Indian History of Art,

Architecture & Culture

Lecture – 1
Orientation of the Course
Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Pre - Ancient Medieval Dravidian Mughal Mughal Focus on Focus on British Modern Post Conclude
Historic History Period Period Period Period Himachal Himachal Colonial period Modern
& period period
10000 300 BC to 7th 12th 15th 15th Miniature
BC to 7th century century century century paintings After

Visit to Masroor Temple

16th 21st

Visit to Sujanpur Tira

200 BC century to 12th to 17th to 17th to 17th century Independ Century
Century Century Century Century to 19th ence

FIELD VISIT

FIELD VISIT
Century
Ancient Buddhist
Indus Maurya Chalukyan
Indo -
Vedic Kushanas Cholas Corbusier
Sarcenic
Aryans Guptas Central Kahn
Neo -
Pallava India MF
Classical
Invasions Rajputs Hussain
Art deco
of Tribal Art Habib
Mughal Rehman

Learning Learning Learning

Diary Diary Diary
Why this course?
 Gandabherunda

• Adapted from Sumerian Kingdom

• First appears in Jaina Stupa Base at Taxila
• A common Sarcenic & European armorial device
• In Sinhalese Folk art
• In Brihadesvra temple, Tanjavur
• Symbol of strength
• Official state emblem of Karnataka
What to take
from where?
&
How to
iNTEGRATE!
 Lower Paleolithic
First traces of Indian civilization 2,500,000 -200,000
BC
in the Early Human History
Middle Paleolithic
200,000 – 50,000 BC
Paleolithic
(Old Stone Age)
Upper Paleolithic Bhimbhetka
50,000 - 10,000 BC Caves

Stone Age Mesolithic

(Middle Stone Age) Vedic Period
10,000 – 3000 BC Mehrgarh (6500 BC)
Bronze Age
Three Ages (3000 – 1000 BC)
Neolithic Indus Valley Civilization
(New Stone Age) Mehrgarh, Harrappa,
Iron Age Mohejodaro, Kalibangan, Lothal
1000 BC - present
In transition
Chalcolithic (Copper Age)
 Human Civilizations
across the world

Over the final ten millennia BC (ca. 10,000 BC-0), most of the world transitioned to the Neolithic age. The unfolding of this transition
can be mapped with very rough approximations for individual regions. For instance, Neolithic life was achieved in Mesopotamia ca.
10,000 BC; in Greece, ca. 7000 BC; in India, ca. 5000 BC; in Britain, ca. 3000 BC.
The earliest river valley civilizations

After the Holocene around 10000 BC. As a result of global warming, we see the
emergence of several new cultural formations.
Development of early culture
Pre- Historic Period
Art

As Sir John
Marshall puts it, ‘as
a valuable medium
in which to narrate
legend and history
of its faith.’

Source : Pg 36- History of India

and Indonesian Art,
By - Ananda K Coomaraswamy

Image Source : http://www.natgeotraveller.in/madhya-pradesh/rock-of-ages-madhya-

pradeshs-ancient-art-galleries-come-alive-in-bhimbetka/
Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka
The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are in the foothills of
the Vindhyan Mountains on the southern edge of the
central Indian plateau. Within massive sandstone
outcrops, above comparatively dense forest, are five
clusters of natural rock shelters, displaying paintings
that appear to date from the Mesolithic Period right
through to the historical period. The cultural traditions
of the inhabitants of the twenty-one villages adjacent
to the site bear a strong resemblance to those
represented in the rock paintings.
Source : http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=925

Image Source : http://www.natgeotraveller.in/madhya-pradesh/rock-of-ages-

madhya-pradeshs-ancient-art-galleries-come-alive-in-bhimbetka/
Transition of Art Works at
Bhimbetka
The paintings represent the whole spectrum of time and can
be classified under 7 periods:
Period I (Upper Paleolithic)
Period II (Mesolithic)
Period III (Chalcolithic)
Period IV & V (Early historic)
Period VI & VII (Medieval)

The superimposition of paintings shows that the same canvas

was used by different people at different times.
These depict the lives and times of the people who lived in
the caves, including scenes of childbirth, communal dancing
and drinking, and religious rites and burials, as well as the
natural environment around them.
Source:
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bhimbetka
_rock_shelters

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_india/
bhimbetka.php
Period 1 (Upper Paleolithic)
Linear representations of huge figures of animals such as bison, tigers, and rhinoceroses in green and dark red.

