history of indian architecture - indusvalley civilization , the vedic age , timeline of evolution of religion in india and how it affected the architecture of the ancient india.

1. ANCIENT INDIAN ARCHITECTURE
-INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION AND VEDIC
AGE

2. Y is History of Indian architecture is so diverse ?

3. • Diverse religious beliefs and culture
• Diverse climatic conditions
• Diverse geographical and geological conditions
• Available building materials and building techniques
• Prevailing social and economic structure
• Defence from invaders/ wild animals
Y is History of
Indian architecture
is so diverse ?

4. UNIT
1

5. UNIT
1
UNIT
2

6. UNIT
2
UNIT
3

7. Indus Valley Civilization

8. • A bronze age civilization that lived between 3000-1500 BC.
• Largest among the old world civilization.
• Spread in 1050 sites across 1.3 Million square miles
• Spread across the regions of today’s Afghanistan, Pakistan , Western
and North- Western India.
Mohenjodaro &
Harappa – main
sites – in Pakistan
the principal sites in
India include
• Ropar in Punjab
• Lothal in Gujarat
• Kalibangan in
Rajasthan

9. • Inhabited along
the plains and
valleys of River
Indus
• Had an overall
population of
around 5 Million
people.
• The first of its
sites were
excavated by the
Britishers in
1920.

10. MOHENJODARO –means mound of
dead
– timeline -3000-1500 BC
-Location – Pakistan ,Sindh Province
- Area – 4 sq.km
-rebuild atleast 7 times on top of the old towns
Known for their URBAN PLANNING
- City divide in to UPPER TOWN / CITADEL
and LOWER TOWN
- The GREAT BATH in the upper town
- BAKED BRICK construction
- DRAINAGE AND SEWAGE system

13. The citadel on brick mound 12m
high
Housed more prestigious
inhabitants- ruling class, nearly
5000 people
Irregular grid plan.
The streets are staggered ,
not aligned to cardinal points
Citadel had the most important
administrative components of the
City
• Granary
• Large residential structures
• Great Bath
• Stupa (later addition)
• Assembly hall (2-ailed)
• Fortification
CITADEL

17. Great Bath:
• The bath measures 12m x 7m x 2.4m
• 2 wide staircases lead down from the N
and S ,surrounded by a verandah
• A small brick edging extends for the entire
width of the bath
• The floor and the sides is made watertight
using bricks on edge with gypsum plaster/
natural tar
• A series of rooms are located on the
eastern edge of the building
• In one room is a well that supplied water
to the tank
• There are no inlet points
• Might have been used for ritual bathing

21. Inhabited nearly 35,000-40,000
people
• grid system of planning.
• 4 avenues running from north
to south
• 4 running from east to west.
•The avenues are several metres
wide and have drains running
down the middle or side of the
road.
•The avenues divide the Lower
Town into many blocks.
Alleyways and lanes further
divided these blocks.
•it was probably where most of
the common people in the city
lived and worked
Lower Town

22. •Mohenjo-Daro was carefully planned, laid out in
an irregular grid of streets oriented north/south
and east/west.
•Massive perimeter walls of mud brick faced with
fired brick or stone, surrounded the city.
• Gateways provided controlled access into the
settlements.
•Major streets in Mohenjo-Daro varied between
4.5 and 9 meters (15- 30 feet) in width providing
two-way ox cart traffic
•Smaller streets were for one-way traffic, only 2-3
m (6.5-10 ft) wide.
•The gateways into the city were only 2.5 m (8 ft)
wide, to control traffic in and out.
•Fired brick-lined drains were located along the
edges of the streets, some covered ones ran down
the center of the road.
•The streets weren't paved, but crushed pottery
and other materials made up a hard compacted
surface

24. •Homes are made of baked bricks in a standard size of
5.5”x5.5”x11”. The walls being nearly 1-2m thick
•The houses generally have several rooms built around
a courtyard.
•The doorways to the outside usually open onto side
alleys not onto the avenues. Archaeological evidence,
such as the remains of stairways, seems to suggest that
many of the buildings had 2 storey.
•Roofs were probably made of wooden beams covered
with reeds and packed clay.
•Many homes had specific rooms for bathing.
•These rooms had floors made from baked bricks or
tiles and drains which emptied into the drains in the
street outside.
•People had access to clean water either from wells
within their homes or from public wells in the streets.
Over 700 public and private wells have been found at
Mohenjo-daro.
• Cluster blocks of many residence around a common
gathering space
Homes

