is at Badami, and hardly later than the Durga Temple at pi a t e n
Aihole. Yet the facade has been broken here and there, niches are
sunk into the wall, holding relief images, the roof is more involved,
and another attempt is made towards developing the spire, this
time in a form strongly reminiscent of thatched huts, rising tier by
tier. This is another beautifully conceived little temple, of which the
pillars and brackets in the portico are modern repairs : the original
pillars were the same shape but were more ornate.
In these few early examples one can, thus, clearly see the evolu-
tion of the temple from a small, square cell, into a more and more
imposing structure, dominated, ultimately, by a lofty spire.
[19]
CHAPTER IV
on the lead in the period from the 1st century B.C. to 4th century a.d.
So far as the earliest Hindu temples are concerned, here too a
great error had crept into our art histories. It has been, quite
wrongly, surmized that the rock-cut temples, the "Five Rathas,"
of Mamallapuram 1 (near Madras), date from about 600 a.d. or later;
their actual date, however, is the 5th century a.d., the purely classic
period. As such, they must be reckoned among the most valuable
survivals of the classic times.
Plate 12 shows the utmost simplicity of one of these rock-cut tem-
plate 12 pies, the so-called"Draupadi's Ratha" (these local designations are
popular names, and these shrines have nothing, in fact, to do with
either the Pandavas or with temple chariots). It is, really, a rock-
cut copy of a mud-hut, supported by wooden posts, and crowned
by an imitation of a thatched roof. This is a chamber as simple as
1
The name "Mahabalipuram" is a popular modern distortion.
[20]
Early Dravidian Temples
be more classic in style than these two dignified and elegant door
guards, living, one might say, contentedly in the small niche provided
for them. The small floral decoration running along the edge of the
thatched roof according to some opinion, a rock-cut representation
is,
1 See Glossary.
[21]
Indian Architecture
small Buddhist huts. It most unlikely that this is any later than
is
500 a.d., for many reasons that cannot be detailed in this small book.
A stone's throw from these rock-cut shrines is the "Shore Temple,"
built of blocks of stone a marvellous experiment in making the
:
Plate 15 structure look more impressive. This has been dated, correctly,
to about 675 a.d.: and one can see at once what a great differ-
ence these 175 to 200 years have made. This temple is three
four times the size of the Dharmaraja; its ground plan has been
considerably complicated, by adding a shrine at the back; and a
small, jutting out portion makes it a triple structure. Not one,
but two spires have been erected both much more lofty than in
:
the previous examples, with the higher spire having three more
stories than the Dharmaraja; the pinnacle too is loftier and more
pointed. Everything is multiplied, enlarged, enriched. This striving
for impressiveness and complication is characteristic of the mannerist
period, and becomes more pronounced in the baroque times.
Plate 16 Finally, in Plate 16 are reproduced the two remaining shrines
of what was once a triple temple at Muvar Koil, Kodumbalur, in
the former Pudukkottai State (Madras). This has been sometimes
dated to about 900 a.d., an unlikely date, for it belongs obviously
Jtoan earlier century. Mannerism is, undoubtedly, in evidence in
these charming and magnificently designed little shrines, though
one could object that the proportions of the roof are somewhat
heavy for the understructure; more provision is made for sculpture
in the roof niches; and yet the roof is not very lofty, and the connexion
with the Mamallapuram rock-cut shrines is close. The ground plan
shows some small but obvious departures from the simple square;
and both this and the quality of the sculpture suggest a date nearer
to 800 a.d. than 900 a.d. 3
8
This author is very cautious about accepting inscriptions as an absolute proof
of a date. There is ample evidence that inscriptions were often added much later on
a long existing monument by some subsequent king.
[22]
CHAPTER V
Probably erected between 600 and 625 A.b., the surface decoration
contains many typically Buddhist elements, survivals from the
5th and 6th centuries, when a great part of Orissa was Buddhist,
and when the lovely monastery of Ratnagiri, near Cuttack, was
started. The facade of the Baital Deul is divided into ribbon-like
elements, that run down to the base from under the barrel roof;
these "ribbons" project slightly, and contain niches with sculpture,
whilst the actual barrel-shaped roof is resting on a number of
elements, in diminishing size, mostly ornate mouldings, creating
almost a beehive-shaped tower of square section. The barrel roof
itself is an imitation in stone of a thatched roof of an ancient
hut, going back to pre-Buddhist, Vedic times.
