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An introduction to Indian
architecture
Marin County Free library

iration Building
Rafael, California
General Education Reading Material Series
No. 5
AX
INTRODUCTION
TO
INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
GENERAL EDUCATION READING MATERIAL SERIES
GENEKAL
i. What is General Education

2. Man in the New World
ARTS AND PHILOSOPHY
3. An Introduction to European Painting

4. An Introduction to Indian Painting
5. An Introduction to Indian Architecture
6. An Introduction to Hindustani Music
7. Man, Reality and Values
8. Readings in Philosophy
NATURAL SCIENCES
9 The Earth We Live On

10 Story of Life
II Universe and the Atom
12 Science and Society
13 Significant Writings on Life and Man
14 Science : Its Method and Outlook
15 Significant Writings on the Structure of Matter
SOCIAL SCIENCES
16. Indian Culture

17. Evolution of Society
18. Modern Industrial Society
19. Modern Indian Society
20. Messages of Freedom
21. Readings in Democracy
22. Significant Writings on Social Organization
23. Gleanings from Indian Thought
LITERATURE
24. Selections from Hindi Literature, 2 vols.

25. Selections from Urdu Literature, 2 vols.
26. Selections from World Literature, 4 vols.
27. What is Literature ?
DIRECTORATE OF
GENERAL EDUCATION READING MATERIAL PROJECT
An
Introduction
to
Indian Architecture
by
Dr. Charles Fabri
ASIA PUBLISHING HOUSE

N EW YO K EC
Marin County Free Library

Civic Center Administration Building
Ssn Rafael, California
<
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
stimulate thinking and broaden the outlook of our students. The

selections and samples are expected to enable students to use their
intelligence and widen their understanding and appreciation. They
may lead to a sense of values urgently needed today.
Another important and accepted aspect of general education is its
complementary character. In our country, there is a great and urgent

need for more people who are properly trained and educated to earn
a living through performing competently the many functions on
which our society depends. It is equally important, however, that
colleges and universities also impart an education which enables
students to live a fuller and more rewarding life. To quote the Report
of the University Education Commission (pages 118-119) "The :
interests and opportunities and demands of life are not limited to

any few subjects one may elect to study. They cover the entire
range of nature and of society. That is the liberal education which
best enables one to live a full life, usually including an experi-
ence of mastery in some specialized field. ..." To a student, "a
general education course should be to open windows in many
directions, so that most of the varied experiences of his life, and most
elements of his environment, shall have meaning and interest to
him."
The task, then, in preparing reading material for general educa-
tion purposes was clear as well as complex. On the one hand, the
mounting walls between the ever-increasing number of compart-
ments of specialized knowledge had to be disregarded, so that frag-
ments could be re-assembled into that unity of knowledge which
exists in human experience. On the other hand, it was necessary to
present only so much of content as students in all traditional bran-
ches of knowledge could be expected to manage and to understand
as an integrated whole. For, as Whitehead rightly remarked, "a
student should not be taught more than he can think about."
Furthermore there is agreement that integration cannot be achiev-
ed by providing students with readymade opinions concerning
questions that arise in the course of general education. On the con-
trary, if they are to be encouraged to think for themselves and to
seek their own answers, they have to be confronted with errors of

the past or doubts of the present, with divergent judgments or
Foreword
open alternatives, as well as with the beauty of scientific proof or

the force of moral conviction.
The complete scheme of this series will be found on page II
where a systematic list of the publications is shown. While it adheres
to the traditional division into Natural Sciences, Social Sciences,
and Humanities, many of the expository volumes straddle more
than one field, and most of the source material touches upon prob-
lems not easily assigned to any one area only.
No student is likely to read and absorb all volumes but every ;
student will find instruction and inspiration in several of the

volumes if he uses them properly under the guidance of his teachers.
Large though the collection is, it cannot possibly aspire at complete
comprehensiveness. Since "selection is the essence of teaching"
(Whitehead) it had equally to be the principle of planning of this
series. And since choice implies omission, many important disciplines
had to be somewhat neglected, and others to be left out entirely.
Unavoidably, what is here regarded as the result of careful consi-
deration, may elsewhere appear as arbitrary.
The readers of these volumes, teachers and students alike, are
the ones whom this publication wants to serve. From them, too,
the authors, compilers, editors and advisers of this project hope to
hear. It represents a co-operative effort in preparation and publi-
cation. Its success depends on further co-operation between "pro-
ducers and consumers." Comments and criticisms are invited, to
be addressed to The Director, General Education Reading Material
:
Project, Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Since it

is planned to translate the series into Hindi and Urdu, changes which
may seem desirable can easily be introduced when this is done.

In the end, the University acknowledges with gratitude the services
rendered by the various contributors, reviewers, and the members "of
the Advisory Committee and all those due to whose keen interest
and ready co-operation, the Directorate has been able to complete
the Project. We are particularly grateful to the U. G. C. who en-
trusted us with the task and assisted us liberally in this venture.
Aligarh Muslim University B. H. ZAIDI

IC)62 VICE-CHANCELL< >k
Preface
This book is specially intended for non-specialists. It is addressed

to students and others as an introduction to a subject they
have never studied and it aims at arousing interest and at inculcat-
;
ing love for the aesthetic enjoyment of Indian architecture and

not, to be sure, to give them more book learning.
And thus, while I have attempted to explain everything as lucidly
as possible, without recourse to technicalities, without trying to
stuff these pages with punditic learning, I have concentrated entirely
on the one aspect of Indian architectural history sadly missed in
most of our books the beauty, the fascination, the loveliness of
:
style after style.

The sweep is from Harappa to Le Corbusier. But,
enormous :
behind it all, there is a yardstick, an element of critical appreciation,

running through the whole five thousand years. And it is this critical
appreciation, this intelligent observation of what makes great archi-
tecture, that I beg my readers to acquire not masses of facts.
Delhi
June 1962 Charles Fabri
Contents
Introduction i
i. The Earliest Remains 6
2. The Stupa and the Monastery ii
3. The Earliest Temples 14
4. Early Dravidian Temples 20
5. The Temples of Orissa 23
6. Later Dravidian Temples 31
7. Early Islamic Architecture 36
8. Mughal Architecture 40
9. Later Indo-Islamic Architecture 47
10. The Meeting with Western Architecture 50
11. Contemporary Architecture in India 54
Glossary of Architectural Terms 5
Bibliography 64
List of Plates 65
Plates i to 34 69-96
Index 97
Introduction
Architecture has been described as "the art of organizing

space."
That is a rather abstract sounding definition. But then architec-
ture is, after all, with music, the most abstract of all the arts. Paint-
ing, sculpture, poetry, drama with observable facts
deal, as a rule,
of life, although lately painting and sculpture have been tending
to become more abstract. Yet even so, all these arts at least suggest
or evoke images that we know or have seen whereas the architect
;
creates entirely new forms. He is the master of his shapes, the

maker of forms. He imitates nothing seen, he copies no existing
forms, and is not aiming at representing, say, rocks or trees or the
outlines of animals or such shapes of nature.
The architect takes, as it were, an area, of nothing but air, sur-
rounds it with walls and roofs, and thus "organizes space," creating
rooms, halls, verandahs, domes round this air. This he can do a
million million ways, from a square tent and a round straw hut to
the most complicated sky-scraper he can surround space by mak-
;
ing an oblong area into a caravan-sarai, or a mosque by the mere

use of walls; he can enclose space to make a cathedral with a soaring
tower, or by building a row of galleries in which someone will hang
paintings and exhibit sculpture.
Abstract as the forms are, the architect, nevertheless, must use
concrete materials for his work: brick, stone, cement concrete, steel
or wood. And it is one of the criteria of good architecture that the
materials used must be used with a deep feeling for the possibilities,
the character, and the inherent nature of the building material.
It is foolish, and hence bad architecture, to use stone as if it were
[i]
Indian Architecture
wood ; or to employ reinforced cement concrete as if itwere sand-

stone or marble. There are many examples of this type of bad
architecture, in India and elsewhere.
Another important criterion of good or bad architecture is that
it ought to be functionally right. If you build a theatre, it should
be a good theatre, it should not look like a church or a school, it

should be ideally suited for seating the audience in such a way that
it can see and hear everything that goes on upon the stage; the
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
:
houses in a sub-tropical climate, such as Northern India, from houses

designed for the cold climate of Northern Europe. In Northern
Europe sunshine is a precious and rare commodity, and vast windows
have been used to catch every little ray that peeps through the
frequent clouds of the sky, or the dark fogs of an island country
such as England. In India the sun is welcome for a month or two,
but is to be shunned during the many hot months of the year ;
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
That means, in other words, that architecture must appeal to

the emotion, particularly that emotion that we call aesthetic appeal.
Great architecture must move us, elate us, excite us. It must have
a form that instantly grips our feeling and carries us to a form of
ecstasy that tells us that we are confronted here with a creative
power, an original artist, whose design is inspired by some strange
and hitherto unmet inspiration. This aesthetic and
excitement
satisfaction is difficult to explain ; but unless architecture moves
us to an emotional response, it is not great architecture.
Anyone could say that many a Hindu temple is functionally
correct, excellently suited to worship in the Brahmanic style, and
that the raw materials used are well used. But not all these temples
are equally beautiful. Many a temple may
be functionally as well
made as the Cave Cathedral few if any grip you with
of Karle, but
the sheer loveliness of the design, the admirable use of space, the
perfect proportions, the wonderful lighting effects that enhance the
sanctity of this shrine. Many a temple in Orissa is equally well
constructed and suited for worship, but few can equal in beauty
the Rajarani or in impressiveness the Sun Temple at Konarka.
Architecture, thus, is an art of organizing space not only func-
tionally, but beautifully. The art of architecture may be described,
if not denned, by saying that a great architect clothes his well used
spacial structure with a form of beauty not an extraneous, superim-

:
posed beauty, but inherent in all the structure, in every part making
the whole.
And thus we come to a feature of Indian architecture of much

Indian architecture if not all that must be faced squarely. It is
the use of external and internal decoration, mostly sculptural.
First of all we must disabuse our minds of a false notion. There
is a feeling abroad that all Indian architecture is lavishly covered
with sculpture and ornament, leaving not an inch bare. This is

not true.
As all art, Indian architecture too shows an unfolding from the
archaic (early) beginnings to the classic times, followed by a manner-
[3]
Indian Architecture
ist period of short duration, after which there a long period of

is
baroque, and a subsequent rococo. As this brief history of Indian

architecture will show, early temples carry a minimal surface deco-
ration; there is a judicious and extremely well employed amount of
sculpture and ornament in the classic period these increase slightly