Source:
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/File:Bhi
mbetka.JPG

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_in
dia/bhimbetka.php
Period II (Mesolithic)
Comparatively small in size, the stylized figures in that group show linear decorations on the body. In addition to animals,
human figures and hunting scenes appear, giving a clear picture of the weapons they used: barbed spears, pointed sticks,
bows and arrows. The depiction of communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mother and child pregnant women, men
carrying dead animal drinking and burials appear in rhythmic movement.

Source:
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bhimbet
ka_rock_shelters

Image Source:
http://vm.kemsu.ru/en/mezolith/bhimpet.html
Period II (Mesolithic)
Period II (Mesolithic)
Period III (Chalcolithic)
Similar to the paintings of the Chalcolithic, these drawings reveal that during the period the cave dwellers of this area had
been in contact with the agricultural communities of the Malwa plains and exchanged goods with them.

Image Source:
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_india/
bhimbetka.php
Period III (Chalcolithic)

Source:
https://speakzeasy.wordpress.com
/2015/03/06/rock-shelters-of-
bhimbetka/
Cattle breeding
Period IV & V (Early historic)
The figures of this group have a schematic and decorative style, painted mainly in red, white, and yellow. The association
of riders, depiction of religious symbols, Tunic-like dresses and the existence of scripts of different periods appear.
Figures of yakshas, tree gods and magical sky chariots represent religious beliefs.

Image Source:
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_india/bhimbetka.php
 Period IV & V (Early historic)

Image Source:
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/india/central_india/bhimbetka.php
Period VI & VII (Medieval)
The paintings have geometric linear and more schematic shapes, showing degenerations and crudeness in their artistic
style. The cave dwellers prepared the colors they used by combining manganese hematite soft red stone and wooden coal.

Source:
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/
entry/File:Bhimbetka.JPG
Observations
Sculpture
• 3 Dimensional Art Form
• The leading method of expressing and commemorating both
historical figures and events.
• Sculpture is the only branch of the visual arts that is specifically
concerned with expressive three-dimension form.
Architecture
• Architecture is the Matrix of Civilization. Historically architecture remains as the
principal visible and material record, through the ages, of man’s intellectual
evolution.
• With the Greeks this was refined perfection; Roman buildings are remarkable for
their scientific construction: French Gothic reveals a condition of passionate
energy, while Italian Renaissance reflects the scholarship of its time. In the same
way the outstanding quality of the architecture of India is its spiritual content.
• an unending array of imagery steeped in symbolism, thus producing an “Ocean of
Story” of absorbing interest.

Source : Brown, Percy. Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Period) . Read Books Ltd.. Kindle Edition.
Indus Valley Civilization
Mehrgarh (7000 BC – 2000 BC)
Harappa (3800 BC – 1300 BC)
Mohenjo-Daro (2500 BC – 1800 BC)
Lothal (3700 – 1900 BC)
Determinants for development of a civilization
Location