This temple was dedicated to the 6akti cult. It is entirely closed,
pitch dark inside, where revolting blood sacrifices including human
sacrifices, were performed before a terrifying looking image. The
[23]
Indian Architecture
[24]
The Temples of Orissa
more than anywhere else in the world, the sculptor and the architect
were one person; and it is false and would be misleading to treat
architecture as had nothing to do with the wall surface of the
if it
how bare, how unadorned the wall is of the Sanchi Temple of about
400 a.d.; then observe how in Plate 9 some play has been introduced Plate 9
[25]
Indian Architecture
Plates 7, 8, 9 and 10. But already in the Lad Khan and the
in Plates 7, 8,
9 and 10 Durga Temple the slabs have been made slanting, so as to make it
easier for rainwater to the roof. These slanting slabs of
run off
large stones were used in early Orissan temples, e.g. the Parasu-
ramesvara at Bhubaneshwar (date about 650 a.d.), where two roofs
were provided, and between them small skylights ("clerestory
lights") 2 to allow some light to penetrate into the shrine. In the
Sinhanatha Temple, on a little island of the Mahanadi, District
Plate 21 Baramba (Orissa), we have not two but three of these slanting slab-
roofs and this little change gives us a hint of how the shrine (called
:
[26]
The Temples of Orissa
vimana related to each other; and surely the most perfect in this
respect is that masterpiece of Indian architecture, the Rajarani
Temple of Bhubaneshwar, an absolute gem of architecture, a work
of exquisite grace in which sculpture and architecture are combined
in unmatched perfection.
In Plate 20 we have a small portion of the facade of the vimana; Plate 20
in Plate 22 the whole elevation can be seen. The importance of the Plate 22
shaped tower, rising from the ground with a gentle curvature; and
as our eye mounts higher and higher, miniature temple towers,
sikharas over sikharas, rise like a musical composition to ever loftier
heights, like a great mountain peak surrounded by many crags.
The infinite attention to detail, the loving care for every element, the
rich elaboration of the surface, all these are eloquent documents of a
worshipful attitude, of a great faith that does not shun labour where
it concerns its divinity. And against this wonderful pomp and lavish-
ness of the sanctum stands the much smaller, much simpler entrance
chamber, the jagamohana, with very little sculptural work on its
plainer walls, and a simple pyramidal roof of modest height, as a
splendid introduction to the more important spire. The multiplica-
tion of the slanting slabs has been carried to 13 horizontal elements,
diminishing as they reach towards the pinnacle on the top of the
pyramid; but even this pinnacle is dwarfed by the importance of
the lovely round stone, the so-called amalaka, 3 that crowns the spire
of the great tower. And yet, the two elements of the temple are not
disconnected. In this temple, the Rajarani, extra miniature spires
3
Although the amalaka (see Glossary) resembles an existing fruit, there are valid
arguments to prove that the crowning element comes from an umbrella sign of res- :
[27]
Indian Architecture
reach out from the pyramidal roof of the jagamohana towards the
tikhara of the sanctum, making a transition, some kind of steps that
lead the eye towards the height of the tower. (This idea was further
developed at Khajuraho).
With our critical faculty thus sharpened, we can now look with a
Plate 23 more judicious eye at the Brahmesvara Temple, also at Bhubanesh-
war. This is a so-called paiichdyatana temple, viz. one in which the
central shrine is surrounded by four small shrines in the four
corners of the compound : a handsome idea, derived from the
Vedic altar. A very beautiful shrine, the Brahmesvara spire strikes
us as curving too suddenly under the dmalaka, not as handsomely
as the tower of the Rajarani; and the jagamohana appears weighed
down by a topheavy roof, however beautiful that roof may be.
There is hardly any difference in the dates of these two last
temples, the Rajarani and the Brahmesvara, and yet the one gives
a feeling of perfection and arouses unbounded admiration, whilst
the other leaves some space for criticism.
The most sacred of all shrines at Bhubaneshwar, the mighty
Lingaraja, has not received the attention by art historians it
size of the Rajarani is not its sole beauty :the spire and the
pyramidal top of the jagamohana match eacji other splendidly, and
both express the greatness of the Lord, the might of Divine Power.
The nine lower roofs and the seven upper roofs of the jagamohana
[28]
The Temples of Orissa
inspire.
It must be mentioned here that the Lingaraja, like many other
temples of the later period in Orissa, possesses two additional shrines,
attached along one axis in front of the jagamohana. These consist
of a nata-mandira, "hall of dance and music," in front of the jaga-
mohana, and the bhoga-mandapa, "offering hall," in front of the
preceding hall. In some temples one or both these later additions
are standing separately, but they are often in one line with the
shrine proper.
The temple of the Middle Ages was, in fact, a "total work of art,"
in which we had not only architecture and sculpture, but painting
too, and in which music, dancing and theatrical performances were
presented at certain times. The Hindu temple has become, in many
ways, a kind of civic centre, a centre for artistic activity, and it
expanded accordingly to allow feasting, eating, drinking, dancing,
music and plays to take place. For a brief time, perhaps a century
and a half, these festivities became licentious, and, under Tantric
influence, some temples were scenes of revelry and debauchery.
It was in these centuries that the dancing girls attached to the
temples became not much better than prostitutes, and that the
walls of the temples were covered with erotic representations. Several
reformers arose against these abuses, and there was a strong reac-
tion, especially in the 14th century and after.
The last great temple, the greatest of all, of Orissa is the Sun
[29]
Itidian Architecture
[30]
CHAPTER VI
Tamil Nad, the distinction becomes quite clear around 1000 a.d.
A temple such as the Kailasanatha at Kanchipuram could, in many
ways, be considered quite close to the northern style but the ;
And yet, this is not the direction in which the Dravidian temple
[3i]
Indian Architecture
on the gateways.