;
in the mannerist time and burst into a vast flowering of profuse

and elaborate surface ornamentation in the baroque period, until,
in the short-lived rococo, ornament truly covers every inch of
surface and "kills" the design by its sheer exuberance of detail.
One reason why the false notion that Indian architecture is
marked by constant and profuse decoration has been accepted is
that few monuments of the earliest and of the classic period survive
intact whilst the mass of now remaining temples dates from the
;
baroque period (8th to 14th centuries), and creates this confused

impression.
Moreover, it must be carefully noted that in ancient India the
The architect, the sculptor
arts were not separated as they are today.
and the painter were often one man, and all were called by_he
Sanskrit name "silpin." Sculpture was invariably painted in colours,
presumably by one and the same "silpin" or artist, who first carved
his relievo and then tinted it. And sculpture was not free standing
(except small, movable pieces, such as bronze figures), but formed
part of the temple structure. In this way, architecture, sculpture
and painting were, in fact, much more intimately connected than
they are today, or were in some other countries. And much of this
was a happy combination, though, admittedly, not all.
Temples have been frequently mentioned above, and it is necessary

to explain that the history of Indian architecture deals mainly with
temples. Little of "civil" architecture survives, though we have
some excellent remains of it, some of it recently excavated. Forts
and fortifications and some ruined cities of ancient times have
been found and as we come nearer to our times, the number of
;
these increases. We have ample evidence of Islamic civil architec-

ture, not only of mosques and tombs and we have some knowledge
;
[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
The purpose of a history of architecture is, then, foremost, to

study the tastes and styles of a time. Architecture, just as painting,
sculpture or poetry, is a result of prevailing attitudes and fashions;
and each age brings forth a style that is characteristic of the people,
and reflects, like a clear mirror, the tastes of the makers, their faith,
their hopes, their ideals, their stage of civilization.
For this purpose it is not necessary at all to make a thorough
survey and to catalogue a good number of buildings of each period.
It is far more profitable to study a few characteristic structures,
and to concentrate on their stylistical examination and apprecia-
tion. This is what this small book attempts.
It is, however, impossible to avoid the use of some technical
terms, although this book endeavours to reduce them to a minimum.
After all, it is intended not for the specialist, but for the general
reader. A small glossary of these technical terms is, therefore,
included at the end of this book. The ultimate aim of the author,
however, is not to show off his knowledge, nor to increase the book
learning of the reader, but to open to him the gates of this lovely
garden. Indian architecture one of the greatest the world has
is
ever known its countless treasures ask for appreciation and admi-
;
ration. And so, while I shall endeavour to give a critical history of

Indian architecture, my main purpose is to excite the interest of
the reader in this magnificent heritage of some two thousand years
of creative building.
* There has been some destruction by fanatics, but much less than some people
presume.
[5]
/

CHAPTER I
The Earliest Remains
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 building of the 1300 to 500 B.C. must have been

period
very similar to the simple village huts made today in many parts of
India, from the palm-leaf huts of Kerala to the mud brick houses of Figure 1
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.
Text Figure 1 : Dwelling hut of mud

and thatch. Copied from a bas relief
on the Railing of the Bharhut stupa
(Indian Museum, Calcutta). Date:
about 100 B.C.
Plate 1 gives a wonderful impression of such a city. The relievo pj a te 1
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.
Two important remains of the oldest times are the fortifications

of the Old Rajagriha town in Bihar, and the fortified capital of
Sisupalgarh, perhaps the ancient Kalinganagara or maybe Tosali
of the texts, a distance of 3 km from Bhubaneshwar (Orissa). Old
Rajagriha is surrounded by a long wall, made in the roughest pos-
sible manner, unhewn stones being piled one on top of the other,
a kind of cyclopean wall, of no architectural merit. This goes
[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]
In cave architecture too, as elsewhere, the development goes from

simplicity towards greater elaboration. And, as it often happens,
the artisan derives his forms from earlier, existing shapes in timber,
translating them into stone.
No cave ismore typical of this strange transfiguration of timber
forms into stone than the earliest well datable cave of all, the so-
called Lomas Rishi cave in the Barabar Hills, Bihar. An inscription
proves that this was excavated for the Ajivika sect in the time
of Asoka himself. The entrance is a downright copy, or, if you Plate 3
like, a picture in stone, of a hut entrance, with the end of the roof,
constructed of bent timber, supported by cross beams, the ends
of which protrude. A curved frieze of elephants must be imagined
as a copy of a similar piece of wood carving, and above it is a
stone imitation of trellis work made of small sticks of bamboo. Not
only does this entrance give a good picture of the contemporary
hut, but in one of the caves is a copy, again carved in the rock,
of the inside of a round hut, where even the wooden planks are
imitated in stone, as if it had been the intention of the rock masons
to leave for posterity a correct and indestructible picture of the
type of house in which people lived in the 3rd century b. c.
The small shrine from Kanheri is a very different affair. You Plate 4
have here an apsidal shrine of worship {i.e. a long shrine, one

end of which is like a half-circle) with pillars running on two
sides and in the semi-circular apse, allowing the faithful to make
a circumambulation to the left of the little stupa. This is a small
chapel, cut into the rock, perhaps in the 2nd century b. c.
in the hills beyond Bombay; pillars "support" the barrel shaped
roof, which once had wooden beams inserted in it, in imitation of a
wooden shrine. The far pillars are just like plain, thick planks,
the nearer ones are much more elaborate, for they look like wooden
posts resting in a large earthenware pot; and there is a capital,
over which there are carved figures. And whilst all this is plain
imitation in rock of what was once originally timber structure, the
little stupa at the end is patently a copy of mudwork
for there
can be little doubt that the stupa was originally nothing but a mound
on top of a burial.
About a hundred years later was excavated the magnificent
[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
and elevated impression; the visitor stands breathless at the view

of this astonishing feat, where marvellously proportioned, great
and bulky carrying capitals of utmost originality, hold aloft
pillars,
a vaulted roof that has real, veritable rafters of timber inserted in

it, a ribbing inherited and copied from wooden structure.
Copying of the nature of one material in another material is

blameworthy and a sign of inability to adjust oneself to the character
of a new material but never has such copying resulted in so admir-
:
able a creation as the cathedral shrine of Karle. A certain amount

of adjustment has already taken place the columns are hardly
:
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
;
at the end, with a wooden umbrella on top, which, strange to tell,

has remained unharmed through all these centuries.
And thus, these cave temples must be looked upon as true architec-
ture, for space is superbly organized here, for the purpose for which
these shrines were intended to inspire awe, to hint at the greatness
:
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 Stupa and the Monastery
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
;
receives an ever more elaborate base, sometimes circular, sometimes

square, sometimes with many salient and re-entering angles, and
the faces both of this base and of the dome proper are gradually em-
ployed as a foundation for well conceived sculptural work, mostly
set in niches or compartments of an architectural design.
What was first nothing but a wooden umbrella, to signify that a
greatly respected man's ashes were inside the domical structure

the umbrella is a sign of royalty and of dignity develops into an
interesting composition on top of the dome the harmikd, a square
:
Buddhist railing (based on a wooden paling) from which rises the
["]
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
quadrangle and grows to enormous dimensions in later centuries,

surrounded by many votive stupas, erected by the faithful in memory
of some respected departed, teacher or family member.
Two-storeyed monasteries make greater demands on the architect.
By the 6th century a. d. this becomes common, and in a number of places
arcuate construction is found contrary to the widespread belief that
the arch was introduced into India by the Islamic newcomers. Never-
theless, arches as support for an upper storey are rare there are a num-
:
ber at Nalanda, in Bihar, where there existed a famous university (or,
rather, theological seminar), at Bodh Gaya, temple of

in the brick
Bhitargaon, and arches were found in a monastery excavated in i960
at Ratnagiri, Orissa, near Cuttack, where a magniiicent monastic
quadrangle, and two other, smaller monasteries, have been unearthed.
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.
The most usual construction of both Buddhists and Hindus is trabeat-

upright posts support horizontal lintels or beams. " Whether this
ed, viz.
is done in openings, such as doors and windows, or as the base of an
upper storey or a roof, it is characteristic of an architecture that sprung

from timber construction. One can clearly see how a man wanting to
make a house must first set up four or more posts of bamboo or wood, Figure 2
before he can put on top of these posts (and bind to them, somehow)
horizontal beams and crossbars that lie flat, so as to hold a roof. If
he, then, wants to make this construction very firm, he will use
brackets one of the most wide-spread elements in Hindu and Buddh-
:
ist architecture. A slanting piece of stone, fixed to the upright post or

pillar, reaches out like an arm to hold the lintel or beam more steadily.
1
As these terms are of basic importance, the reader is advised to look carefully
at Text Figure 2 and the words arch, arcuate, corbelled and trabeated in the Glossary.
[13]
CHAPTER III
The Earliest Temples
Some of the most valuable finds of civil architecture of the period

500 600 a.d. are at Taxila (the great city of Gandhara in
B.C. to
the Punjab); and if they are not treated here in any detail, it is
because strong western, late Roman-Asiatic influences have been at

work there. Whilst in Gandharan sculpture the Indian feeling and
the Buddhist themes infuse even the most Hellenistic looking works
of Gandhara, in architecture we have grave doubts about the Indian-
ness of the cities of Sirkap 1 and neighbourhood. It is better to leave
that chapter alone in a history of Indian architecture as brief as this
booklet is. It would have to be dealt with, undoubtedly, in a larger
volume on the subject.
Now whilst it is true that a large number of houses in India proper
were still built of mud and timber, unfired bricks and bamboo, thatch-
ed, or roofed with leaves, the introduction of stone building in the
3rd century B.C.
has left an indelible mark on subsequent Indian
architecture. For a long time
indeed, up to the present day private
houses would still be built of wood and unfired mud bricks; the palaces
of kings too would be constructed mainly of timber, as are the
two splendid palaces at Padmanabhapuram in Madras and Krishna-
rajapuram in Kerala State, still in existence; but more and more
the habitations for the gods and the structures intended to last for
many generations, were erected of stone masonry. Burnt bricks
were used a great deal, especially by the Buddhists in their
monasteries and shrines, but around 400 a.d. Buddhists and even
more the Hindus turned gradually towards stone masonry as the most
suitable dwelling place for sacred purposes the gods and the monks.
:
1
One of the three "cities" of Taxila.
[14]
The earliest not cut into the rock, but

structural temple (i.e.
built up, stone by stone) was discovered by the present writer at

Aihole, on the Mysore border. As is seen at once, this is a clumsy Plate 7
little structure, built of huge, almost boulder-like blocks of stone,

quarried out of the very on which it is built. There is a simple,
hill
square cell inside, where the god lives (the Sanskrit word garbha-gnha
signifies "womb-house"), in front of which there is a covered
:
verandah, a portico, called a prostyle or a tetrastyle, which consists

of four heavy pillars supporting a stone roof. The pillars are hardly
ornate, and though there is a small frieze-like motif on the small
parapet that runs on two sides of the ground level of the portico,
the rest is as simple as can be, and an obvious imitation, by some
brave builder, of rock-cut cave architecture. Observe that this
architect has not yet discovered that the two pillars nearest the cell
need not have been built standing clear away from the wall behind
them, and that it would have been easier to make them into
pilasters half-pillars, half jutting out of the back wall of the veran-
:
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?.
SANCHI LAD XH&N, AIHOLE.

c. A OO a.d c A50 A.n.
|
DURGA
TEMPLE
AIHOLE
c.5B0a>.
DEVi JAGAT),
AMB) TEMPLE
KHAJURAHO
1000 a. d.
7>x/ Figure 3 From simplicity to complication ground plans of four temples,

: :
showing how both the outline and the interior structure change from century to century
even within 50 years.
of all the proportion of the cell to the portico is much better.