27. HARAPPA
2600 – 1500 BCE
• Harappa grew on the floodplains of a rich and life-giving river, the Indus.
•The Harappans were an agricultural people whose economy was almost
entirely dominated by horticulture.
• Had around 40,000 people
•Massive granaries were built at each city, and there most certainly was an
elaborate bureaucracy to distribute this wealth of food.
•Bricks that they built their cities with were fired bricks .
•In addition, many of the Harappan seals have pictures of animals that
imply a wet and marshy environment, such as rhinoceroses, elephants, and
tigers.
•The Harappans also had a wide variety of domesticated animals: camels,
cats, dogs, goats, sheep, and buffalo.

28. INFERENCE
• Mohenjo-daro was fortified with guard towers to the west of the
main settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south.
• Considering these fortifications and the structure of other major
Indus valley cities like Harappa, it is postulated that Mohenjo-daro
was an administrative center.
• Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same
architectural layout, and were generally not heavily fortified like
other Indus Valley sites.
• It is obvious from the identical city layouts of all Indus sites that
there was some kind of political or administrative centrality, but the
extent and functioning of an administrative center remains unclear.

29. Some houses larger
than others BUT most
of them similar in size
and build
• The society is an
example of
egalitarianism
• Low wealth
concentration though
clear social levelling
• Access to water
supplies and drainage
facilities
SOCIAL
STRUCTURE

30. • Seals bearing depiction of gods, goddesses
and animals point towards Buddhism and
Hinduism
• The seated human like figure shown is the so
called “proto-shiva” (Hindu god)

31. • system of
trade
• Through
barter system
and had trade
links
• With
Mesopotamia
and Egypt

33. Necklace from Mohenjo-Daro made from gold, agate, jasper,
steatite and green stone.
steatite beads with gold caps and separate pendant beads

34. GAMES PLAYED BY EARLY INDUS PEOPLE

35. TECHNOLOGY
Knowledge of dentistry In 2006 it was
announced that the oldest evidence of
drilling teeth in a living human was found
in Mehrgarh
Measurements Great accuracy in measurement in measuring mass
― standard weights ―Each unit measuring about 28 grams ―Same
as present day English imperial ounce system ― LENGTH: ―a scale
with a precision of 1.704 mm was found near lothal ―The smallest
in the bronze age
Metallurgy The people knew unconventional
techniques of metallurgy and produced ―Brass
―Copper ―Bronze ―Ivory These materials
were used in the making of ornaments utensils
seals and artefacts etc

36. • Actually, people abandoned the region because of:
• IMMIGRATION of new people (Aryans) in the area
• Decline in trade
• Climatic changes- Indus valley got cooler and drier with the course of
time
• Excessive Flooding
• Decrease in rainfall and thus inadequate supply of water for irrigation
• Changes in the course of the river
• many elements of its culture were found in the later cultures
DECLINE OF THE CIVILIZATION

37. ARYAN
MOVEMENT

38. VEDIC AGE
1500 – 800 BCE

39. • Vedic Period was a direct result of the Aryan
Movement
• The main feature in this period is the total
absence of the highly skilled construction
and planning of the previous civilisation the
Indus Valley Civilisation
• It was like a return to the aboriginal roots.
No architectural examples of this period are
surviving.
• The Aryans built no colossal monuments. So
what is the importance of this period? It was
early Aryan architectural forms that were
translated into the architecture of India for
thousands of years.
• The Main Contribution of the Vedic Period is
the influence it had on all the subsequent
periods in Indian Architecture .The caves of
Ajanta and Ellora, much of Buddhist
architecture, were directly influenced by the
simple village structures of the Aryan villages
VEDIC AGE
1500 – 800 BCE

40. Political organization
• The grama (village), vish and jana were political units of the early Vedic Aryans.
• A vish was probably a subdivision of a jana, and a grama was probably a smaller unit than the other two.
• The leader of a grama was called gramani and that of a vish was called vishpati.
• Another unit was the jana whose head was a jyeshta (elder).
• The rashtra (state) was governed by a rajan (king). The king is often referred to as gopa (protector) and samrat
(supreme ruler). He governed the people with their consent and approval.
• It is possible that he was sometimes elected.
• The sabha and samiti were popular councils. The main duty of the king was to protect the tribe.
• He was aided by two functionaries, the purohita (chaplain) and the senani (army chief; sena: army). The
former not only gave advice to the ruler but also practiced spells and charms for success in war.
• Soldiers on foot (patti) and on chariots(rathins), armed with bow and arrow were common. The king
employed spasa (spies) and dutas (messengers).
• He often got a ceremonial gift, bali, from the people.