Why this has happened is difficult to say. An important fact,
however, is that the temple in Tamil Nad, much more than in
Northern India, became a vast conglomeration of structures, swal-
lowed up, one might say, in a gigantic walled in courtyard not ;
temple embraced the town, or that the town embraced the temple.
And as the town grew, new and new compounds were added to the
original yard, each compound larger than the previous, one inside
the other, like Chinese boxes.
The present South Indian temple thus consists of walled oblongs,
one within the other and the innermost walled-in area contains
;
the temple proper, a much smaller structure than the ever larger
gateways that admit entrance to these walled compounds. The
later the gateway, the higher the gopuram ; hence, the outermost
gopuras 1 are, as a rule, the largest, and the innermost, last gopuras,
being older, are less lofty. The tower of the temple itself is the least
high.
Nothing of this unexpected development can be seen in Tanjavur,
where the temple is situated in a small yard that contains only a
few shrines. But in Madurai the process is completely evolved, and
you can only reach the Minakshi Temple by passing through gate-
1
Gopuras are almost like sky-scrapers. Many are nine stories high, some have
eleven stories.
[32]
Later Dravidian Temples
way after gateway, from one yard to another, some filled with
shops selling all kinds of wares, others containing sacred tanks and
other buildings. The largest structures in this complex are the
1 2th century goparas of which two are seen in Plate 26. Plate 26
roof, over which a number of pinnacles rise these are last descend-
:
[33]
;
Indian Architecture
these halls, whilst the temples of the South are much richer in subjects
of terror. The dark and entirely unlit interiors of Dravidian temples
are in contrast to the sunny inside of the Khajuraho shrines.
[34]
:
[35]
CHAPTER VII
of his own. 1
Indeed, it is important to understand that up to the 16th century
the Muslims lived here as outsiders, conquerors, having subdued,
more or less successfully, the Hindu princes and people but fight- ;
ing went on all the time, well into the time of Aurangzeb, and the
Muslim felt that he was living in the midst of a sea of Hindus, many
of them hostile. All Islamic cities or capital cities were, hence,
None felt secure, as Hindu rajas did, by living in a palace
fortified.
in the middle of his town and his people Islamic palaces are all ;
the Lahore Fort, though much less formidable than the older Lodhi
and Tughlaq forts, are still surrounded by battlemented walls once
guarded by armed men.
1
This is not strictly correct, for there were earlier cities, but they were small, and
the statement may stand as a permissible simplification of the truth.
[36]
Early Islamic Architecture
Akbar, had done everything to live in peace and amity with his
Hindu subjects. The danger was not completely gone, attacks were
just possible, but not very likely. And so the Red Fort of Delhi
is an elegant pink sandstone structure not at all formidable, ;
nomadic army, a man Qutb ud-Din 'Aibak would feel the urgent
like
need to erect a masjid, and would rifle eight destroyed temples of
the Hindus and Jains to make the liu an of the Quwwat ul-Islam
Masjid at Mehrauli, south of Delhi would a later ruler, such as :
Akbar was, ever have thought of doing so unkind an act against his
Hindu subjects ? It is unthinkable not only because Akbar was ;
tolerant and broad-minded, not only because this was the personal
wish of one individual but the entire situation had changed the
; :
[37]
Indian Architecture
ground are true arches. Note that the two top stories of the Minar
are poor reconstructions erected after an earthquake by an English
engineer.
The Tughlaq dynasty (1320 to 1413) has turned every structure
into solid fortification. Even a
grave, such as the remarkable tomb
of Ghiyas ud-Din Tughlaq, erected in 1325, is like a stronghold,
surrounded by bastions and battlemented walls, set in the middle
of a moat, ready to be defended and the "determined slope" of
;
vaults and hidden exits testify that everything was built with an
eye on defence. And yet, the tomb itself still uses the Hindu trabeated
Early Islamic Architecture
architect had learned the construction of domes from his Syrian and
Byzantine predecessors. From those styles derive, ultimately, many
of the Islamic tombs in India, including the attractive octagonal
mausolea, among them the Tomb of Adham Khan of Delhi (about
1561) and that of Tsa Khan, also at Delhi (1547). In these, elegant
arched verandahs surround the tomb chamber, crowned by a fine
dome ; and the battlement motif (kdnguras) is now used not so
much for defence as a surviving architectural motif, suitable to
ornament the parapet under the dome.
By the fifteenth century Islamic architects incorporated many
Hindu motifs in their work, though they kept to their basic Islamic
design in the matter of arcuate construction and the dome. Brackets
have been freely used on the Hindu model, and the dome acquired a
lotus design under its finial. Both these were unknown in Western
Asia.