:
For, the purpose of the portico is to serve as an entrance to the far

more important cell, and the Aihole architect made the mistake of
making than the cell itself. Here in Sanchi the
his portico bigger
importance of the shrine proper is beautifully kept in view it is :
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
:
the development of temple architecture in the subsequent centuries,

it will be seen that this simplicity gives place to increasing complica-
tion; salient and re-entering angles, fresh corners, new protrusions

are added, making the outline more and more involved; in the baroque
times there will be as many as forty little corners on the ground
level, and in the rococo it will run into a hundred and more. "Show
me the ground plan of an Indian temple and I give you its date"
is no exaggeration.
In Text Figure 3 I give a few examples of this evolution of Figure 3

the ground outline of the temple.
I strongly advise all readers of this book to examine this text
illustration carefully. There is the simplicity of the classical Sanchi
Temple of about 400 a.d., functional, restrained, elegant, with no
* Some authors use the expression "Gupta" for works of art of the 6th and even
the 7th century. Thifl i^ misleading, and should be avoided.
[17]

Indian Architecture
"fuss" and no complication. Next to it is the Lad Khan of Aihole

Plate 9
(
a i so illustrated in Plate 9), in which, about fifty years later, the
architect attempts to improve on the design of his predecessors.
The portico is smaller, and juts out on the east; the shrine is
much
well enlarged, and a circumambulatory path is provided, so that the
worshippers can go round the shrine, which is an inner garbha-
griha};*' and as the circumambulatory path is provided with a roof
and a wall, the architect thought of providing some kind of lighting :
he made perforated screen windows, clearly seen in Plate 9. The

roof now consists of long, sloping slabs of stone, in two tiers
obviously derived from wooden planks or the original thatched roof
with gargoyles, to allow the rainwater to run off; and in his desire to
make the temple more imposing, over the actual sanctum he raised
a small turret, a little cell that may be looked upon as the very
first attempt to create a spire
the future sikhara. A temple must
be seen from some distance, he thought; a temple must be tall and
reaching up into the skies; here, then, is an upper story, however
small it is at first.
But in the Purga Temple at Aihole, built

the next temple,
perhaps some one hundred years after the Lad Khan, the architect
experiments further. This can be clearly seen both in the ground
Plate 10 plan, Text Figure 3, middle line, and in Plate 10, in which one is
struck at once by a novel and interesting attempt to make the

pradakshina-patha, the circumambulatory path, airy, well lighted,
and handsome. Instead of perforated jail windows, we have here
a pillared verandah, running round the inner shrine; both have an
apsidal end, so that wandering round the sanctum is made easier.
There is a higher entrance, with steps leading up to a tall base, the
roof has been almost doubled in height; and at the end, over the
apsis, over the most sacred portion, where the image is housed,
there is a fine little turret, a veritable little spire, an obvious ancestor
of the sikhara of the next century. Every pillar in the verandah
is carved with figures, and there is a running frieze under the row
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]
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
Early Dravidian Temples
t has become increasingly clear to serious scholars that we have

i.been making a great mistake by concentrating so much on
Northern Indian art history only. It is now proved that South
India, far from lagging behind the North in development, or copying
Northern prototypes, has often been in the forefront of stylistic
development; in any case, sculpturally and architecturally, South
India has always been at least level with northern developments.
This certainly is true of the Buddhist period. Sculptural and

architectural remains stupas and monasteries at Amaravati, Na-
garjunakonda (both in Andhra State) and other sites, are as old as
any Buddhist remains found in the North; the earliest images,
e.g. go back to the 3rd century B.C., and these sites in Andhra take
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
any temple we have seen in the previous chapter, a square cell,

with not even a portico, but two lovely classical figures near
the entrance door guardian girls, dvarapdlis. Nothing could possibly
:
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,
of what might have been brass or copper edging on the original

thatched hut which was the prototype of this stone imitation.
The date of this "model" hut cannot be much more or less than

450 a.d. a date that fits the entire set of "rathas" at Mamallapuram.
A glance at Plate 13, an other temple at Mamallapuram, shows Plate 13
at once that we have here to do with a southern variation of the kind

of porticoed temple that we saw at Sanchi (cp. Plate 8), though of
a slightly later date for although the ground plan is essentially
:
identical, with a small variation in the disposition of the posts,

there is a definite attempt at raising the roof, more or less in the way
in which architects at Aihole and Badami tried to give impressive-
ness to their little shrines. This consists in a simple multiplication
of hut roofs, very much the way we can see them in Buddhist monu-
ments; in fact, every little "hut," though carved in rock, shows a
so-called Buddhist chaitya-window, 2 with a little Buddha-head :
so near are we to the period of Nagarjunakonda, where identical

motifs had been in use in the preceding two centuries by Buddhists.
This is the so-called "Arjuna's Ratha;" and its wonderful pro-
and shade,
portions, its magnificent disposition of masses, of light
The simple upright posts,
instantly reveal its classic character.
obviously again imitations of wooden posts, support brackets,
more needed in a wooden structure than in stone; and the pilasters
have small animal bases: a Mamallapuram variation of the simple
column bases used at Sanchi. There the animals were used for a
capital, here they are used as a base.
Obviously slightly more evolved is the rising roof of the Dharma-
raja "ratha." the last to be carved out of the rock at Mamallapuram
Plate 14), though the similarity with the previous temple is Plate 14
t; in fact, only one more storey has been added, of identical,
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
The Temples of Orissa
There a great deal of difference between the later temples of

is
the South and the North, a difference that Sanskrit writers
observed a long time ago. As we have seen, these differences hardly
exist in the early centuries of temple architecture; and as the two
areas where temple architecture developed most markedly were
the borderlands (the Deccan and Orissa), it is interesting to note
that both "Northern" and "Southern" style temples can be found
in these two areas side by side. At Pattadakal, Aihole and Badami
they are standing within the same village; in Bhubaneshwar (Orissa),
we find a barrel roof type "Southern" spire, a few metres from typical
Orissan temples.
This is the so-called Baital Deul (Sanskrit Vaitala Devalaya).
: Plate 17
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
adjoining flat-roofed shrine is of a later date, probably 650 a.d.

The increase in the decoration in the post-classic period deserves
close attention. Thus, the simplicity and perfect good sense in the
ornamentation of the classic pillar, of which examples can be
Plate 8
seen m t h e s anc hi Temple, gradually give place to ever growing
ornateness. Already in the mannerist times the pillar becomes

richer, the capital varied and more elaborate; and when we reach
the baroque times (8th to 14th centuries), we are confronted with
Plate 18 such flamboyant examples as that shown in Plate 18. Here the
entire surface of the pillar is covered with ornament of one sort or
the other; not an inch is left free; the capital has not only been enriched
by complicated ornament, but we have, actually, three capitals, one
on top of the other, so great is the love of the baroque times for
decoration and multiplication. The shaft too is turned into a polygon,
fluted, with little tongue-shaped ornaments hanging on top, and on
every side we have human, divine and animal figures carved in rich
profusion, standing against the shaft of the pillar. Such a lavishness
and such an exaggeration were absolutely unknown in Gupta times,
or even in the mannerist 6th and 7th centuries a.d.
Plate 19 This is excellently illustrated in Plate 19, where one can compare a
Gupta period pillar of about 500 a.d. with the previous example.
Though not completely devoid of ornament, here the architect
carefully avoids overdecoration, and the decorative elements are
used only where one architectural element meets and joins an other.
It is good sense to provide a base and a capital to any pillar, at the
point where the base ends and the shaft of the pillar starts, or where
the pillar joins the lintel or the roof. It is equally good sense to pro-
vide some decoration where one part of the pillar joins an other;
here, in the middle, you see the transition from an octagonal shaft
to a section that has 32 facets
a gradual transition from a square
base to a body of first 8, then 32 parts, and ultimately to a capital
that is round. Thus, in the middle of the pillar a fair piece of decora-
tive element emphasizes this transition: but all these three elements,
base, central belt and capital, are, in reality, simple, and far less ornate
than the involved design in Plate 18. It is important to observe
this difference carefully, for in such matters of detail the change
of tastes and the development of styles can be clearly discerned.
[24]
And as this matter is crucial to the understanding of the whole

evolution of style, I have to turn here for a moment to sculptural
decoration too. This the more necessary as in India, perhaps
is
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
facade. I you to look once again at Plate 8, and see

therefore ask Plate 8
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
on the wall of the Lad Khan, by providing a variety of perforated

screen windows, 450 a.d.; next observe, how in Plate 10, datable to Plate 10
about 550 a.d., the architect-sculptor of the Durga Temple at
Aihole adds some sculpture at the base of the pillars round his
verandah, and again, around 675 a.d., he employs niches in the
Malegitti Sivalaya to embellish the surface of his temple very Plate n
much like the Oriya artist who built and carved the Baital Deul
about 600 to 625 A.D. Plate 17
But whilst these embellishments grow slowly during these three

hundred years, still leaving good portions of the wall bare, look now
at Plate 20, and see how the surface of a facade is treated around the Plate 20
year 1000 a.d. This lovely picture, a world of dream-like profusion,

carved with exquisite skill and marvellous attention to detail, is
from that beautiful temple, the Rajarani of Bhubaneshwar, and is,
in every way, characteristic of the height of baroque art. A superb
feeling for the decorative, a wonderful mastery of the human figure,
a sensuous delight in attractive and graceful form, and a love of vari-
ation are everywhere in evidence; these nymphs, these tree goddesses,
these yakshis and vrikshahMs 1 are shown as part and portion of
the jungle world, the bountiful plenty of luxurious Nature. You can
also observe in this picture how the outline of the temple broken is
into many facets, moulding succeeding moulding, angle next to

angle, projecting and re-entering a multiplication quite unknown
in earlier temples.
This little excursion will now help us to understand the growth and
development of the temple tower and the pyramidal roof.
The earliest known temples had flat roofs, as we have seen
1
A yakshl is a water nymph or a wood nymph of sorts a ijikshakd is a dryad.
;
[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
:
jagamohana in Orissa) preceding the main shrine (called vimdna

in Orissa) acquired gradually a pyramidal roof, by multiplying
these slanting roofs. You can
see this clearly in the pictures of
Plates 22 later temples, e.g. the Rajarani or the Lingaraja. Once again, we
an 24
go from simplicity towards multiplication and complication.
It is a little more difficult to show in successive illustrations the
development of the main spire, the kikhara, which covers always the
sanctum or the garbha-griha. Some links are missing, though it is
clear enough that the miniature turret in Plate 10 is an ancestor of the
much more imposing spires of Orissa. But even such early temples as
the Parasuramesvara or the Sinhanatha possess imposing spires,
and one wonders whether these are not slightly later additions.
This is not impossible, but has never been proved.
Enough here to mention that the vimdna, the temple tower of
Orissa, is one of the most glorious inventions of Indian architecture,
and functionally, one might suggest, is a finer conception than the
South Indian gopuram, where the tower does not crown the Holy
of Holies, the image shrine, but is a glorified entrance gate, often
overshadowing the actual sanctum that is smaller in size. What
the Orissan spire does is to give importance, prominence, majesty
to that portion of the temple where the God lives, the garbha-griha,
the womb-house; the larger ones can be seen from a long distance,
and that of the enormous Jagannatha Temple at Puri from as far
as twelve kilometres. It dominates the whole coast, its lofty and
imposing structure drives awe and respect into the heart of the
faithful and impresses all who approach it. Emotionally, then, the
2
See "clerestory" in the Glossary.
[26]
Orissan temple tower is a splendid artistic expression of a mighty

faith.
But size alone does not make great art : what really matters is the
disposition of masses, the proportions of the whole building, the
unity of all its parts. The much smaller shrine of Parvati within the
compound Temple, the largest at Bhubaneshwar,
of the Lingaraja
is, in many ways, one of the most admirable temples of Orissa (or of
India) so excellently are the masses of the jagamohana and of the
,
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
sanctum is instantly discovered there is that lovely, beehive

:
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- :
pect for gods and kings.
[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
deserves; partly, no doubt, because entrance is firmly restricted,

and non-Hindus, among them quite a number of notable art histori-
ans, have not been given permission to enter. Yet it is one of the
most marvellous temples ever erected in this country, aesthetically
far superior to the more sacred Jagannatha of Puri.
Plate 24 As can be seen at once from the picture in Plate 24, one great
trouble of the Lingaraja is that it is surrounded by a large number
of additional shrines that clutter up the entire compound. Hemmed
in on all sides by dirty bazaars, encircled by almost a hundred later
structures within the temenos, its true height and its splendid eleva-
tion can hardly be seen from any angle it is, e.g. much higher than
:
would appear from the picture I am reproducing here. And yet,

once you have wandered round it and saw it from every angle, you
realize that its enormous mass it must be fully five times the
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]
are handsomely broken by sculptural antefixae that break the mono-

tony of the rising pyramid; and the great sikhara surface too is
elegantly varied by the introduction of corner miniature sikharas
and flying lions.
Below, the surface is covered with baroque riches, but with
admirable skill. The figure work is beautiful, many of them elegant
and lovely feminine figures, others loving couples in embrace, again
others various divinities, such as Yama or Parvati all carved with
:
sensuous beauty and delight in fine form.