Source :
https://www.mapsofindia.com/history/flash-
history.htm
Timeline of the Indus Civilization
Important sites are listed after each phase :
• Chalcolithic cultures 4300-3200 BC
• Early Harappan 3500-2700 BC (Mohenjo-Daro, Mehrgarh,
Jodhpura, Padri)
• Early Harappan/Mature Harappan Transition 2800-2700 BC
(Kumal, Nausharo, Kot Diji, Nari)
• Mature Harappan 2700-1900 BC (Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro,
Shortgua, Lothal, Nari)
• Late Harappan 1900-1500 BC (Lothal, Bet Dwarka)
Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/indus-civilization-timeline-and-description-171389
 Mehrgarh Facts
Mehrgarh was discovered and excavated by an international led by French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige; the site was
excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986 by the French Archaeological Mission in collaboration with the Department of
Archaeology of Pakistan.
• Mehrgarh Period I • Aceramic period, without the use of pottery
(7000 BCE-5500 BCE) • Had knowledge of proto-dentistry
• Earliest farming – Barley & wheat
• Domestication of animals
• Mehrgarh Period II • Ceramic Neolithic, using pottery and later chalcolithic.
(5500 BCE–4800 BCE) • Figurines of females were decorated with paint and had diverse hairstyles and ornaments.
and • Technologies included stone and copper drills, updraft kilns, large pit kilns and copper
• Mehrgarh Period III melting crucibles.
(4800 BCE–3500 BCE)
• Mehrgarh Periods IV, V • Man began to live together in settled social life and used polished stone tools, made pots and
and VI (3500 BCE-3000 pans, beads and other ornaments.
BCE) • His taste for decoration developed and he began to paint his vessels, jars, bowls, drinking
glasses, dishes and plates.
• Mehrgarh Period VII • It has been surmised that the inhabitants of Mehrgarh migrated to the fertile Indus valley as the
(2600 BCE-2000 BCE) Balochistan became more arid with climatic changes.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/mehrgarh-pakistan-life-indus-valley-171796
Mehrgarh Art in Lifestyle – Lapus Lazuli

Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is

a deep blue metamorphic
rock used as a semi-precious
stone that has been prized
since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium
BCE, lapis lazuli was mined in
the Sar-i Sang mines in Shortugai,
and in other mines in Badakhshan
province in northeast Afghanistan.
Lapis was highly valued by
the Indus Valley
Civilisation (3300–1900 BC) and
lapis beads have been found
at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh.
Mehrgarh Art - Pottery
Evidence of pottery begins from Period II. In period III, the finds become much
more abundant as the potter's wheel is introduced, and they show more
intricate designs and also animal motifs. Some sophisticated firing techniques
were used from Period VI and VII However, by Period VIII, the quality and
intricacy of designs seem to have suffered due to mass production, and due to
a growing interest in bronze and copper vessels.
Source:
http://www.heritage.gov.pk/html_Pages/history1.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehrgarh
https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/kno
wledge-bank-
article/vol_I%20silk%20road_pre%20indus%20and%2
0early%20indus%20cultures%20of%20pakistan%20an
d%20india.pdf
Mehrgarh Sculpture - Venus Figurines Seated Mother Goddess
3000–2500 BC. Mehrgarh.

Female figure from Mehrgarh; c.3000 BCE; terracotta; height: 9.5 cm (33⁄4 in). Part of the
Neolithic ‘Venus figurines’ tradition, this figure's abundant breasts and hips suggest links to
fertility and procreation. Her hair was probably painted black; brown ochre would have covered
the body, and her necklace was probably yellow. Her seated posture, with arms crossed under
the breasts, is common throughout the region, as is her extravagant hairstyle.
Image Source: Eye Resemblance to
http://www.heritage.gov.pk/html_Pages/history1.html
Mesopotamian sculptures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh Sculpture –
Copper
One of the most exciting discoveries of the year: a
detailed, full-field photoluminescence study of a 6,000
year old copper "wheel" amulet from Mehrgarh in
Balochistan has opened the door to many new facts about
this period of history. This study by Ipanema, the
European center for the study of ancient materials,
believes that this is the oldest known example of the "lost
wax" casting technique, one of the most important
innovations in the history of metallurgy.
In this method of metal casting, a mold is made with wax,
then covered in clay and baked until the wax melts out
and the clay forms a hard mold. Then molten metal is
poured into this cavity and cooled until it hardens. When
the mold is broken open, a perfect metal model of the
original wax structure remains. In this example from
Mehrgarh, the form is also one of the oldest known
ancient Indus signs, possibly of a wheel, but certainly of a
six-spoked circular object.
Mehrgarh Architecture
Observations
 Harappan Facts
Harappa was discovered in 1826 and first excavated in 1920 and 1921 by the Archaeological Survey of India, led by Rai Bahadur
Daya Ram Sahni, as described later by M.S. Vats.