Nevertheless, there is a basic difference between the ground plan
[39]
CHAPTER VIII
Mughal Architecture
[40]
;
Mughal Architecture
are used here with admirable effect the white is used to emphasize,
;
to remind. It is here that Haji Begam lived to the end of her widow-
hood, with many old retainers of her imperial husband's reign;
it is here that she lies buried.
the use of the Agra pink sandstone occurs on this first monu-
If
ment of the Mughals, Akbar can be said to have turned deliberately
not only to this element but also to many others, characteristic
of Hindu architectural practice. His policy of conciliation, his
love for his Hindu subjects, his open admiration for Hindu culture,
and his rather eclectic nature he created a new religion that united
r
[4i]
;
Indian Architecture
[42]
Mughal Architecture
a hot climate shade and fresh air are essential for comfort a consi-
deration only too often forgotten by some of our modern architects
who ape slavishly
western models and nothing is more suited
for healthy and comfortable living than large airy verandahs, well
shaded from the blazing sun by overhanging chajjds, eaves, and
allowing the slightest breeze to blow through these broad, open
halls. Even the railing is full of perforations (jail work), again
allowing every breeze to reach the residents seated on the cool
floors. This airy lightness is further increased by diminishing the
three upper stories, and creating entirely open terraces in front
of the covered area, where, in the cool of the night, it is delight-
ful to sit out. If necessary, any side of the open pillared verandahs
could be shaded by hanging curtains, for which rings are provided.
The topmost chamber, like a barsatl ("a room for the rainy season")
is an imperial crown it gives dignity and greatness to the whole,
like :
uprights and the charming balcony, running round the whole length
;
[43]
Indian Architecture
brackets, elegantly divided into five over the solid walls, nil over
the window, and two on each side over the door lintel a sense of :
rhythm and almost music. A bold chajja protects the visitor or the
guards standing on the balcony, and casts a welcome shadow over
the windows. Small niches, almost like false windows, break the
monotony of the plain walls at the four corners.
The four pavilions on the roof are less successfully designed.
They are larger than they ought to be, and their function on this
building is not quite clear. They might have served the purpose of
posting guards there, but then they should have been less lofty.
Here is a charming element, used in this particular experiment
more as a decorative device than a useful one.
The low building on the left side is typical of the kind of office
building that Akbar thoughtfully provided. Its classic simplicity
sets of effectively the imperial private court next to it.
the Tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishthi, the holy man who was Akbar's
spiritual preceptor. But whilst Akbar was content to use the simple
pink sandstone of Agra, his successors gradually turned to more
expensive and more luxurious raw material Jehangir, more inte-;
x [44]
;
Mughal Architecture
and so are the marble halls of the Delhi Fort, where an inscription,
composed by the emperor himself, openly claims that "this was
paradise on earth, this was it."
The luxury and the love of pomp and circumstance shown
by Jehangir and Shahjehan ended abruptly with the emperor
[45]
Indian Architecture
at that.
[46]
CHAPTER IX
tions, Indian and Western Asian, melt harmoniously with each other.
1
See Glossary, under "cusped arch."
[47]
Indian Architecture
the other hand, the facade thus created owes practically nothing to
any known Islamic work. In fact, it is a direct descendant of the
Orissan temple tower, as can be seen, e.g. in Plate 22, where one
can see the spire of the Rajarani Temple at Bhubaneshwar built
up one above the other, similarly
of tiers of smaller sikharas, rising
half-raised or half emerging from the wall. Equally interesting is
to compare the spire of the Brihadisvara Temple at Tanjavur {Plate
25), where too the Sikhara is built up of many small shrines, treated
us]
Later Indo-Islamic Architecture
[49]
CHAPTER X
But there have been some more permanent structures, and some
of these still dot the skyline of India. I am referring especially to
Christian churches,among which some in Goa must be reckoned as
outstandingly fine examples of Iberian ecclesiastical architecture.
They are in a late baroque or an early rococo style, with flamboyant
ornamentation. Whilst the English tended to build simple little
shrines of worship, not unlike many village churches in England,
the French and Portuguese catholics erected noble and expensive
fanes.
When the East India Company penetrated deeper and deeper
and public buildings rose in increas-
into the country, private houses
ing numbers. It is a misfortune that this had happened at a time
when English architecture was at a low ebb in Britain, and the
builders belonged to a community of merchants not excessively
sensitive to beauty. Some splendid exceptions exist. A few bunga-
lows and rest houses in Georgian style (e.g. the Rest House at Choa
Saidan Shah in the Salt Range), and some public and private build-
ings in Calcutta could boast of a worthy design : none of them were
[50]
The Meeting with Western Architecture
With the change to Empire came the worst period of all. Victorian
architecture revelled in "archaeological memories," i.e. imitations
of antique styles, such as Greco-Roman temples for banks and
clubs, Scottish baronial buildings for private residences, neo-ro-
manesque for offices and neo-gothic for churches and other public
erections. These falsehoods were perpetrated all over the country,
and you see many examples of them everywhere. There is the
Frere Hall in Karachi, the cathedral at Simla, many an old church
in Calcutta, in Madras and the cathedral in Lahore. There is also
an attempt at "oriental" styles, a hybrid combination of Islamic
arcuate and domed buildings with modern brickwork and steel
girders to support them most of these are shocking examples of
:
well done, and the materials used up to the 1920s were good, as time
passed, economy became more and more imperative until, by 1931
;
[51]
Indian Architecture
[52]
The Meeting with Western Architecture
early 1920s could have adopted, when in Europe the modern move-
ment had hardly started. In a sterile period there were only few
pioneers, mainly a few in England and Scotland, and the Bauhaus
of Germany who were creating what has become in the 'forties a
powerful new style in architecture. It is the bad fortune of New
Delhi that it had to be built at a time when the old style had lost
all life and virility, and the new was not yet grown up. Bad fortune,
[53]
CHAPTER XI
Contemporary Architecture
in India
is going to develop.