41. Society and economy
•Vedic society was characterized by a nomadic
lifestyle, with cattle rearing being the chief
occupation.
•Agriculture grew more prominent with time as the
community settled down. Money was unknown,
and bartering with cattle and other valuables was
done.
•Families were patriarchal, and people prayed for
abundance of sons.
•Society was strictly organized in a system of caste.
•The four major Varnas (classes) were Brahmin
(preists/rulers) , Kshatriya (warriors) , Vaishya
(merchants) and Shudra (farmers) and the
untouchables (paraiahs) .Those who are outside
these caste structure are known as Adivasis

42. • In general, the cities of the Vedic period were
rectangular in plan and divided into four
quarters by two main thoroughfares
intersecting at right angles, each leading to a
city gate. One of these quarters contained the
citadel and another housed the residential area.
A third quarter was reserved for the merchants,
and the last for tradesmen who could display
their wares.
• The Aryans did not settle into the well-planned
cities of the Harappan culture, and instead
preferred to clear forests around the riverbanks
of the Gangetic plain and settle in small villages
Vedic Cities

43. • The basic unit was the hut. For building material, the abundant forest provided ample raw stock.
The Aryan hut, in its most basic shape, was
•Circular in plan,
• Thatched roof over a bamboo network of ribs. This was later elongated to become rectangular in
plan, with roofing of bamboo as well, curved in the shape of a barrel.
• Clusters of these huts formed a courtyard, much like huts in Indian villages even today.
•The better-off citizens roofed them with planks of wood or tiles, and used unbaked bricks for the
walls.
•To maintain the barrel shape of the roof, a thong or string, perhaps of animal hide, was stretched
across the end of the bamboo
Vedic Hut

44. • The Vedic grama could have a pur, or a fort-like structure within it. The Vedic hymns speak of
"purs" made of stone and metal.
• The Vedas have many words for houses.
• It appears that the main distinction was between chhardis ( house with a thatched roof), harmyam
(a house of brick and stone that had a courtyard in the middle), and gotra (a multi-dwelling
complex with sheds for animals).

45. • For protection against wild animals, a palisade fence of wood and bamboo surrounded the
whole settlement. This fence was made of upright posts of bamboo with horizontal members
threaded into holes in posts. At one point, the fence was extended forward to form a sort of
gate. These forms - the barrel vaulted roof, the tie-cord, and the palisade fence and railing,
formed important motifs for future Indian Architecture. In fact, huts in modern Orissa, one of
the poorest Indian states, are still carrying traces of this influence, with symbolism dating back
to Vedic times.
• Thaba and 3 horizontal bars- suchi or needles threaded through holes. The Vedic carpenters
developed skill in timber construction of a very high standard. It is not surprising, therefore, that
in later ages timber construction techniques were employed even though the material of
construction was radically different

46. Circular hut
Barrel vaulted
roof
Thatched Barrel
vaulted roof
Timber planks on Barrel
vaulted roof
Circular hut
Thaba –
Upright poles
Gate - toran
Horse shoe
Shaped roofs

48. • Hinduism -Is a combination of faiths of Aryans and Dravidians.
-The worship of major deities namely Vishnu, Shiva and Devi .
-Follows the religious teachings in Mahabharata and Ramayana.
• Jainism -Founded by Mahaveer born in 599 BC, promotes helping each other.
-Its goal is ‘Nirvana’ or a state of pure rest without rebirth but no total destruction.
-The religion teaches avoidance of injury to life, to observe truth, honesty, abstinence from worldly desire,
gentleness, holiness, self-punishment, and restraint of mind tongue and body
• Buddhism -Siddhartha (Gautama), the first Buddha
- the religion teaches against animal sacrifice, to observe oneness, humanity, the deliverance from sorrow and
all trouble and from ignorance through enlightenment to the ultimate ‘Nirvana’
Evolution of
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

52. 64 Gateways
Timber fence
Timber palisade
With loopholes
For archers
500 Bastions
With
towers
PALACE OF PATALIPUTRA
Deep
moat

53. remains of Palace of Pataliputra

54. Wooden
pillars
Hypostyle
halls

56. Ornamentation
Of birds
& foliage on
A stone capital