• Period 1: pre-Harappan
Ravi aspect of the Hakra
phase, 3800–2800 BCE
• Period 2: Kot Diji Phase
(Early Harappan, incipient
urbanization, ca 25
hectares), 2800–2600 BCE
• Ravi aspect - people from older Ravi phase sites in the adjacent hills were the migrants who
first settled Harappa.
• Harappa was a small settlement with a collection of workshops, where craft specialists made
agate beads.
• Used standardized sun-baked adobe bricks to build city walls and domestic architecture.
• The settlement was laid out along gridded streets tracing the cardinal directions
• Wheeled carts pulled by bulls for transporting heavy commodities into Harappa.
• First evidence for writing in the region, consisting of a piece of pottery with a possible
early Indus script
• Commerce and trade with Mesopotamia
• A cubical limestone weight that conforms to the later Harappan weight system
• Square stamp seals were used to mark clay seals on bundles of goods.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/harappa-pakistan-capital-city-171278
https://www.harappa.com/content/timeline
 Harappan Facts
• Period 3: Harappa Phase (aka
Mature Phase or Integration
era, the major urban center of
150 ha and between 60,000–
80,000 people), 2600–1900 BCE
• Period 4: Transitional to Late
Harappa, 1900-1800 BC
• Period 5: Late Harappa Phase,
also known as the Localization
phase or Late declining phase,
1900–1300 BCE
Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/harappa-pakistan-capital-city-171278
• The city was ruled by influential elites, who were likely merchants, landowners, and
religious leaders.
• Baked brick is first used in quantity during this phase, especially in walls and floors
exposed to water.
• Architecture from this period includes multiple walled sectors, gateways, drains, wells,
and fired brick buildings.
• Also during the Harappa phase, a faience and steatite bead production workshop
blossomed
• Harappa began to lose their power
• A result of shifting river patterns - People migrated out of the cities on the river banks
and up into smaller cities the higher reaches of the Indus, Gujarat and Ganga-Yamuna
valleys.
• An increase in interpersonal violence.
• Earlier scholars have suggested catastrophic flood or disease, trade decline, and a now-
discredited "Aryan invasion."
Harappan Art in Lifestyle Weights – Cubical Limestone weights

[Original 1931 text] "The flint implements found at Mohenjo-daro are of the simplest description, most of them being long flakes that were
probably used for cutting up meat and for other household purposes. Both the flakes and cores from which they were struck are found in
nearly all the houses. Indeed, it is probable hat flakes were struck by the servants of the household whenever an implement of this kind was
required. . .. The large number of weights found at Mohenjo-daro, in small houses as well as large, suggests that the housewife realized the
necessity of checking the weights of the goods she purchased. These weights range from large examples that had to be lifted with a rope or
metal ring to very small ones which were probably used be jewelers for weighing precious metals. The majority are cubical in shape, quite
unlike those used in Babylonia. We have as yet found no scales; probably these were of a very simple pattern, and they were made of wood, as
seems likely, they would have perished long ago." [Marshall, Vol. II, p. 461]
Harappan Art in Lifestyle

[Original 1931 text] We have certain proof in Nos 327-40 and Possibly No. 542, that this type of bull was known in India in very
early times. The characteristic hump on the shoulders allows of no doubt whatsoever. Fortunately the majority of seals on which
this animal is represented are very well preserved. Indeed, rather more care seems to have been taken with the portrayal of this
animal than with some of the others. No. 337 is marvelously well engraved and finished; in feeling and in the careful portrayal
of the muscles it will compare favorably with early glyphic art anywhere. The heavy wrinkled dewlap is especially well done, as
is the case also with the bulls of seals 333 and 339. On seal No. 337 a band or garland of some kind has been thrown over the
bull's shoulders; and on seal 333 the shoulders together with a portion of the hump appear to be draped with some material.
[Marshall, Vol. II, p. 387]
Harappan Art in Lifestyle