The face of the village
is changing. After three thousand years
of iron could be. You can support a huge building of ten or fifteen
storieson four pillars if you want to, or stretch a railway roof across
a dozen rail lines, without the slightest fear of the roof coming down :
[54]
Contemporary Architecture in India
The possibilities of this material have not yet been fully exploi-
ted. The mediocre architect uses r.c.c. more or
a substitute
less as
for iron beams, a violence to the genius of this structural method,
as it were. Others fall into the error, under the general pressure
of a present day preference for simplicity, to make buildings that
bore us with their monotony and lack of facade design. Function-
alism can be carried too far, as already alluded to in the Introduc-
tion (pp. 2-3), and M. Le Corbusier, in an earlier book of his, claimed
that the house is "a machine to live in" a totally wrong principle
that he has himself abandoned since. I repeat that functional
purposefulness is essential, but makes no great architecture. Great
architecture is art, addressed, no doubt, to a practical purpose, but
has the same ultimate aim as the other two arts, painting and
sculpture it must move us, elate us, give us an emotional satis-
:
[55]
Indian Architecture
[56]
Contemporary Architecture in India
be welcome, and only the imitator and the copyist should be dis-
couraged.
Finally, there is one more point that ought to be mentioned,
however brief this account is. It is the importance to bring back
the painter and the sculptor to help the architect. In the West too
there is a lively awareness that the separation of the three arts
has done harm to all three the architect, the painter and the
:
sculptor. In India where these three were once entirely one artist,
it is essential to employ the painter to use his brush on bare sur-
faces, and the sculptor to give emphasis with his sculpture or relievo
work to the monotony of the mere architect's wall. Architect, sculp-
tor and painter were able in olden days to create structures of
exquisite beauty, and from their united effort in these days we
may expect new creations of noble architecture.
[57]
:
Glossary of
Architectural Terms
Students who wish to consult a more detailed glossary of such terms are
A Short Dictionary of Architecture by Dora Ware and Betty
advised to turn to
Beatty, third edition, Allen and Unwin, London, 1953. That book, unfortunately,
will not help with terms typical of Indian architecture.
balustrade
barrel-roof
:
:
fence, railing.
a long, shaped roof
half-barrel
rather like on a covered wagon. Used
especially in Buddhist art, in South India,
and sometimes in Orissa.
s/^ /^ /
~--l*-
J
[58]
.
manufactured.
chaitya : Buddhist shrine of any kind, from a sacred tree to a large
rock-cut cathedral chaitya window : a horseshoe shaped win-
;
[59]
Indian Architecture
r-r-^j-* \ tt
'
|
i -
below, until the top brick completes an
-hr- 1 tf
'
1 arch-like opening. Not a true arch, which
3-J is made of voussoirs and held by a keystone.
See arch.
cupola: a dome, a small dome.
cusped arch : an arch, especially Islamic and
Gothic, in which the curve of the arch is
built up by smaller curves.
deul : vimana
see
dome : rounded vault, mostly on a circular base, used as a roof, can
be semi-globular, onion-shaped, etc., sometimes on a poly-
gonal base. A cupola.
[60]
Glossary of Architectural Terms
an inset panel.
[61]
Indian Architecture
SHAFT
pinnacle
j \ &ASt
AMLA
[62]
Glossary of Architectural Terms
pillar,
sikhara : Sanskrit word for a tower, a spire.
spire : see sikhara.
squinch : the internal angle under a roof or dome where the arches
meet, a corner under a dome.
stupa : Sanskrit term for a Buddhist funereal monument, a solid
dome, mostly crowned by a harmikd or umbrella(s), sometimes
with a base, often surrounded by a railing or balustrade.
[63]
Bibliography
man of his age, but also because hundreds of important monuments have been dis-
covered since his days, and the correct date of the monuments often differs from the
one he assumed. The only attempt at anything like a comprehensive history of
Indian architecture is the two volumes by Percy Brown. This too is far more an
archaeological work, though it does have some perspicacious observations by a man
who was, really, a painter by education. The same applies to Havell's books, much
more amateurish than Percy Brown's thorough study. Besides these books devoted
to the subject there are chapters on Indian 'architecture in all books dealing with
Indian art, the majority of them (Coomaraswamy, Kramrisch, Rowland, Zimmer)
stopping around 1500 A. D., with the arrival of Islamic forms. Then there are large
tomes on archaeological subjects such as Sanchi or Taxila or Chalukya architecture
and the like, again memoirs on sites after excavation, but none of these deal with
architectural art alone.
Percy Brown : Indian Architecture. 2 vols., "Buddhist and Hindu," and "Is-
lamic Period." Bombay, no date, second edition about 1947 or so.
C. Batley Indian Architecture (architectural drawings). Bombay & London, 1954.
:
E. B. Havell: Indian Architecture. London, 1913. Indian Architecture from the First
Muhammadan Invasion to the Present Day. London, 1913.
