Arts and Entertainment in India - Architecture

Architecture

Indian architecture is that vast tapestry of production of the Indian subcontinent that encompasses a multitude of expressions over space and time, transformed by the forces of history considered unique to the sub-continent, sometimes destroying, but most of the time absorbing. The result is an evolving range of architectural production that nonetheless retains a certain amount of continuity across history.

The earliest production in the Indus Valley Civilization was characterised by well planned cities and houses where religion did not seem to play an active role. The Buddhist period is primarily represented by three important building types- the Chaitya Hall (place of worship), the Vihara (monastery) and the Stupa (hemispherical mound for worship/ memory) - exemplified by the awesome caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi Stupa. The Jaina temples are characterised by a richness of detail that can be seen in the Dilwara Temples in Mt.Abu. Early beginnings of Hindu temple architecture have been traced to the remains at Aihole and Pattadakal in present day Karnataka, and have Vedic altars and late Vedic temples as described by Pāṇini as models. Later, as more differentiation took place, the Dravidian/ Southern style and or the Indo-Aryan/ Northern/ Nagara style of temple architecture emerged as dominant modes, epitomised in productions such as the magnificent Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, and the Sun Temple, Konark.

With the advent of Islam, the arch and dome began to be used and the mosque or masjid too began to form part of the landscape, adding to a new experience in form and space. The most famous Islamic building type in India is the tomb or the mausoleum which evolved from the basic cube and hemisphere vocabulary of the early phase into a more elaborate form during the Mughal era where multiple chambers are present and tombs were set in a garden known as the char-bagh. Well known examples are the Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur and the Taj Mahal, Agra, the latter renowned for its beauty in white marble, its minarets and its setting. With colonisation, a new chapter began. Though the Dutch, Portuguese and the French made substantial forays, it was the English who had a lasting impact. The architecture of the colonial period varied from the beginning attempts at creating authority through classical prototypes to the later approach of producing a supposedly more responsive image through what is now termed Indo-Saracenic architecture- a mixture of Hindu, Islamic and Western elements.

With the introduction of Modern Architecture into India and later with Independence, the quest was more towards progress as a paradigm fuelled by Nehruvian visions. The planning of Chandigarh- a city most architects hate/love- by Le Corbusier was considered a step towards this. Later as modernism exhausted itself in the West and new directions were sought for, in India too there was a search for a more meaningful architecture rooted in the Indian context. This direction called Critical Regionalism is exemplified in the works of architects such as B. V. Doshi, Charles Correa, etc. Apart from this, the advent of globalisation and economic development since the 90s, has spawned an impressive collection of modern IT campuses and skyscrapers, and as economic reform accelerates, metropolitan areas are gaining futuristic skylines.

Various examples of Indian architecture

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  Typical South Indian temple gopuram (temple gate) built almost a millennium ago, but as tall as a modern mid-rise.

• Victoria Memorial, a specimen of British Indian architecture, which incorporated European gothic, Persian saracenic and traditional Indian architecture.

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  The massive Ellora Hindu and Buddhist temples were not constructed, but in fact carved out of solid rock from the top to the bottom.

• The Great Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi is the oldest existing structure in India, aside from the Indus Valley civilization ruins, and a World Heritage Site.

• Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, location of the Bombay Stock Exchange is an example of 1980s Indian architecture.