Ravi Phase Pot Ravi Phase Pedestaled Vessel

Steatite ( Soapstone – The Mineral Talc

occurring in consolidated form) Bead Necklace Terracotta Bead Necklace Terracotta Beads
Harappan Art in Lifestyle

Late Harappan Pottery

Harappan Sculpture

Colllection of Human and

Animal Figurines

Source:
https://www.harappa.com/slides
hows/mystery-mound-f-harappa
Harrapan Sculpture – Female Figurines

Female Figurine
nursing an infant

Female Figurine with three Female Figurine with a

chokers/ necklace in her neck decorative headdress

Female Figurines
Harappan Sculpture - Male Figurines

Seated Male Figurines Standing Male Male Figurine with a Horned headdress
Figurine
Harappan Sculpture - Animals

Monkey Ox/ Bullock Cart Ram ( Male Sheep) Feline (Cat Family)

Bird Rhinoceros Elephant

Harappan Sculpture
[Original 1931 text] [Original 1931 text] "It is the
"The treatment of figure of a dancer standing on his
the red stone torso right leg, with the body from the
could hardly be waist upwards bent well round to
simpler or more the left, both arms thrown out in
direct. The pose is a the same direction, and the left
frontal one with leg raised high in front. . ..
shoulders well back Although its contours are soft ane
and abdomen effeminate, the figure is that of a
slightly prominent; male, and it seems likely that it
but the beauty of was ithyphallic, since the
this little statuette is membrum virile was made in a
in the refined and separate piece. I infer, too, from
wonderfully truthful the abnormal thickness of the
modeling of the neck, that the dancer was three-
fleshy parts." headed or at any rate three-
(Marshall, Vol. I, p. faced, and I conjecture that he
46) may represent the youthful Siva
Nataraja." (Marshall, Vol I, p. 46)

Statuette of red stone Statuette of grey

from Harappa stone from Harappa
Harappa Architecture

Granary at Harappa

Plan of the Granary

Harappa Architecture

Public Well
A massive baked brick
revetment wall
 Mohenjo-Daro Facts
Mohenjo-daro was discovered in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India, two years after major
excavations had begun at Harappa, some 590 km to the north. Large-scale excavations were carried out at the site under the
direction of John Marshall, K. N. Dikshit, Ernest Mackay, and numerous other directors through the 1930s.
• Mohenjo-Daro • Great Bath built at Mohejo-daro
(2500 BCE)
• 1800 BC • Abandoned
• Aryan invasions

• A WELL-PLANNED STREET grid and an elaborate drainage system hint that the occupants of the ancient Indus civilization
city of Mohenjo Daro were skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water.
• The city lacks ostentatious palaces, temples, or monuments.
• There's no obvious central seat of government or evidence of a king or queen.
• Modesty, order, and cleanliness were apparently preferred.
• Pottery and tools of copper and stone were standardized.
• Seals and weights suggest a system of tightly controlled trade.
• The city's wealth and stature is evident in artifacts such as ivory, lapis, carnelian, and gold beads, as well as the baked-brick
city structures themselves.
Mohenjo-daro Art in Lifestyle

[Original 1931 text] "The three-headed beast on seal 382 appears to be a composite of three
animals. The heads and horns seem to be those of antelopes and the body of a unicorn. The
heads have been joined to the body very carefully. One is eating, the second looks straight ahead,
and the third is looking backward in apparent alarm. In any of the two heads wee removed and
the tail shortened, quite a normal animal would be left. . . . The representation of plant forms on
the seals is rare; they occur on only twelve seals . . . On only two seals is a plant form the central
motif (Nos. 387 and 527). The plant on the former has been identified as a pipal tree, which in
India is the Tree of Creation. The arrangement is very conventional and from the lower part of Mythological creatures and
the stem spring two heads similar to those of the so-called unicorn." [Marshall, Vol. III, p. 389] Plant Form Seals
Mohenjo-daro Art in Lifestyle
Seals used for trade / communication