E. La Roche Indische Baukunst. Munich, 1921.
:
Benjamin Rowland: The Art and Architecture of India : Buddhist, Hindu, Jain.
(Pelican History of Art.) London, 1953.
Heinrich Zimmer The Art of Indian Asia : Its Mytliology and Transformations.
:
2 vols. Edited and completed by Joseph Campbell, New York, 1955. (Chapter
VII is devoted to Indian architecture.)
H. Parmentier L' art architectural dans ITndc et en Extreme Orient. Paris, 1934.
:
[64]
List of Plates
Plate 2. A pillar capital ofMauryan times, about 3rd century B.C. found at
Patna, now in the Patna Museum, Bihar. Persepolitan motifs. Sandstone.
Plate 3. The Lomas Rishi cave, Barabar Hills, Bihar. Carved out of the rock with
an entrance faithfully copying the front of a bamboo hut. An inscription allows us
to date this cave into the 3rd century B.C.
circular end to allow worshippers to walk round the stupa. Date probably 2nd :
century B.C.
Plate 5. The great Buddhist cathedral cave at Karle, District Poona, ist century
B.C. The umbrella over the rock-cut stupa, and the ribs in the high vaulted roof
are actual pieces of wood.
Plate 6. The Great Stupa, Sanchi. Built round an older and smaller stupa of
the emperor Asoka. the enlargement to the present size dates from about 150 B.C.
to the first century a.d.
Plate 7. The earliest known structural stone temple : a small shrine next to the
Huchimalliguddi Temple at Aihole. Date : 350 a.d, or earlier.
Plate S. The little classic Gupta Temple (No. 17) at Sanchi. Stone, with a
tetrastyle portico. Date : about 400 a.d.
Plate 9. The Lad Khan Temple at Aihole, near Badami. First attempt at a turret
on top of the roof the circumambulatory path has perforated screen windows.
;
Plate 10. The Durga Temple, Aihole, seen from NE. An apsidal temple of about
550 a.d., in which an open pillared verandah provides the pradakshina-patha.
[65]
Indian Architecture
Plate ii. The Malegitti Sivalaya, a small temple at Badami, Mysore border.
The facade has recesses and salient and re-entrant facets. The roof (incomplete)
was made loftier by the use of a number of round hut-shaped turrets. Date about :
675 A.D.
Plate 15. The Shore Temple at Mamallapuram. Erected in stone masonry (some
two hundred years later than the previous rock-cut temple, Plate 14) it has a much
more ambitious ground plan, three shrines, a lofty spire and a high pinnacle. Date :
Plate 16. Two of the erstwhile three shrines of Miivar Kovil, Kodumbalur, Madras.
Slightly top-heavy, mannerist temples, closely related to the Mamallapuram style.
Date : between 750 and 800 a.d.
Plate 17. The Baital Deul at Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, a barrel-roofed shrine of the
&akti-cult. Date : about 600 to 625 a.d.
Plate 18. Characteristically ornate pillar of the baroque period with three capitals,
one on top of the other, rich fluting, and human and divine figures. Now in Lahore
Museum. Date : about 9th century a.d.
Plate 20. Part of the facade of the Rajarani Temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.
Typical example of baroque wealth, with superb feeling for decorative values. Ad-
mirable treatment of the human body, with floral and geometric ornaments. Date :
Plate 21. The little temple of Sirihanatha on an island in the Mahanadi, Orissa.
The jagamohana part is roofed by a triple roof of slanting slabs a predecessor of the
:
Plate 22. The Rajarani Temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. Built about 1000 a.d.
[66]
List of Plates
Plate 24. The Lingaraja Temple at Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. Built about 1100
a.d., it is the largest and most imposing temple in Bhubaneshwar. The elevation
here seen is not complete, as many additional shrines make it impossible to take a
photograph of the whole.
Plate 25. The Brihadisvara Temple at Tanjavur, Madras, with a single pyramidal
spire,crowned by a domical finial, and a plain long mandapa adjoining the shrine
proper. Built about 1000 a.d.
Plate 26. Inside the Minakshi Temple compound at Madurai, Madras. Looking
across the pond towards two 12th century gopuras.
Plate 27. Front view, Kesava Temple, Somanathapura, Mysore. Not in direct
descent from the Tanjavur temple, or the gopuras, this structure is an example of
borderland art, in which touches of the Northern style mingle with the Dravidian.
Built in 1 144 a.d.
Plate 28. Part of the Hoysalesvara Temple, Halebid, Mysore, showing lavish
decoration in rococo style. Built in 1143 a.d.
Plate 29. The Qutb Minar at Mehrauli, Delhi. (The top stories are modern repair
and inaccurate). Served both as a Tower of Victory and as a muadhin's call tower
attached to the Quwwat ul-Islam masjid. Built about 1200 a.d.
Plate 30. Humayun's Tomb, Delhi. Built by his widow, it is the very first Mughal
monument, a masterpiece that served as a model for many (cp. Plate 33, the Taj
Maball).