Technically speaking, it is no small feat to build a tower and
a shrine of this enormous size, all of vast, fashioned stone. Man
feels a puny creature when standing in front of this great work
of creative art a very proper sentiment for a religious building to
:
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
Temple at Konarka 4 (about 1250 a.d.), the sikhara of which collapsed

in the last century, and the jagamohana of which had to be filled
with sand, in order to avoid its ruin. It is a vast and wonderful
structure, in the form of a gigantic sun chariot, the sculptural deco-
ration of which is now its main glory.
* Konarka is the correct spelling; Konarak is a modern distortion.
[30]
CHAPTER VI
Later Dravidian Temples
The two styles of architecture, northern and southern, become

more and more differentiated between 900 and 1000 a.d.
A total division is impossible, especially in the borderlands, viz. the
Deccan, Orissa or Mysore but in Madras and around it, in the
;
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 ;
Brihadisvara Temple of Tanjavur (Tanjore), erected in around

1000 a.d., differs in many ways from the contemporary Rajaram of
Bhubaneshwar. In fact, it resembles the Shore Temple of Mamalla-
puram, whilst some elements remind one of the Baital Deul of
Bhubaneshwar.
Plate 25 shows this splendid and in many ways unique temple Plate 25
at Tanjavur. There can be no doubt that the architect aimed at
magnificence and dignity, and achieved his aim by making the
pyramidal spire lofty, regularly tapering, without indulging in many
"excursions" :simplicity and regularity dominate this straight
rising tower, built up by ever diminishing tiers, all similar. The
domical pinnacle is very much like the earlier examples at Mamalla-
puram, and different from the amalaka of the Orissan shrines. On
the other hand, the spire rises straight above the garbha-griha,
exactly as in Orissa, and the rest of the temple mandapa is basically
not very different either from that of the Sinhanatha Temple (Plate
21) or from that of the Shore Temple (Plate 15). Admirable manner-
ist sculpture and baroque paintings adorn this building inside and
outside and there are mural paintings within.

;
And yet, this is not the direction in which the Dravidian temple
[3i]
Indian Architecture
develops later. In fact, the BrihadisVara may be looked upon as the

creation of a particular genius, based, no doubt, on earlier proto-
types, but in a sense a sole and last representative, almost, of a
pyramidal spire ending in a domical roof. Instead, the whole of
temple architecture in the South, with a few exceptions, turns
away from this structural idea, and focuses almost all attention
on the gopuram, the tower-like entrance gateway that becomes the
centre of architectural thinking. The temple itself is relatively
unimpressive in later centuries all attention seems to concentrate
:
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 ;
only were there a number of shrines, dance halls, poets' pavilions,

additional temples, priests' quarters and refectories, but gradually
shops were allowed to sell flowers and other offerings, food stalls
arose, and, slowlyand gradually, the temenos, the sacred compound
of the temple, swallowed up an entire city you might say that the
:
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]
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
The gopuram is a tower, pure and simple. Its ground plan is an

oblong quadrangle, rarely a square, with a passage through the
centre, making it, in some ways, a spiritual descendant or, let us
put it way, a functional descendant of the Buddhist torana.
this
Some temples in Northern India too, e.g. the Muktesvara at Bhu-
baneshwar, possess gateways that might be considered halfway
between the Buddhist torana and the gopuram. The gopuram,
nevertheless, is definitely a tower it is crowned by a barrel vault
;
roof, over which a number of pinnacles rise these are last descend-
:
ants of the timber construction that once held a barrel roof on a

longitudinal hut.
But more than anything else, the gopuram gives great scope for
the sculptor to practise his craft. The old gopuras of Tamil Nad hold
some of the finest sculpture ever produced in this country. Some, 2
such as the gateway to the 6iva Nataraja shrine at Chidambaram,

have a series of relievo carvings showing the dance poses of Bharata

Natya most aspects of Siva -as a mendicant, as a destroyer of the
;
elephant demon, as a Lord of the Dance, as Creator, Preserver and

Destroyer are shown, and many other divinities are represented,
including the Sage Agastya, or the saints of the South.
As times pass, these gate towers become higher and higher. Nine
storied towers are often found, architectural feats of no mean skill,
and the visitor can climb up into these stories to gain a marvellous
view of the temple compound.
Meanwhile one element of the temple proper continues to develop
in a direction greatly differing from the temples of the North:
pillared halls become more and more elaborate, with fantastically
shaped pillars, showing carved beasts from horses to lion-like crea-
tures, until, towards the 15th century, these enormous pillared
passages dominate the temple yard. Far more sober and functional
remain the elegant pillared halls that surround the tanks, of which
8
Modern gopuras have realistic sculpture of no merit, and are painted in shrill
colours.
[33]
;
Indian Architecture
one can be seen Much of this bears a basic resemblance

in Plate 26.
entirely fortuitous Greek columnated structures.
-to
Whilst these sober and functionally admirable columnated

passages round the tanks are masterly works of architecture, some
doubt is possible about the fantastic pillared halls, with their un-
earthly carvings. Were they made to inspire awe and drive terror
into the heart of the simple worshipper ? Do they, in this respect,
resemble the gigantic and terrifying statues of ancient Egyptian
temples ?
Critical students of architecture should remember the character

of a religion and the power of the priestly hierarchy. It is possible
to detect in South Indian religion an element of fear and terror

aspects of &iva, for instance hardly in vogue in the North,
where the much gentler and softer faith of bhakti, devotional love,
remained prevalent for many centuries, and where the love affairs
of Krishna, the cowherd god, held sway rather than the destructive
aspects of Rudra. Much of this difference in attitudes can be dis-
cerned both in the temple architecture and in the sculpture: in
Orissa or at Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) the temples are covered
with sculptures breathing the love and joy of life fear hardly enters
;
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.
In the 12th and 13th century the baroque turns towards an

ever richer profusion that may correctly be calledan Indian rococo.
Outstanding in this style are the temples of
Mysore though there
are
many in other parts of India where marvellous shrines were
built by the Hoysalas at Somanathapura, Halebid and Belur.
This too is a border art, and these temples are nearer in style to
some Northern Indian temples than to those of the South. Gopuras
are unknown, but high spires in the Oriya style are not used either
pillared halls abound at Halebid and Belur, but the Dravidian
temple compound, with a large number of structures, is not known.
The lovely little temple of KeSava (one of the epithets of Krishna)
[34]
:
at Somanathapura, Mysore, is the most perfectly preserved of these, Plate 27

and remarkable inasmuch as everything appears to be multiplied
sculpture, ornament, even the number of towers. Decoration here
overruns every inch of the structure, and each temple tower has a
ground plan that looks almost like a many-pointed star, with salient
angles that run into dozens. Mouldings are multiplied too, and the
pillars have apparently lost all their strength by excess decoration.
How little of the wall is left, is clearly seen in Plate 28, where a Plate 28
portion of the Hoysalesvara Temple at Halebid is seen : everything

appears to be an excuse for carving and multiplication. Even the
perforated walls, well shown in this picture, are turned into rich
ornament, and every pilaster is lavishly decorated with mouldings
of great variety.
[35]
CHAPTER VII
Early Islamic Architecture
first invasions by Islamic peoples from the West did not

The
immediately make a great impression on Indian architecture.
The invaders were armed forces, horsemen, who did not come to
stay and settle down, who did not bring architects and masons with
them. Moreover, the physical conquest of India took many centuries
roughly calculated, from the 9th to the 0:7th centuries, some seven

hundred years and intense building activity did not start in any
case before the 15th century. Though there were a good number of
mosques and tombs for the dead, and fortifications had to be built
rather rapidly, it was only when the Mughals had conquered North-
ern India that the rulers had felt that they now belonged to the
country it was Akbar who was the first to erect a capital city
;
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 ;
walled-in fortifications the Fort at Agra, the Delhi Red Fort or

:
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]
It is, in fact, instructive to observe the difference between, say,

the Purana Qila of Delhi and the Lai Qila, a few miles to the north of
it, to understand how much the political and psychological situation
is expressed in these structures. The Purana Qila walls are made of
enormous, half-fashioned stones (rather quickly made, because
urgently necessary) ; vast, strong walls of considerable thickness,
easily defended. Ornament and decoration are minimal : there was
neither time nor much functional reason
have them. The function- to
al reason dominates the royal palace must be strong, should stand
:
up against rebellious armies, it ought to be a place of safety.

But by the time of Jehangir and Shahjehan the situation has
changed enormously. Jehangir was half Hindu by blood, his mother
was a Rajput princess and for more than half a century his father,
;
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, ;
beautifully finished with soft and well polished stone, ornamented

with oriel windows, pavilions and turrets and within the fort the ;
emperors spent lavishly on marble and pietra dura inlay work,

carving and gilding they had settled down in India, to enjoy
:
the fruits of their conquests. Fabulous sums were spent on beauti-

fying the Arabian Nights' dream palaces in which they lived, with
their numerous women folk, dressed in priceless brocade and covered
with jewels.
Much earlier, when the
conquerors had no architect with their
first
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
; :
Mussulman was no more a foreign intruder, an alien oppressor, he

had become an Indian, recognizing the fact that others were non-
Muslims around him, entitled to their own form of worship.
[37]
Indian Architecture
That astonishing structure, the Qutb Minar at Mehrauli, is by

itself a remarkable document of early Islamic architecture. Built
about 1200 a.d., it has few predecessors even in other Muslim coun-
Plate 29 tries, though one prototype of it has been recently discovered in
Afghanistan. But even so, it is interesting to observe that already

the first monuments raised by the Muslims in India are no more
entirely foreign, and that Indian Islamic architecture is different
from Islamic architecture in other countries. For, though in one
sense this tower was intended as an adjunct to the mosque, to allow
the muadhm to call the faithful to prayer, in another sense it is a
Tower of Victory, not unlike some erected by Hindu rulers. Designed
by Muslims, the entire work was carried out by native Indian crafts-
men and anyone with a keen eye can observe the old Hindu deco-
;
rative floral elements among the characteristically Islamic motifs,

such as the Arabic inscriptions. Equally fascinating to observe is
that though in the neighbouring structures the Islamic arch is
employed, it is, in reality not the true arch, with voussoirs and
keystone, but structurally it is either a trabeated construction,
with a lintel holding up the top artd the arch only an ornamental,
false element, or the arch is a corbelled arch, well known to Indian
-masons for two thousand years or so, in which each course of
bricks protrudes over the other, until an arch-shaped opening is
achieved (see the Glossary, under Corbelled). In Plate 29 the
lone arch on the left is corbelled the later ones in the fore
;
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
;
the walls was found necessary by the architects to make it unassail-

able. This slope is characteristic ofmany Tughlaq buildings, the
walls of which are of enormous thickness secret passages, strong
;
vaults and hidden exits testify that everything was built with an
eye on defence. And yet, the tomb itself still uses the Hindu trabeated
construction, and the arches are beneath the lintels

set, falsely,
that actually carry the weight on the other hand, the dome itself
;
is a typical importation from western countries, where the Islamic
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
of a tnasjid and a temple. A temple is, after all, intended for a

personal act of worship by one devotee it is a cell in which the
:
deity lives, a garbha-griha, into which he enters to offer his personal

devotion to the god, represented either by an image or a symbol
(such as the lihga). But Islam believes in community worship ;
a mosque is a place of assembly, jama! and on Fridays, and days

of worship, a large number of people assemble in its yard to pray
together. The masjid is derived from a walled-in yard, not unlike
the old caravan-sarai of the Arabs in the desert ; it is open to the
sky, and its important portions include a qibla, often a llwdn for the
sake of shade and protection, and an entrance gate that becomes
more and more imposing with times. Though a few completely
covered mosques exist, they are the exceptions the majority of ;
the mosques bear great resemblance to the desert sarai.