Seal Unicorn Seal Bison Seal

Mohenjo-daro Art in Lifestyle
Pashupati Seal discovered during excavation of the
Mohenjodaro archaeological site in the Indus Valley has
drawn attention as a possible representation of a "yogi" or
"proto-siva" figure.[3] This "Pashupati" (Lord of Animals,
Sanskrit paśupati)[4][5] seal shows a seated figure,
possibly ithyphallic, surrounded by animals. There are
three faces to this figure 1 each on the side and this could
be that of the four headed Brahma with the fourth head
hiding behind. One can see clearly the long nose and
mouth wide lips on the two sides. Tag: 12: M-304 A
Mohenjo-daro Art - Pottery

[Original 1931 text] "The ancient pottery of

Mohenjo-daro frequently has sand or lime, or
both, mixed with the clay, more often in the
painted ware than in the plain ware. There
seems to have been a natural admixture of
sand in the alluvial clays used at Mohenjo-
daro, but so fine in quantity that it cannot be
detected under a glass of moderate power."
[Marshall, Vol. I, p. 289]
Burial Pottery
Mohenjo-daro Art in Lifestyle
Mohenjo-daro Art in Lifestyle
Mohenjo-daro Sculpture

Indus Priest/King Statue. The

statue is 17.5 cm high and
carved from steatite a.k.a.
soapstone. It was found in
Mohenjo-daro in 1927. It is
on display in the National
Museum, Karachi, Pakistan.
Mohenjo-daro Sculpture
A bronze statuette dubbed the "Dancing Girl", 10.5 centimetres (4.1 in) high
and about 4,500 years old, was found in 'HR area' of Mohenjo-daro in 1926; it
is now in the National Museum, New Delhi. In 1973, British
archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler described the item as his favorite statuette:
"She's about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there
with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the
moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There's nothing like her, I
think, in the world.“

John Marshall, another archeologist at Mohenjo-daro, described the figure as

"a young girl, her hand on her hip in a half-impudent posture, and legs slightly
forward as she beats time to the music with her legs and feet.“

The archaeologist Gregory Possehl said of the statuette,

"We may not be certain that she was a dancer, but she was good at what she
did and she knew it".

The statue led to two important discoveries about the civilization: first, that
they knew metal blending, casting and other sophisticated methods of
working with ore, and secondly that entertainment, especially dance, was
part of the culture.
Mohenjo-daro Architecture

Great Bath

Corbelled drain exiting the Bath area

Mohenjo-daro Architecture

The Citadel
Mohenjo-daro Architecture

Large Well

Private Well Peepal shaped well Oval Well

 Lothal Facts
Discovered in 1954, Lothal was excavated from 13 February 1955 to 19 May 1960 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),
the official Indian government agency for the preservation of ancient monuments. According to the ASI, Lothal had the
world's earliest known dock, which connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river on the trade
route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a
part of the Arabian Sea

• Lothal • Inhabited
(3700 BCE)
• 1900 BC • Massive Flood – Destroyed the town

• Lothal was a major trade centre.