Plate 31. The Panch Maball Palace of Five Stories at Fatehpur Sikri, near
Agra. Built by order of Akbar. Pink sandstone. Trabeated construction on Hindu
principles. Only the dome is Western Asian.
[67]
:
Indian Architecture
is emphatic shape of the dome (Humayun's is less soaring) and in the addition
in the
Plate 34. The Hawa Maball Palace of Winds at Jaipur : a late piece of ex-
perimental work. Thousands of openings and perforations made to catch every
little breeze in the hot Rajasthan summer. Arched windows and curvilinear domes
are brilliantly melted into a Hindu style that goes back to the Orissan temple spire.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All by the author, except two
the photographs reproduced in this book are
the Buddhist cave temple at Karle, Plateand the Hawa Maball of Jaipur,
5,
Plate 34. These are after photographs very kindly supplied by Department of
Archaeology, Government of India, and the author and the publishers express their
sincere thanks to the Director-General of Archaeology for his courtesy to permit their
publication.
The drawings reproduced in the text illustrations and the Glossary are by the
author.
Finally the author wishes to express his gratitude to all the officers and subordinate
employees of the Department of Archaeology for their unfailing courtesy during his
many visits to the ancient monuments of India, not the least to those in South India,
in Orissa and Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole.
[68]
Ecfe-c 'iziz
PLATE I
on a
fortified city
Representation of a
bas-relief of the railinground the Buddh-
ist stfipa of Sanchi,
near Bhopal. Houses
within the walk.
of timber and mud
century B. C. (Photo: L,. (
Date: isi
.
Fabri.)
'
4,
^
PLATE 2
PLATE 4 The small rock rut shrine at Kanheri, in the Bombay lulls. There is a
pradakshina-patha circurnarnbulatory path behind the pillars and round
the apsis- circular end -to allow worshippers to walk round the stiipa.
: probably 2nd century b. c. (Photo C. L. Fabri.)
:
a
-
a
i,
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- p
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PLATE 7 The known structural stone temple a small shrine next to
earliest :
the Huchi-
malliguddi Temple at Aihole. Date: 350 a.d. or earlier. (Photo C : I. Fabri.)
<
z z
"3 5fl
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PLATE II
PLATE 12
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PLATE 17 I li<' Bait&l Deul .it Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, A barrel-roofed
shrine <>! the s.iUti cult .Date aboul 600 to <>- 5 \ i> (Photo:
:
C. I.. Fabri.)
PLATE 18
PLATE 19
'-rrr
m \'" [Ml
H
.J^
< i.
iKX
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* 1 P Jc
Typical
PLATE 20 r.irt the facade oi the Rijarini Temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.
..i
18
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- =
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-
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PLATE 24 The Liagarija Temple .itBhubaneshwar, Orissa. Built about
, too v ,, ,1 bs the largest and most imposing temple in Bhubanesh-
elevation here seen is not complete, as many additional
shnn- make it impossible to take a photograph ol the whole.
I l-.il.ri.)
M A
2 U
J. z
-^
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- _
X
=
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o '
-3 8 u
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PLATE 29 The <>utl> Mmar Mehrauli, Delhi (the top stories are modern
at
repair and inaccurate) Served both as a Tower ol Victory and a--
.
- E _
PLATE 31
The Pa rich Mahall Palace of Five Stories at Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra.
Built by order of Akbar. Pink sandstone. Trabeated construction on Hindu
principles. Only the dome is Western Asian. (Photo C. L. Fabri.)
:
PLATE 32
|,lu '"'' Kh&s M. ill oi Private Audience a1 Fatehpur Sikri, Splendid combin-
'"" "' Hindu and [slamii elements, n is an "experimental" piece ol architecture, without
parallel, fhefourrooi pavilions are too large. Pink Agra sandstone. (Photo C. L. Fabri.)
:
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Index
Index
Subjects and names in the Glossary and in the Bibliography are not listed in
this index. The word passim indicates that a word is found frequently and in many
places.
Amber city :
47 barsdtl, a room on the roof for the
Andhra State 20, : see also Amaravati. rains 43
:
Arab, Arabic :
38, 39 53
arch, arcuate :
13. 38ff., 47. 55 Belur. town in Mysore :
34-35
archaic :
3 Bengal :
39. 47
architecture, an art : 2 bhakti, devotion :
34
Arjuna's Ratha" at Mamallapuram : Bharata Natya. system of classical
II, Plate 13 dance 33 :
[99]
:
Index
Bombay State :
9 21-22, Plate 14
bracket : 13, 18, 39, 44, 52, Text DInpanah, one of former cities of Delhi
Figure 2 40
Brahmesvara Temple : 28, Plate 23 Diwan-e Khas in Fatehpur-Sikri : 43-
Brihadisvara Temple : 31, 48, Plate 44, Plate 32
25 dome 39ft, 47, 52, 55
:
Byzantium :
39 "Draupadi's Ratha," Mamallapuram :
20-21, Plate 12
Dra vidian : passim, especially, 20-22,
Calcutta : 51, see also bengal 31-35. 47
capital of pillar : passim Durga Temple, Aihole : 18, 19, 25, 26,
caravan-sarai :