still
Many "provincial styles" evolved in Bengal, Gujarat, Jaunpur,

Golconda, and other places, but they cannot be dealt with in so small
a book, and we must now turn to the emergence of the Mughal im-
perial style.
[39]
CHAPTER VIII
Mughal Architecture
"T is rather strange to contemplate that the Mughal first true

i .monument was, in many ways, the creation of a woman. Haji
Begam, widow of Humayun, was given a free hand to erect a mauso-
leum worthy of the emperor who reconquered Hindustan after
being in exile in Iran and she settled down in an area near the
;
city of Dinpanah (now totally disappeared) to build what became

afterwards a model of imperial magnificence, Humayun's Tomb
Plate 30 in Delhi. Though there was a brief period during Akbar in which a
basically different style was cultivated, Humayun's Tomb remained
a masterpiece, followed by most architects, including Shah Jehan.
-Neither the Mausoleum of Jehangir at Shahdara, Lahore, nor the
Taj Mahall at Agra could have had the form they now have but
for the Tomb of Humayun.
Though strongly influenced by the preceding architecture of the
Tughlaqs, and of Sher Shah, the Tomb of Humayun strikes a new
note. It is much less a fortress, it is much more a memorial. It is
magnificent, grandiose, impressive : it wants to impress with its

greatness, it does not wish to drive fear into the spectator by its
strength. It isopen, as Mughal rule and life were now open it is ;
laid in the middle of a lovely park, not guarded by unassailable

bastions and walls. Raised on a vast platform, itself a structure
suited for princes, it is intended to be a monument to greatness,
and though its octagonal form owes much to earlier Syrian and
Islamic mausolea, it is full of Indian touches, original and hardly
known before.
One of these novel touches is the brilliant use of two different
materials : a test of a good architect. Pink sandstone and white
[40]
;
Mughal Architecture
are used here with admirable effect the white is used to emphasize,
;
surround and underline every architectural form, to frame windows

and doorways, and to strengthen the design not to ornament it
in idle play.
The poetic quality often observed in the Taj Mahall is amply in
evidence. There a rhythm in the whole structure, partly in its
is
symmetrical design, partly in the lovely repetition of such forms

as the large dome, reflected, as it were, in the smaller pavilions,
also crowned by smaller but similar domes. Similarly, the arches
of the large doonvays are reflected in the smaller windows, false or
true, and the arched passage round the base is like music.
And, as so often under the Mughals, nature itself is used as a
proper setting for man's handiwork the garden with its water
:
courses and tanks, the trees, the flowers everything is to remember,

:
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
many features of the various religions he knew are reflected

all
This can be seen in the Akbari structures of

in his architecture.
the Lahore Fort, but even more in his marvellous "new capital,"
Fatehpur Sikri (U.P.), a monument to his broadmindedness, great-
ness of conception and originality. For Fatehpur Sikri is original,
notwithstanding the fact that the style of these buildings is eclectic.
But the term "eclectic" might be a condemnation in philosophy;
it is much less so in architecture, especially when a great builder,
such as the emperor was, aims at a creation of a new style, in which,
nevertheless, he wishes to incorporate, in a harmonious manner,
traditional elements from two sources. For greatness in art does not
mean the total discarding of previous experiences and of tradition
total novelty-hunting may be striking and revolutionary, but not
in itself meritorious. The greatest artists and the most original
[4i]
;
Indian Architecture
creators in art never discarded tradition altogether, but knew how

to use it the interest and for the enrichment of their new styles.
in
Fatehpur Sikri is so original and so experimental that every
building in it is a variation on a theme, and a novel invention.
Never before (and I may add, never since) has anyone succeeded
in blending so admirably structural and stylistic components of
Hindu architecture with Islamic motifs and this was a factual
;
expression and a true mirroring of what was going on in the minds

of the period and the makers.
Akbar, who did not care for grandiose and luxurious things (as
his successors did) built a modest capital, in which every palace
and every public building is hardly larger than a good-sized bunga-
low of today or a common town house. His own living rooms are
all of modest dimensions and few in number; and, in fact, even
the halls of audience are intimate chambers rather than imposing

public structures of awe-inspiring size. Add to this that the various
structures were built so close together, that the emperor could
summon within a few minutes any of his ministers or aides, by
sending a runner across a road or 'square. There are no extensive
gardens, such as his grandfather, Babar, laid out : this is a real
down, planned as an administrative unit, and in which private
residence and official meeting place were in close proximity. Yet
the sum total of the impressions one receives from this complex
of many, small buildings is magnificent. There is a cumulative effect
and one has the feeling that these modest, little gems of architec-
ture make up, together, a masterly town of great nobility; and
that the quality of the work is so superb that size becomes of no
importance whatever. A salutary observation for artists who wish
to impress us with size alone.
The two examples here reproduced give some impression of the
great variety of experiments carried out by Akbar and his archi-
tects. Both are built of pink sandstone alone, no other material
being used.
Plate 31 Plate 31 shows one of the highest and most impressive structures,
the Paflch Mahall ("Palace of Five Stories" is an approximate
translation). The constructive principle is the Hindu system of
trabeated structure throughout, with the only exception of the
[42]
Mughal Architecture
topmost domed pavilion, that, purposefully thrown out of the

centre, crowns the entire building and gives a marvellous view of
the rocky neighbourhood and the extensive plains around Fatehpur
Sikri. The dominating idea of this novel building is practical in :
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 :
a crown on the brow of an imperial palace. There is no secrecy

about this open and airy structure no fear of enemies could inspire
;
anyone to build such a palace.

But the Diwan-e Khas, the Hall of Private Audience ("His Majes-
ty's Own Court" would be a suitable translation), is almost entirely Plate 32
different.
Private audiencedemands some kind of intimacy, as the term
suggests, something private and closed to the general public. And
so we have here, indeed, a much more closed and much smaller
building, a room surrounded by walls on all four sides. And yet,
the architect did not forget the demands of the weather, and pro-
vided through ventilation, by placing on all sides perforated windows,
opposite each other on every wall, so that any breeze, from any
side, would blow through it. Three open windows on every side
on the upper floor are again intended to allow air and light to enter
from all the four directions, wherever the breeze comes from.
The constructional principles are again Hindu lintels supported by
:
uprights and the charming balcony, running round the whole length
;
[43]
Indian Architecture
of the four sides on the supported by typical Hindu

first floor level, is
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.
Only one building at Fatehpur Sikri is built of white marble :
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-;
rested in painting than in architecture, built very but with

little,
the Emperor Shahjehan building was a passion, and it was he
who considered white marble, expensive, shiny, splendid to look at,
the proper building material for an emperor of Hindustan.
He even went so far as to demolish Akbar's simple, pink sand-
stone structures in the Fort of Agra, and replace them by more
luxurious looking buildings, breathing magnificence and proclaim-
ing the greatness of the emperor, all made of white marble, often
inlaid with pietra dura work : floral ornaments composed of semi-
precious stones ;
l
a most elaborate and difficult piece of labour,
by the white ground.
beautifully set off
These marble buildings, with their lavish decoration and gilt
ornamentation, with their relievo carving and painting (both Jehan-
gir and Shahjehan allowed human and animal paintings on the
walls), are far removed in style from the studied simplicity of Akbar's
1
Semi-precious stones are not precious stones, though some writers confuse them.
x [44]
;
Mughal Architecture
classic buildings. And no structure is more eloquent than that

romantic and fabulous building, the Taj Mahall.
So much has been written about this "dream in marble" that I
wish to draw your attention only to the fascinating comparison
that one can make with Humayun's Tomb. The Taj Mahall is in Plate 33
every way a direct descendant of Humayun's Tomb but whereas ; Plate 30

the simplicity of Humayun's mausoleum was matched and support-
ed by its grave solidity and massiveness, the Taj Mahall tends to
turn everything into ethereal and dreamlike lightness. The door-
way is narrower and loftier, the dome is much more soaring, the
central structure is higher and less broad, the base is not as solid
and important as it was in Humayun's Tomb, and the four thin
and tapering minors at the corners give added airiness to this
white, cloud-like apparition. Indeed, it would not be untrue to
say that Humayun's Tomb is like the earth, and the Taj Mahall is
like a cloud in a dream. One was built for a mighty male, an intrepid
warrior, a strong man the other for a slender little woman,
;
gentle, sweet and yielding and the tomb of one is a masculine

;
structure and the tomb of the other is feminine.

Enormous sums were spent on the raw material and on the semi-
precious inlay work, the delicacy of which was unknown to Akbar's
practical world. It fitted much more a lovely lady's memory, her-
self like a flower of precious stones. And yet the essential elements
of the two tombs are identical, even to the gardens in which they
are set, with their water-courses, suggesting bihisht, paradise, where
there is never any shortage of water. People of the desert imagine
paradise as a garden, full of flowers and not short of life-giving waters
whilst to the Hindus, who had plenty of water and lived amongst
lush vegetation, but simple huts, paradise was imagined as
in
palaces of lofty halls, supported by mighty pillars.
The Taj Mahall, with its wonderful gardens and water-courses,
its dreamlike, slender pillars and domes, is a bit of paradise on earth;
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
Aurangzeb, a kill-joy, who tried to reverse the whole policy of his

three ancestors. This fanatic looked upon art as an evil born of
worldly desire, sacked his musicians and painters, and practically
the only buildings erected in his reign are mosques not very original
:
at that.
[46]
CHAPTER IX
Later Indo-Islamic Architecture
impact of Islamic architecture, especially of the imperial

The
Mughal style, on Indian architecture, has been decisive
and enormous. From the 17th century onwards, with the excep-
tion of some late temples, all Hindu architecture is profoundly
influenced by this Indo-Islamic style arches are widely used
:
instead of the trabeated construction, and domes become normal,

everyday elements in the houses, palaces and forts of the Rajputs,
Western Indians, Bengalis, Punjabis, influencing even the Dravidian
South. The curvilinear roof, originally restricted to Bengal, where
Islamic architects made good use of a form suggested by peasant
huts' roofs, becomes an element widely employed in the whole of
Northern India, combined with arches, pavilions and domes. The
forts and palaces of the Rajputs, Mahrattas and Punjabi hill princes
are hardly distinguishable from those of Islamic rulers, or only in
minor detail the oriel window, a strange and often lovely combi-
;
nation of Islamic notions with those of the Hindu master mason,

becomes the stock-in-trade of every architect. The palace of Tippu
Sultan, or his hunting lodge at Seringapatam (Srirangapatna) in
Mysore, covered with mural paintings full of human figures, are
typical of this mixed style ; and none the worse for that, strangely
enough. At Amber and Udaipur the Indo-Islamic elements pre-
dominate ; in Gwalior one discovers a return to some earlier construct-
ive elements, but in most of these buildings the "Jehangiri" cusped
and the dome are amply in evidence. In
arch, 1 the curvilinear roof
fact, Akbar appears to have won a resounding victory the two tradi- :
tions, Indian and Western Asian, melt harmoniously with each other.
1
See Glossary, under "cusped arch."
[47]
Indian Architecture
But when it is said that Islamic styles of architecture and ele-

ments of construction had exercised a profound influence on subse-
quent building by Hindu master craftsmen, it must also be empha-
sized that never in the 17th, 18th or 19th century did these ever
descend to the level of mere copyists. The Indian artist always
had a remarkable ability for absorbing foreign influences and making
them his own, without jettisoning his own genius and inventive
powers. And though in architecture foreign impact is much less
discernible in older periods than in the post-Mughal times (and much
less in evidence than in painting and sculpture), and though Indian
architecture in quality, excellence and beauty is second to none
in the history of the world, this Islamic impact is great, but not so
great as to smother, as it were, the strong native tectonic feeling
of the Hindu master mason.
Of the many "experimental" works, in which these two tradi-
tions are combined to create something novel, I would like to pick
out an interesting example, the Hawa Mahall ("the Palace of
Plate 34 the Winds") at (Both words, hawa and mahall are of
Jaipur,
Arabic-Persian origin). Here an
extraordinary experiment has
been made to create a building suited to the hot, dry climate
of Rajasthan, by making the entire facade a perforated screen;
"but not in the way in which Akbar's tomb for Salim Chishthi had
been treated, but by creating over fifty slightly raised pavilions,
each a half-oriel-window, as it were, and allowing every little breeze
to waft through the hundreds of perforated jail windows, not only
from in front, but also from the slanting sides. Now these little
half raised pavilions have been strongly influenced by Islamic
architecture, and are covered by little domes and curvilinear roofs,
whilst the openings are arch-shaped all non-Hindu elements. On
:
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
as a surface decoration. An even earlier example can be seen in