• An intensive trade network gave the inhabitants great prosperity. The network stretched across the frontiers to Egypt,
Bahrain and Sumer.
• Their work in metallurgy seals, beads and jewelery was the basis of their prosperity
• Animal Worship – No Mother Goddess
• Red ware culture
• Shell working
• Domestication of elephants for ivory
• Hierarchical town planning system
 The city was divided into a citadel, or acropolis and a
lower town. The rulers of the town lived in the acropolis,
Lothal Architecture which featured paved baths, underground and surface
drains (built of kiln-fired bricks) and potable water well.
The lower town was subdivided into two sectors. A north-
south arterial street was the main commercial area. It
was flanked by shops of rich and ordinary merchants and
craftsmen. The residential area was located to either side
of the marketplace. The lower town was also periodically
enlarged during Lothal's years of prosperity.
 Lothal Architecture
• Lothal engineers accorded high
priority to the creation of
a dockyard and a warehouse to
serve the purposes of naval
trade. While the consensus
view amongst archaeologists
identifies this structure as a
"dockyard," it has also been
suggested that owing to small
dimensions, this basin may
have been an irrigation tank
and canal.
Lothal Architecture
 Invasion or Migration of
Aryans ?
The Aryans appear to have entered India between 2000 and 1500 BC, through Afghanistan and the
Hindu Kush, settling at first in the upper Indus valley, later in the upper Ganges valley, later still reaching
the sea, the Vindhyas and the Narbada, and still later penetrating to the Dekkhan and the far south.

The Vedic Aryans were proficient in carpentry, building houses and racing chariots of wood; and in
metal work, making vessels of ayas, presumably copper, for domestic and ritual use, and using gold
jewelry. They wove, knew sewing and tanning, and made pottery.
The Vedic Culture
1500 BC – 800 BC
Vedic Architecture
• The Vedic culture of India provides the material
for a study of the first efforts at building
construction, when man’s efforts were made in
response to a need, and before any ideas of
architectural effect were conceived.

• This culture, which produced the elementary

type of forest dwelling.

• It was the outcome of the great Indo-Aryan

migration from the north-west. That those
responsible for this culture were unrelated to the
people of the Indus civilization seems fairly clear,
as there was a wide difference in the conditions
under which each of these populations existed,
in their mode of life, and notably in the type of
building produced by this method of living.
Image source : Indian
Source : Brown, Percy. Indian Architecture
Architecture (Buddhist & Hindu)
(Buddhist and Hindu Period) . – Percy Brown
Later Derivations from Vedic Architecture
• But these early immigrants had to protect themselves and their property from
the ravages of wild animals, and so they surrounded their little collection of
huts (grama) with a special kind of fence or palisade. This fence took the form
of a bamboo railing the upright posts (thabha) of which supported three
horizontal bars called suchi or needles, as they were threaded through holes in
the uprights.

• In the course of time this peculiar type of railing became the emblem of
protection and universally used, not only to enclose the village, but as a paling
around fields, and eventually to preserve anything of a special or sacred nature.

• Through the gamadvaras the cattle passed to and from their pasturage, and in
another form it still survives in the gopuram (cow-gate) or entrance pylon of
the temple enclosures in the south of India. But, more important still, from the
design of the bamboo gateways was derived that characteristic Buddhist
archway known as the torana, a structure which was carried with that religion
to the Far East, where as the torii of Japan and the piu-lu of China it is even
better known than in India, the land of its origin.

Source : Indian Architecture (Buddhist & Hindu) – Percy Brown

Evolution of Vedic Architecture
End of 2000 BC • Huts made of Bamboo and Thatch
Middle of 1000 BC • Vedic Civilization enters an era of Timber construction
• Wood workers craft - In the Rig-Veda the carpenter is recorded as holding the place of honor among
all artisans as on his handiwork the village community depended for some of its most vital needs.

• Strong fortifications of towns

500 BC • An architect of the name of Maha-Govinda who is stated to have been responsible for the lay-out of
several of the capitals of northern India.

• In principle these cities were rectangular in plan and divided into four quarters by two main
thoroughfares intersecting at right angles, each leading to a city gate. One of these quarters contained
the citadel and royal apartments another resolved itself into the residences of the upper classes, a
third was for the less pretentious buildings of the middle class, and the fourth was for the
accommodation of traders with their workshops open to view as in the modern bazaar.

• The building art in the Vedic era was at the primitive stage when even the royal residences had not
advanced beyond thatched roofs.
 Jainism
600 BC – Lord Mahavira
 Buddhism
563 BC – Siddharth Gautam - Lord Buddha
End of Vedic Period
500 BC