Architecture of India
Indian architecture is rooted in the history, culture, and religion of India. Among several architectural styles and traditions, the best-known include the many varieties of Hindu temple architecture and Indo-Islamic architecture, especially Rajput architecture, Mughal architecture, South Indian architecture, and Indo-Saracenic architecture. Early Indian architecture was made from wood, which did not survive due to rotting and instability in the structures. Instead, the earliest existing architecture are made with Indian rock-cut architecture, including many Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples.
The Hindu temple architecture is divided into the Dravidian style of southern India and the Nagara style of northern India, with other regional styles. Housing styles also vary between regions, depending on climate.
The first major Islamic kingdom in India was the Delhi Sultanate, which led to the development of Indo-Islamic architecture, combining Indian and Islamic features. The rule of the Mughal Empire, when Mughal architecture evolved, is regarded as the zenith of Indo-Islamic architecture, with the Taj Mahal being the high point of their contribution. Indo-Islamic architecture influenced the Rajput and Sikh styles as well.
During the British colonial period, European styles including Neoclassical, Gothic Revival, and Baroque became prevalent across India. The amalgamation of Indo-Islamic and European styles led to a new style, known as the Indo-Saracenic style. After India's independence, modernist ideas spread among Indian architects as a way of progressing from the colonial culture. Le Corbusier - who designed the city of Chandigarh - influenced a generation of architects towards modernism in the 20th century. The economic reforms of 1991 further bolstered the urban architecture of India as the country became more integrated with the world's economy. Traditional Vastu Shastra remains influential in India's architecture in the contemporary era.[1]
A tetrastyle prostyle Gupta period temple at Sanchi beside the Apsidal hall with Maurya foundation. An example of Buddhist architecture from the 5th century.
The current structure of the Mahabodhi Temple dates to the Gupta era in the 5th century. It marks the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.
Relief of Jain tirthankara Parshvanatha on the Kahaum pillar, erected by a person named Madra during the reign of Skandagupta in 461.[33]
![Relief of Jain tirthankara Parshvanatha on the Kahaum pillar, erected by a person named Madra during the reign of Skandagupta in 461.[33]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Kakandi.jpg/135px-Kakandi.jpg)
The Gupta period chiefly represented a hiatus in Indian rock-cut architecture; the first wave of construction was completed before the empire was assembled, and the second wave began in the late 5th century, after its end. For example, an early group of the Ajanta Caves was crafted by 220 CE and a later group was made around 460 CE.[21] Nonetheless, most of the first surviving free-standing structures in India are accredited to the Gupta period, in particular, the beginnings of Hindu temple architecture. As Milo Beach writes, "Under the Guptas, India was quick to join the rest of the medieval world in a passion for housing precious objects in stylized architectural frameworks",[22] the "precious objects" primarily suggesting the icons of gods.
The caves at Ajanta, including Elephanta and Ellora (respectively Buddhist, Hindu, mixed, and Jain) were produced under other dynasties in Central India. Ellora was made after the Gupta period, yet they primarily reflect the monumentality and balance of Guptan style. The Ajanta Caves contain the most significant and mature survivals of painting and the periods, mainly in palace paintings.[23] The Hindu Udayagiri Caves record connections with the dynasty and its ministers,[24] and the Dashavatara Temple at Deogarh, one of the earliest to survive, showcases important sculpture.[25]
North Indian Hindu temples that have survived after the 5th century Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh include those at Tigawa (early 5th century),[26] Sanchi Temple 17 (similar, but respectively Hindu and Buddhist), Deogarh, Parvati Temple, Nachna (465),[27] Bhitargaon, the largest Gupta brick temple to survive,[28] and Lakshman Brick Temple, Sirpur (600–625). Gop Temple in Gujarat (c. 550 or later) is an oddity, with no surviving close comparator.[29]
There are a number of broad models of Guptan-style temples, however, the most common plan exemplifies small but massively built stone prostyle buildings with a sanctuary and a columned porch, apparent at Tigawa and Sanchi Temple 17 and continued today. Both temples have flat roofs over the sanctuary, which would become uncommon by about the 8th century, as seen in the design of the Mahabodhi Temple, Bhitargaon, Deogarh and Gop, with high superstructures of different shapes.[30] The Chejarla Kapoteswara temple further demonstrates the continuance of free-standing chaitya-hall temples with barrel roofs, with many smaller wooden examples.[31]
Safdarjung's Tomb is built in the late Mughal style for Nawab Safdarjung. The tomb is described as the "last flicker in the lamp of Mughal architecture".
Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah is a Mughal mausoleum in Agra. It is noticeable for the first use of pietra dura technique. The tomb is often regarded as a draft of the Taj Mahal.
Shalimar Bagh is a Mughal garden in Srinagar, linked through a channel to the northeast of Dal Lake. The Bagh is considered the high point of Mughal horticulture.
![Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, the first fully developed Mughal imperial tomb, 1569–70 CE[102]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Humayun%27s_tomb_by_Shagil_Kannur_4.jpg/180px-Humayun%27s_tomb_by_Shagil_Kannur_4.jpg)
Fort Dansborg, built by the 17th century Danish admiral Ove Gjedde, reminiscences of Danish India, Tharangambadi, Tamil Nadu
View of the Mughal Garden [Now Amrit udhyaan] of Rashtrapati Bhavan
![View of the Mughal Garden [Now Amrit udhyaan] of Rashtrapati Bhavan](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/View_of_the_Mughal_Garden_of_Rashtrapati_Bhavan_in_March_1962.jpg/140px-View_of_the_Mughal_Garden_of_Rashtrapati_Bhavan_in_March_1962.jpg)
Char Bagh Garden, Rajasthan
There is less archaeological evidence of early gardens elsewhere in India but the ancient Hindu sacred books give a remarkably detailed account of gardens in Ancient India.
During Mauryan Era, palaces took a central role and with it came the gardens. The Hindu scriptures (shastras) set down a code for the orientation and organization of buildings in relation to compass points, hills, water and plants. No physical form survived but rock carvings like in Ajanta Caves or in Stupas shows an existence of airy structures with timber columns. Those illustrations show vegetation alongside the platform and columns. Emperor Ashoka's inscriptions mention the establishment of botanical gardens for planting medicinal herbs, plants, and trees. They contained pools of water, were laid in grid patterns, and normally had chattri pavilions with them.
Hindu and Buddhist temple sites, from ancient times, have emphasized on 'Sacred Grooves' or medical gardens. Hindu and Buddhist Temples like in Mahabodhi and Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang mentions accounts of Nalanda where "azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade."
Manasollasa, a twelfth century text giving details on garden design, asserts that it should include rocks and raised mounds of summits, manicured with plants and trees of diverse varieties, artificial ponds, and flowing brooks. It describes the arrangement, the soils, the seeds, the distance between types of plants and trees, the methods of preparing manure, proper fertilizing and maintaining the garden, which plants and trees are best planted first, when to plant others, watering, signs of overwatering and underwatering, weeds, means of protecting the garden, and other details.
Early Islamic dynasties, like of Delhi Sultanates, never showed interests on gardens with an exception of Lodhi Dynasty. Mughals along with the Hindu Rajputs ushered a new era of Garden architecture. Concepts like Charbagh (four gardens) came from Persia. In the Charbagh at the Taj Mahal, each of the four parts contains sixteen flower beds.
Fountain and running water was a key feature of Mughal garden design. Water-lifting devices like geared Persian wheels (saqiya) were used for irrigation and to feed the water-courses at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, Akbar's Gardens in Sikandra and Fatehpur Sikhri, the Lotus Garden of Babur at Dholpur and the Shalimar Bagh in Srinagar.
Royal canals were built from rivers to channel water to Delhi and Fatehpur Sikhri. The fountains and water-chutes of Mughal gardens represented the resurrection and regrowth of life, as well as to represent the cool, mountainous streams of Central Asia and Afghanistan that Babur was famously fond of.