Plate 14 from Mamallapuram.
Thus, whilst isolated elements can be traced to Islamic construc-
tional principles, such as the arch and the dome, the traditional
Hindu genius is responsible for the overall design a remarkable :
example of an inner logic, as it were, working in architectural deve-

lopment.
This, indeed, is a very different story from the subsequent centuries,
in which western influence played on Indian architecture.
[49]
CHAPTER X
The Meeting with Western

Architecture
arrival of the English, Spanish, Dutch, French and the

The
Portuguese, and their early settlements in the type of houses
that these transitory traders needed for their purposes, left little
impression on 17th and 18th century architecture in India. The

"factories" that they built, were, however, usually surrounded by
fortifications,and some elements of these early forts can be observed
in the fortifications of contemporary princes not many.
;
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
masterpieces of architectural art. Colonial art never is, attractive

though can be in a queer way.
it
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
:
ill-conceived copying of elements, incongruous with the age or the

function of the building. Here and there, a better architect manages
to create an Indo-Islamic-British building of some distinction, and
I would reckon the Lahore High Court among them but the Museum
;
at Lahore is a comic Victorian structure, totally unsuited to the

purpose, ornate and out of place. Generations of curators have
cursed a structure so unsuited to be used as a museum.
By the end of the 19th century, and even more in the first thirty
years of the 20th, hundreds of large structures have been erected
for offices and for residences for employees that can best be described
as P.W.D. style (P.W.D. stands for Public Works Department). A
basic consideration for these buildings was that everything had to
be the cheapest possible and whilst earlier buildings were at least
;
well done, and the materials used up to the 1920s were good, as time
passed, economy became more and more imperative until, by 1931
;
a Central Government order established in almost so many words

that the best building was one that costed least per cubic feet.
"Standards" were prescribed that tied down the hands of the P.W.D.
architect and the Department had to call in at least three offers
;
when tendrr< were invited, as it became a rule that the cheapest

offer had to be accepted, or else the officer in charge was called to
account.
No noble architecture can live on such a principle. The results
[51]
Indian Architecture
are deplorable. Hundreds of buildings were erected on mass made

plans, so that an officer whose salary was Rs. 500 a month had a
ready-made design for his residence different from that of the officer
who drew Rs. 800 a month, also "standardized" in design. Excep-
tions there were, but this cheapening of government architecture
went on apace.
The transfer of the capital of the country from Calcutta to New
Delhi, decided on in 191 1, and gradually carried out in the 1930s,
gave Sir Edwin Lutyens and his associate Sir Edward Baker, a
chance hardly ever offered an architect. This chance was missed.
The first designs for the new capital project of the Empire of India
were in a kind of neo-roman style of the 1910s, and when this was
exhibited in London, it created a furore among the more sensitive
people. A petition was submitted to the Secretary of State for
India signed by hundreds of the most outstanding names in art
and literature, headed by Sir William Rothenstein and George
Bernard Shaw, demanding that the designs should be revised.
Surely, the petitioners argued, there existed in India master masons,
descendants of those wonderful architects who had created the
masterly buildings in India's past and they ought to be consulted
;
at least, as well as employed.

The result was that Lutyens and Baker were advised to revise
their plans. This they did by leaving its essence untouched, but
adding here a Buddhist railing, there an Islamic pavilion, changing
the dome of the Viceregal Palace into an imitation Buddhist stupa,
superimposing some Hindu brackets or ornaments on the fabric of
the building here and there.
If Lutyens and Baker aimed at making an "imperial capital"
they have achieved that in one sense the imposing size of the
:
Central Vista, a long alley of trees flanked by tanks of water-courses

(an Islamic element adopted from Mughal gardens) leading up to the
complex of the Viceregal Palace (now Rashtrapati Bhavan) and the
two Secretariats, large structures on both sides of the main road
running to the Palace. The gardens in the Palace were made with
the help of Sir John Marshall, then Director-General of Archaeology
in India.
In all fairness, it is difficult to see what style an architect in the
[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,
because we have to go on living with these buildings, however

hybrid, however uninspired, however piecemeal their style is.
[53]
CHAPTER XI
Contemporary Architecture
in India
Present day Indian architecture is an unhappy mixture of

styles, though the discerning student can clearly see the way it
is going to develop.
The face of the village
is changing. After three thousand years
of mud-and-thatch building, more and more village houses are

being built of burnt brick and with the tentacles of the village
;
development schemes reaching deeper and deeper into the formerly

much neglected countryside, reinforced cement concrete is arriving
everywhere as the great invention of this age. I have seen Com-
munity Development Block buildings, deep in the jungle, built
on modern principles of r.c.c. structure, unbeautiful, but function-
ally correct.
Ferroconcrete or reinforced cement concrete is a remarkable
invention that is revolutionizing architectural design. Shapes entirely
undreamt of in earlier materials timber, steel, brick or stone
are not only possible, they are easy to make, and have an extremely
long life. Many of them are earthquake-proof. R.c.c. is a form of
using cement with sand built round iron or steel rods and wire
netting that makes them extraordinarily sturdy, capable of with-
standing pressure and stress from all sides and to uphold enormously
heavy superstructures far stronger than an equally thick beam
:
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 :
such a span is hardly possible in any formerly known material.
[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-
:
faction, delight and excitement. Boredom of frontages is not very

exciting. Monotony is an abomination.
And so, whilst many houses are built in styleless styles, others
attempt at superimposing style from outside, by applying incon-
gruously elements of ancient Indian architecture that have (a) nothing
to do with the structure of the modern building, (b) nothing to do
with the material from which they are pretended to be made. Thus
we have in Sapru House in New Delhi or in that gigantic building,
the Yigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, ferroconcrete structures, on
which are superimposed pale imitations of Buddhist arches or
stupa-like domes, made of the wrong material. The great new
ministries rising in New Delhi are functionally correct r.c.c. struc-
tures, and, foolishly, almost mockingly, utterly useless domes are
set on top Cement covering is painted pink
of their concrete roofs.
to imitate the Agra sandstone that was used by the Buddhists or
the architects of Akbar. This is falsehood, and falsehood does not
make good art.
Westernization of architectural style is inevitable. Life in India
today is very different from what it was a hundred or a thousand
years ago, and nostalgic return to the styles of those days just
won't do. You cannot turn the clock back. Electricity, telephones,
motor cars, jet planes, radio, television and atomic reactors
lifts,
do not go any more with imitation antique architecture, and the
[55]
Indian Architecture
officer who sits in a government building imitating a Buddhist

monastery must find himself oddly out of place whilst selling mona-
zite sands to a customer on radio telephone twenty thousand miles
away, or conversing with New York or Moscow about an irrigation

scheme of gigantic proportions to be made of reinforced cement
concrete and stainless steel.
In this connexion must be remembered that at no period did
it
Indian architects try to build with a nostalgic looking back into

their past. The makers of Khajuraho built in the style of their own
age, not attempting to build as the architects of Sanchi did ; the
artists who Konarka did not try to copy the cathedral of
created
Karle ; the Mughals made their forts without attempting to do
something on the lines of Buddhist monasteries.
Yet with all that, the modern architect must not forget the
country in which he lives, the habits, the climate, the genius of
its people. Wholesale importation of foreign styles results in misfits,
such as those many modern buildings, most uncomfortable to live

or work in, that are made, in imitation of western examples,
heavily peppered with vast windows. Now in Western and Northern
Europe sunshine is a precious and rare commodity, and people are
craving to catch every little ray of it but in India, where the sun
;
is a relentless enemy of comfort, large fenestration is entirely un-

suitable, and the more you can shade your windows, the more
likely you are to create comfortable rooms : a thing the Mughals
knew when they open verandah-
built the Pafich Mahall or the great
like halls of their forts (see Plates 31 and 32, and compare the
Hawa Mahall of Jaipur, Plate 34). M. Le Corbusier, in his ardent
desire to create a Chandigarh on entirely novel principles, has for-
gotten the admirable experiments with cool buildings made by his
Indian predecessors. His "sunbreakers," large perforated screens,
are a much less happy invention than the verandahs and chajjds
of Indian architecture, and they collect dust and dirt and pigeons'
nests. Nor has he seen the tremendous advantage of an inner court-
yard, a sehn, for Northern Indian home life.
Whilst, then, r.c.c. must, unavoidably, bring novel designs, the
climate and the mode of life of the Indians are factors that must
never be lost sight of. Out of these considerations will grow a new
[56]
Contemporary Architecture in India
Indian architecture. Some of the most brilliant Indian architects

are well aware of these problems, and it is up to these to evolve a
style that takes fully into account the country as well as the modern
materials they are working with.
Meanwhile, the critical observer ought to watch with keen interest
this period of gestation almost any experiment should
and birth ;
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.
amald, amid or amdlaka : large disc-shaped stone used on Orissan

temples as a crowning piece, resembling the amalaka fruit, or
rather like a round cushion. See illustration for pinnacle.
apse : a semi-circular termination at one end of a building.
apsidal : with an apse, with a semi-circular portion at one end of a
structure.
arc ^ a curve d or slightly pointed opening in
k-EYjTONE '
youssom a building, so made as to hold up the

roof or ceiling or top part of a structure.
A true arch is the one shown in the illu-
stration :has voussoirs, and is held to-
it
gether by the keystone on top of the rise.