39 Plate 10, Text Figure 3.
caves : 8ff., 12 Dutch : 50
cells of monks monastery : see dvdrapdli, door guardian woman : 20
chaitya-window horseshoe shaped , : 21,
55
chajja, eaves 2, 43, 44, 56 :
,
East india company : 50
Chandigarh town 56 : eclecticism : 41-42
Chanhu-daro, ancient site 6 : Egypt 34 :
cusped arch :
47 Frere Hall, Karachi : 51
Cuttack town : 13, 23 functional, functionalism : 2-3, 37, 54,
55
Dance :
29, 32, 33
dating by inscriptions : 22 fn. fANDHARA, ANCIENT KINGDOM I 14
[IOO]
1 :
Index
Gwalior town :
47 19, 28, 34, 56
Kodumbalur see Muvar Kovil
:
[101]
:
Index
Madurai, temple :
32 Oriel window :
37, 47
Mahabalipuram : see Mamallapuram Orissa State :
3, 13, 23-30, 31, 34, 48
Mahratta people :
47
Malegitti Sivalaya, temple : 19, 25,
Plate 11 Padmanabhapuram, palace of : 14
Mamallapuram, temples of: 20-22, 31, painter :
4, 57
49 palace : 8, 36, 42-46, 47, 52
mandapa : see temple, jagamohana, Panch Mahall, Fatehpur-Sikri :
42-43,
bhoga-mandapa, pillared hall 56, Plate 31
mannerism, style : 3-4, 19, 22, 24, 31 Pandavas, heroes of the Mahabharata :
marble 44-46 : 20
Marshall, Sir John, archaeologist : 52 Parasuramesvara Temple : 26
masjid : see mosque Parvati (goddess) :
29
Maurya, dynasty : 8 ParvatI Temple :
27
mausoleum : see tomb Pataliputra, ancient name of Patna : 8
Mehrauli, Delhi :
37 Patna : 8
MinakshI Temple : 32-33, Plate 26 Pattadakal, temple town :
23
minar : 45, see also Qutb Persepolis, capital of Achaemenids : 8
Mohenjo-daro, prehistoric site : 6 pietra dura, inlay work of semi-precious
monastery : 11-13, 20, 56 stones :
37, 44, 45
mosque : 4-5, 36-49 and passim pillared hall : 8, 33, 34.
muadhin, who calls Muslims to prayer : f Poona District :
9, 10
38 portico : 15, 17, 18
mud huts, mud houses : 6-7, 14 and Portuguese 50 :
37
Nagarjunakonda, site in andhra : Puri in Orissa : 26
12, 20, 21 "P. W. D. style" : 51
Nalanda, Buddhist site in Bihar :
13
nata-mandira, hall for dance and music :
39
neo-gothic style : 51 Qutb ud-din 'Aibak, Sultan :
37
neo-romanesque style :
51 Qutb Minar, Mehrauli, Delhi : 38, Plate
New Delhi :
52-53, 55 29
"Northern" style of architecture :
23, Quwwat ul-Islam mosque, Mehrauli,
31.32 Delhi :
37
[102]
:
:
Index
Railing, balustrade 11-12, 52 iikhara, the temple spire : 18, 19, 22,
:
7,
Rajagriha fort, Bihar : 7-8 26, 27, 30, 34, 35, 48.
Palace :
52 26, 31
[103]
I
Index
Yakshl, nymph :
25
Vedic times : 6, 23 Yama, god of death :
29
[104]
An Introduction to Indian Architecture
presents the fascinating picture of the changing pattern of Indian architecture
from the earliest Buddhist structures to the magnificent caves, from the first attempts
at temple building to the gigantic gopuras of the south and the masterpieces of
Indo-Islamic building. Beautifully illustrated with thirty-four photographs, the book
traces th** grandeur of ancient Indian architecture, the influence on it of Islamic
architecture and its meeting with Western architecture.
Specially prepared for the layman who seeks to explore this great heritage of India,
the book avoids tiresome enumerations and and aims at
difficult technicalities
Distinguished archaeologist, art-critic and scholar, Charles Louis Fabri (born 1899),
who has done considerable excavation work in India, began his career as an assistant
conservator at Kern Institute of Indian Archaeology, Leyden University, Holland,
under Professor J. Ph. Vogel. His first contact with India was in 1931-32 when he
came here with the British Museum-Harvard University Expedition team ledby
Sir Aurel Stein. Af*er a brief period in a responsible position at the British Museum,
T
Dr. Fabri returned to ndia as visiting European professor in art history at
Santiniketan in 1934.
Between 1935 and 1938, Dr. Fabri was an officer in the Archaeological Survey of
India; reorganized the Central Museum, Lahore; and was director, Punjab Exploration
Fund. During 1949-50 he was lecturer at the National Museum of India, Delhi.
Dr. Fabri, a resident in India for the last twenty-eight years, has been a guest
lecturer at many universities in India and Europe. A regular contributor to leading
journals, he is the author of the following books : The Stoiie Age ; Indian Flamingo ;
mental History of Indian Art (in press) and Khajuraho (with Stella Kramrisch and
;