See also : corbelled arch,
arcuate : a structural method based on the use of arches. Opposite
trabeated.
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]
.
Glossary of Architectural Terms
baroque : style by freedom of

characterized line and inclination
towards unusual, elaborate and decorative effect ; ornate without
the excesses of the rococo.
battlement : parapet on top of a wall,
divided into regular portions call-
ed crenellations (in India: kdn-
guras) suitable for archers and
gunners to use as a cover.
bracket : a projecting support, to assist in holding up the lintel, a
roof, a balcony etc. See text figure 2, p. 13.
capital of a column or pillar : the top element of a pillar or column

or pilaster, on which the roof, ceiling or beam rest. Usually
ornamented. See sketch under pillar. :
cement : lime compound, burnt and ground found naturally or ;
manufactured.
chaitya : Buddhist shrine of any kind, from a sacred tree to a large
rock-cut cathedral chaitya window : a horseshoe shaped win-
;
dow characteristic of Buddhist architecture but found on

Hindu temples too.
chajjd : eaves, projecting portion of roof, especially over window
or door.
circumambulatory path : a part of a building intended to allow the
worshipper to go round, to circumambulate a sacred object
(image, stupa). In Sanskrit pradakshina-patha:
clerestory windows or openings, often small,

:
allowing light to enter building between

two ranges of sloping roofs.
column : a circular pillar, upright element supporting roof etc. In

Indian architecture the term is used sometimes for pillar, as
in Indian architecture some pillars have circular portions
mixed with octagonal etc. sections.
[59]
Indian Architecture
concrete: sand, gravel, cement etc., even pounded brick, mixed

with water. See reinforced cement concrete,
coping : topmost part of a wall, balustrade; covering stone.
corbelled arch : opening in a wall, held together by making brick
courses project, each farther than the one
-fr~T~ i i
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.
facade : the face, the wall surface of a building. (A French word

and the 9 must be written with a cedilla: c).
ferroconcrete reinforced cement concrete,: see :
flamboyant : highly ornate style, especially of high baroque, with

rich, overcharged decoration, "like tongues of flickering flame."
garbha-griha : Sanskrit, literally : "womb-house," the image cham-

ber, the Sanctum, the most sacred part of a shrine.
gopuram : entrance gateway of Dravidian temples, developed into
a lofty, tapering tower.
gumbdd or gumbdz : a domed structure such as an Islamic mauso-
leum ; a dome alone.
harmika on top of a stupa. small square railing with one or more

:
umbrellas in the middle.
[60]
jagamohana : in Orissan temple architecture that part of the temple

complex that precedes the image chamber (see garbha-griha,
vimatia) ; the mandapa before the sanctum.
jdli : perforated screen, lattice work.
jamb : upright portion of a door, window frame, holding the lintel
on top.
kdngura : crenellation. See battlement.
lintel a horizontal element in a building, of wood, stone, metal

:
etc. spanning an opening such as a door or window, and often

carrying a weight above. See Text Figure 2, p. 13.
lindn : the cloisters, arched, pillared or columnated areas of a
mosque.
madrasa : a. college, a school, especially a theological one.

mahall a palace.
:
mandapa : a shrine, temple, used often for an open pillared hall,

but not alwa;
masjid : the Arabic, Persian and Urdu word for a mosque.
mihrab or mehrdb : the niche or recess of the masjid indicating the
direction of Mecca (the qibla).
mimbdr : a pulpit in a mosque, next to the mihrab.
mindr : a tower, a spire, a lighthouse the word minaret is usually ;
used for a small turret, and comes from Persian mmdreh.

moulding : a projecting continuous element on
a wall, a decorative band.
"moulding
niche : a recess, in a wall, often used for sculptural decoration ;
an inset panel.
[61]
Indian Architecture
oriel window : a bay window, projecting out of a wall, supported by

brackets or corbelling.
ornate : given to decoration, richly decorated, embellished with
ornament.
palisade : wooden fencing, paling, often strong trunks of timber

stood upright, close to each other.
parapet : a small, low wall, at edge of a roof, platform, balcony or
bridge.
pietra dura : Italian term for inlay work of semi-precious stones
(carnelian, agate, lapis lazuli and other hard stones) to form a
design, highly polished and made level with the marble base.
pilaster half-pillar, half emerging out of the
: wall.
pillar an upright part or element of a
:
structure, free standing, and made

to support the roof, ceiling or lintel. O BACJJS
5CAPITAL
SHAFT
pinnacle
j \ &ASt
AMLA
51KWAR4 pinnacle : pointed termination, uppermost

part of a spire, sometimes ornate.
pradakshina-patha : see circumambulatory path.
qibla : the direction in which Muslim worshippers turn.
rauza : a Muslim tomb, a mausoleum, often of a revered or saintly

person, poet or holy man.
[62]
reinforced cement concrete = r.c.c. = ferroconcrete : cement concrete

used with steel rods, steel mesh or bars, in order to strengthen
it both for stress and compression very lasting and very :
strong modern building material.

rococo : highly ornate style, in which ornament is so overrich that
it weakens or kills the design ; affected and overelaborate
ornamentation.
sehn an inner yard, an enclosed inner area, such as the uncovered

:
part of the mosque.

shaft : the main part of a pillar or column, below which is the base,
above which is the capital middle element of pillar. See
:
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.
temenos Greek term for a sacred enclosure, the precincts of a

:
temple and its walled-in area.

trabeated : structure consisting of pillars or posts, holding up a
lintel or roof. See Text Figure 2, p. 13.
vimdna temple architecture that part of the temple which

: in
comprises the image chamber and is, usually, crowned by the
spire. Preceded by the jagamohana in Orissa, or the maha-
mandapa in, e.g. Khajuraho. The term deul is used for vimdna,
sometimes for the whole temple.
[63]
Bibliography
There is, no proper history of Indian architectural art. This has

in all truth,
yet to be written. Fergusson is out of date, not only because he wrote as a
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.
:
G. Le Bon Les monuments de I'Inde. Paris, 1893.

:
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.
:
Stella Kramrisch The Hindu Temple. Calcutta, 1946.

:
Hermann Goetz: Indien: Funf Jahrtauscnde indischcr Kunst. Baden-Baden, 1959.

Klaus Fischer : Schopfungen indischer Kunst. Cologne, 1959.
[64]
List of Plates
Plate i. Representation of a fortified city on a bas-relief of the railing round the

Buddhist stupa of Sanchi near Bhopal. Houses of timber and mud within the walls.
Date ist century B.C.
:
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.
Plate 4. The small rock-cut shrine at Kanheri, in the Bombay

hills. There is a
pradakshina-patha circumambulatory path behind the and round the apsis

pillars
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.
;
Date about 450 a.d.

:
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 12. The so-called "Draupadi's Ratha" at Mamallapuram, near Madras.

Cut out of a single rock, this is a copy of a thatched mud house with wooden pillars.
Purely classical. Date : about 450 a.d.
Plate 13. "Arjuna's Ratha," one of the rock-cut temples at Mamallapuram,

near Madras. A shrine of classic simplicity, with a small porch, and a roof consisting
of stone copies of rows of thatched "Buddhist" huts, each with a chaitya window.
Date about 450
: a.d.
Plate Rock-cut temple, so-called "Dharmaraja's chariot," at Mamallapuram,

14.
near Madras. Still classical, the roof is slightly loftier than in Plate 13. The ground
plan is square with a verandah supported by pillars and pilasters. Date between 450 :
and 500 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 :
about 675 a.d.
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 Modest ornamentation, applied with good sense, on a Gupta pillar,

19.
now in Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneshwar. Pale pink sandstone. From
the
Cuttack District. Date about 500 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 :
about 1000 a.d. (see also Plate 22).
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
:
pyramidal roofs of later Orissan temples. Date about 700 a.d. :
Plate 22. The Rajarani Temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. Built about 1000 a.d.
[66]
List of Plates
A masterpiece of admirable proportions, with emphasis on the tower that rises

above the sanctum. The entrance shrine is of modest height and much plainer
(cp. also Plate 20).
Plate 23. The Brahmesvara Temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. A panchayatana

type temple, with four minor shrines at the corners. The jagamohana has a rather
top-heavy pyramidal roof. Date: about 1050 a.d.
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.
Plate 32. The

Diwan-e Khas Hall of Private Audience at Fatehpur Sikri.
Splendid combination of Hindu and Islamic elements, it is an "experimental" piece
of architecture, without parallel. The four roof pavilions are too large. Pink Agra
sandstone.
Plate a. The Taj Maball at Agra. A direct descendant of Humayun's Tomb

(cp. Plate 30). but loftier and more magnificent, especially in the riches of the ma-
terial (all white marble) and the lavishness of the inlay work. The upward tendency
[67]
:
Indian Architecture
is emphatic shape of the dome (Humayun's is less soaring) and in the addition
in the
of four slender minars as well as in the great central opening.
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
\ pillar capital oi Mauryan

times, about jrd century b
i
Eoond -it Patna, n..w in the

Patna Museum. Bihar Perse-
politan motifs Sandstone.
Photo C l Fabri
PLATE 3
The Lomas Rishi cave, Barabar Hills, Bihar.

Carved out of the rock with an entrance faith-
fully copying the front of a bamboo hut. An
inscription allows us to date this cave into the
3rd century b. c. (Photo C. L. Fabri.)
:
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
-
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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.)
PLATE Gupta Temple No 1- a1 Sanchi Stone, with

8 little classic
Date aboul joo \ d. (Photo C. L. Fabri.)
a tetrastyle portico. .
:
I
<
z z
"3 5fl
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i
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
lot tier by the use of a number
of round hut-shaped turrets.

Date: about 675 \. i>. (Photo:
('. L. Fabri.)
PLATE 12
The so-called "Draupadl's Hatha"

at Mamallapuram, near Madras. Cut
out ot a single rock, this is a copy ol
a thatched mud house with wooden
pillars. Purely classical. Date: about
i.v) a. d. (Photo C. I.. Fabri.)
:
fr??'-u
PLATE 13 "Ariuna's Rati cut temples ;it Mamallapuram, mar

Madras. Ashrii with a small porch and a roof
thatched "Buddhist" huts, each
with a chaitva windoM
.
PLATE 14 Rock-cut temple, so-called "Dharmaraja's chariot," at Mamallapuram

near Madras. Still classical, the roof is slightly loftier than in Plate 13.
The ground plan is square, with a verandah supported by pillars and
pilasters. Date: between 450 and 500 a. d. (Photo: C. L. Fabri.)
.
c o
a3
o S
2 S>
u M
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8
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-3 <
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"3
o y.
SI D
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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
Characteristically ornate pillar of the baroque

period with three capitals, one on top of the other,
rich fluting, and human and divine
figures. N"\\
1,1Lahore Museum. Date: about oth century a. d.
(Photo: C. L. Fabri.)
PLATE 19
Modesl ornamentation, applied with good sense, on a

Gupta pillar, now in the Orissa State Museum, Bhu-
baneshwar. Pale pink sandstone; from Cuttack District.
Date about 500 \ i. (Photo C. I.. Fabri.)
:
:
-
'-rrr
m \'" [Ml
H
.J^
< i.
iKX
i-'
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f
-3
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Typical
PLATE 20 r.irt the facade oi the Rijarini Temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.
..i
wealth, with superb feeling for decorative values. Admir-

example ol baroque
able treatment ol the human body, with floral and geometric ornaments.
Date about icoo : i d. (see also Plate iz), (Photo : C. L. Fabri.)
PLATE 21 The little temple Sichanatha on an island in the Mahanadi, Orissa.
of
The jagamohana pat!is roofed by a triple root of slanting slabs;
a predecessor of the pyramidal roofs ol later Orissan temples. Mate :
about 700 a. i). (Photo C. L, Fabri.)

:
PLATE 22 The Rajarani Temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. Built about iooo \ d.
A masterpiece of admirable proportions, with emphasis on the tower that
ris.s above the sanctum. The entrance shrine is oi modest height and
much plainer (cp. also Plate 20). Photo : C, 1. Fabri.)
o y
18
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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
-^
H -
!2 o
- _
X
=
s _
o '
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z
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--
.
a nuc.itUmi's call tower attached to the Quwwal ul Islam Mas j id.

limit about 2O0 \ D. Photo
i
I C.
: I aim
1
_ -~
- 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.)
:
t J: -" U
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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.
AcHAEMENIDS, IRANIAN DYNASTY! 8 Babar, emperor : 42

Adham Khan's Tomb: 39 Badami, temple town : 19, 21, 23, 25,
Afghanistan: 38 Plate n
Agastya, ancient sage :
33 Baital Deul, temple: 23-24, 25, 31,
Agra town : 36, 40, 44, 55 Plate 17
Aihole town : 15, 17, 18, 21, 23, 25 Baker, Sir Edward, architect : 52
Ajivika sect :
9 balustrade, see railing
Akbar, emperor : 36, 37, 41-46, 47, bamboo : 6, 7, 9, 12. 13. 14
48.55 Barabar Hills, 9 Bihar :
nmalaka, crowning stone on Hindu Baramba District, Orissa : 26

temple spire : 27, 28, 31 baroque style : 4. 24. 25-27, 29, 31,
Amaravati, ancient Buddhist site : 12, Plates 18 and 20
20 barrel roof 23 and passim
:
Amber city :
47 barsdtl, a room on the roof for the
Andhra State 20, : see also Amaravati. rains 43
:
Nagarj unakonda battlements : 36ff.

apsis, apsidal :
9 Bauhaus, German architectural school :
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 :
,1. emperor 8, 9 : Bharhut, Buddhist stupa of : 7. Text

assembly. Buddhist: 12. Islamic: Figure 1, 12
39 Bhitargaon temple : 13
Aurangzeb, emperor : 36, 46 bhoga-mandapa, hall of offerings : 29
[99]
:
Index
Bhubaneshwar town : 7, 23-29, 31, 48 Deccan, area in Andhra State : 23, 31

Bihar State :
9, 13, see also Patna, Delhi town 37^, 45 :
36,
Barabar Hills, Nalanda, Rajagriha Devi Jagadambi Temple : 19, Text
bihisht, Persian word for Paradise :
45 Figure 3
Bodh Gaya Temple : 12, 13 "Dharmaraja Ratha," Mamallapuram :
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 :
Chidambaram temple 33 : English: 50-53

Choa Saidan Shah in the Salt Range : eroticism :
29
50
Christian churches :
50, 51
circumambulation, circumambulatory Fatehpur-sikri town : 41-44
path :
9, n, 18 ferroconcrete, see reinforced cement
"civil" architecture :
4 concrete.
classic style : 3-4, 17, 20-22, 24, 44 "Five Rathas" : see Mamallapuram,
clerestory : 26 Draupadi's Ratha, Arjuna's Ratha
climate :
2, 43, 56 and Dharmaraja Ratha
Community Development Block :
54 forts, fortification : 4, 6, 7, 36, and
corbelling, corbelled arch : 6, 38 Passim
curvilinear roof :
47 French 50 :
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
garbha-griha, sanctum of a Hindu jama': see assembly

temple : 15, 18, 26, 31, 39 Jaunpur town 39 :
garden : 41, 42, 45 52 Jehangir, emperor :

37, 40, 44, 45
gargoyle : 15. 18
Ghiyas ud-Din Tughlaq, tomb of Sul-
tan 38 : K.AILA5ANATHA TEMPLE 31 \
Goa, churches in : 50 Kalinganagara, perhaps Sisupalgarh :

7
Golconda town 39 : Kanchipuram town : 31
gopuram, South Indian temple gateway kangura, crenellation, battlement :
39
(plural : gopuras) : 26, 32-33, 34 Kanheri cave :
9, Plate 4
Greek, Hellenic, Roman, Greco-Ro- Karachi, town in Pakistan :
51
man : 8, 14, 34, 51 Karle cathedral cave : 3, 10, 56, Plate 5
Gujarat State 39 : Kerala State :
7, 14
gumbdd, gumbaz : see tomb Kesava Temple, Somanathapura : 34-
Gupta, period of dynasty : 17, 24. 35, Plate 27
Plate 19 Khajuraho temples, Madhya Pradesh :
Gwalior town :
47 19, 28, 34, 56
Kodumbalur see Muvar Kovil
:
Konarka, Sun Temple, Orissa :

3, 30,
Haji begam, widow of the emperor 56
Humayun : 40 Krishna (god) 34 :
Halebid, temples, Mysore :

34-35 Krishnarajapuram, timber palace of
Harappa civilization : 6 14
harmika, on top of Buddhist stiipa,
umbrella(s) in railing : 11-12
Hawa Mahall, Jaipur : 48, 56, Plate 34 Lad khan temple, aihole : iS. 25.
Hellenistic : 13, see Greek 26, Plate 9, Text Figure 3
Hoysala, dynasty :
34-35 Lahore, West Pakistan : 36, 40, 41. 51
Hoysalesvara Temple :
35, Plate 28 Lai Qila=Red Fort. Delhi :
37
Humayun 's Tomb : 40, 45, Plate 30 Le Corbusier (M. Jeanneret). French
architect :
55, 56
linga, phallus :
39
Iberian architecture :
50
Lingaraja Temple : 26-29, Plate 24
Iran : 8, 40
lintel : passim, especially p. 13 and
Isa Khan, tomb of :
39
Text Figure 2
Islamic architecture : 4, 13, 36-49. 52
llxpan of a mosque : 39
Lodhi dynasty 36 :
J agamohana. shrine preceding san- Lorn as Rishi cave : 9, Plate 3

ctum Hindu temple 26. 27ft.
of : Lothal, prehistoric site 6 :
Jagannatha Temple, Puri 26 : Lutyens. Sir Edwin, architect :

52
Jaipur town 48 :
jolt, perforated screen, window 18, :
55. 43. 48. 56 M ADRAS STATE \ 20, 3 1. 5
[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 :
passim pradakshina-patha : see circumambula-

Mughal dynasty, style 36, :
39, 40-46, 56 tion
Muktesvara Temple 33 : prostyle, building with pillars in front
Museum, Lahore 51 : only : 15
Muvar Kovil temples, Kodumbalur Pudukkottai, former princely State :
22, Plate 16 see Muvar Kovil

Mysore State : 15, 31, 34-35, 47 Punjab : 14, 47
Purana Qila, one of the forts of Delhi :
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 :
29 QlBLA IN A MOSQUE '.
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.
Rajarani temple, Bhubaneshwar Hlpin, artisan, artist, sculptor, painter,

:
3,
25-28, 31, 48, Plates 20 and 22 architect :
4
Rajput, Rajasthan 47, 48 :
Simla town : 51
Rashtrapati Bhavan, former Viceregal Sihhanatha Temple, Baramba, Orissa :
Palace :
52 26, 31
Ratnagiri, Buddhist monaster}', Orissa: Sirkap, ancient city, part of Taxila

14 :
13. 23 Siva Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram :
Red Fort, Delhi : see Lai Qila 33

refectory : 12 Sisupalgarh fort, Orissa : 7-8
reinforced cement concrete :

54-55 Somanathapura, Mysore State :
34-35,
rococo style Plate 27
:
4, 34-35
Roman : see Greek "Southern" style: 23, 31; see also:
Rothenstein, Sir William, artist : 52 Dra vidian

Rudra=iva Spanish : 50
:
34
Rupar, prehistoric site, Punjab : 6 spire : see Sikhara
Srirangapatna, Mysore State :
47
stone masonry : passim, especially 8,
Sakti cult :
23 14.37
Salim Chishthi : see Shaikh Salim Chi- stupa, Buddhist funeral monument :
9,
shthi 11-13, 20, 52, 55.
Sanchi, Buddhist site : 7, 12, 15-16, "sunbreakers" : 56
21, 24, 25, 56, Plates 1 and 8, Text sfichi, cross bar of Buddhist railing
Figure 3 12
sangha, the Buddhist monastic order : Sun Temple : see Konarka
12 Syria :
39
Sapru House, New Delhi :
55
"Scottish baronial" style :
51
sculptural decoration : 3-4, 10, II, 12, Taj mahall : 40-41, Plate 33
17. 23-30. 35- 57. PlaU 20 Tamil Nad see Dravidian, Madras, :
Secretariat in New Delhi :

52 Southern
sehn, the inner courtyard 56 : Tanjavur, Tanjore town 31, 32, 48 :
Seringapatam = Srirangapatna, in My- Tantric, religious sect :

29
sore State 47 : Taxila, city of Gandhara kingdom
Shahdara near Lahore 40 :
M
Shahjehan, emperor 37, 40, 44-46 : temple : passim, especially 3, 4, 5,
Shaikh Salim Chishthi, tomb of 44, :
14. 29. 37. 39
4S tetrastyle, building with four pillars
Shaw, George Bernard 52 : in portico :
15
shops in temple yards 32, 33 : theatre : 2
Shore Temple, Mamallapuram : 22, 31, timber : 6ff., 8, 9, 10, 14, 20
Plate 15 Tippii Sultan :
47
[103]
I
Index
tomb, mausoleum, gumbad 5, 36-49 : verandah : 12, 15, 18, 43-44, 56

torana, Buddhist gateway 12, 33 : Viceregal Palace, New Delhi :
52
Tosali, ancient city, perhaps Sisupal- Victorian style : 51
garh: 7 Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi :
55
trabeated construction : passim, espe- vimana, temple : 26ft.
cially 13-14, 38, 42-43, and Text vrikshaka, wood nymph : 25

Figure 2
Tughlaq dynasty : 36, 38
Western india :
47, see also gujarat,
Bombay
Udaipur city :
47 wood : see timber
umbrella, symbol of dignity : 11
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
inculcating love for an aesthetic enjoyment of Indian architecture by describing

its natural growth and good sense. One of the valuable features of the book is an
illustrated glossary of Indian architectural terms.
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 ;
A History of Indian Dress ; A History of Indian Architecture (in press) A Funda- ;
mental History of Indian Art (in press) and Khajuraho (with Stella Kramrisch and
;
Mulk Raj Anand). His bock An Introduction to European Painting is in
press and will be published by Asia Publishing House.
ASIA PUBLISHING HOUSE newyork

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rVMIN COUNTY P9EE

Marin County Free library

i. What is General Education

ARTS AND PHILOSOPHY

3. An Introduction to European Painting

9 The Earth We Live On

16. Indian Culture

24. Selections from Hindi Literature, 2 vols.

Dr. Charles Fabri

ASIA PUBLISHING HOUSE

Marin County Free Library

stimulate thinking and broaden the outlook of our students. The

complementary character. In our country, there is a great and urgent

interests and opportunities and demands of life are not limited to

seek their own answers, they have to be confronted with errors of

open alternatives, as well as with the beauty of scientific proof or

student will find instruction and inspiration in several of the

Project, Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Since it

may seem desirable can easily be introduced when this is done.

Aligarh Muslim University B. H. ZAIDI

This book is specially intended for non-specialists. It is addressed

ing love for the aesthetic enjoyment of Indian architecture and

style after style.

behind it all, there is a yardstick, an element of critical appreciation,

i. The Earliest Remains 6

2. The Stupa and the Monastery ii

3. The Earliest Temples 14

4. Early Dravidian Temples 20

5. The Temples of Orissa 23

6. Later Dravidian Temples 31

7. Early Islamic Architecture 36

9. Later Indo-Islamic Architecture 47

10. The Meeting with Western Architecture 50

11. Contemporary Architecture in India 54

Glossary of Architectural Terms 5

Architecture has been described as "the art of organizing

creates entirely new forms. He is the master of his shapes, the

ing an oblong area into a caravan-sarai, or a mosque by the mere

wood ; or to employ reinforced cement concrete as if itwere sand-

be a good theatre, it should not look like a church or a school, it

houses in a sub-tropical climate, such as Northern India, from houses

That means, in other words, that architecture must appeal to

spacial structure with a form of beauty not an extraneous, superim-

And thus we come to a feature of Indian architecture of much

with sculpture and ornament, leaving not an inch bare. This is

ist period of short duration, after which there a long period of

baroque, and a subsequent rococo. As this brief history of Indian

sculpture and ornament in the classic period these increase slightly

in the mannerist time and burst into a vast flowering of profuse

baroque period (8th to 14th centuries), and creates this confused

Temples have been frequently mentioned above, and it is necessary

these increases. We have ample evidence of Islamic civil architec-

The purpose of a history of architecture is, then, foremost, to

ration. And so, while I shall endeavour to give a critical history of

The Earliest Remains

the building of the 1300 to 500 B.C. must have been

Text Figure 1 : Dwelling hut of mud

Plate 1 gives a wonderful impression of such a city. The relievo pj a te 1

Two important remains of the oldest times are the fortifications

In cave architecture too, as elsewhere, the development goes from

have here an apsidal shrine of worship {i.e. a long shrine, one

and elevated impression; the visitor stands breathless at the view

a vaulted roof that has real, veritable rafters of timber inserted in