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1. Origin of physical form and
structures in Indian
architecture
Dr. Virag Sontakke
Assistant Professor
A.I.H.C. & Archaeology
Banaras Hindu University

2. Paper Code: 89603 (Practical Code: 651)*
Title of the Paper : Architecture of India
Unit-I :
1.Origin of physical forms and structures in
Indian architecture
2.Body as a measure, axis of access and
symbolism in architecture
3.Relationship between inner and outer space in
Indian architecture
4.Sacred space, sacred place and the concept of
mandala
Unit- II :
1.Harappan and Post Harappan Architecture
2.Pre-Mauryan and Mauryan Architecture
3.Development of Stupa Architecture - Sanchi,
Bharhut, Amaravati,
4.Nagarjunakonda, Sarnath,
5.Beginning of Rock-cut Architecture – Sudama
Cave, Lomas Rishi, Bhaja,
6.Kondane, Nasik, Pitalkhora, Karle Khandgiri,
Ajanta and Elephanta.
Unit III :
1.Rock-cut Architecture – Mamallapuram and Ellora (Kailash
Temple)
2.Rock-cut Architecture of Ajanta, Pitalkohra and Ellora (Buddhist
and Jain
3.Caves).
4.Beginning of Temple Architecture - Sonkh, Deogarh,
Bhitargaon, Aihole and
5.Pattadakal
6.Case study
Unit IV :
1.Evolution of Nagara Style of Temple - Gwalior, Khajuraho,
Bhubaneshwar
2.and Konark
3.Evolution of Dravidian Style of Temple - Aihole, Pattadakal,
Badami,
4.Mamallapuram, Thanjavur, Hampi,
5.Evolution of Vesara style of temple - Mount Abu, Gujarat and
others Somanth
6.Halebid
7.Case Study
Unit V :
1.Architecture of Sultanate period.
2.Architecture of Mughal period.
3.Anglo-Indian Architecture.
4.Case studies : Vijayanagar, Delhi and Fatehpur Sikri.

3. Introduction
• India has a rich history of Architecture since the Paleolithic period
• The initiation of architecture has been evident since the Mesolithic period
• People started to live in houses/huts made of mud and woods
• Well-planned architectural remains found in Indus Valley Civilizations
• The reference to architecture is also found in Vedic Culture
• In Neolithic (Ash Mounds) Protohistoric period (Megalithic graves) are a
unique example of earlier architecture
• Since the 6th century BCE, again the remains of architecture found in
archaeological excavations
• In the Early historic period developed form of architectural structure
found in the Indian Subcontinent

4. Development of Architecture:
Chronologically
• Neolithic
• Indus Valley Civilization
• Vedic Culture
• Protohistoric period
• Early Historic Period
• Medieval Period

5. Neolithic Ash mounds
• A large heaped accumulation of ash
• These look white in colour
• The white deposit called ash
• Local people: mass human immolation
• The monkey-king Bali,
• Earliest remains of Architecture

7. Sanganakallu-Kappagallu

11. Hallur

12. Indus Valley
Civilization

13. Architecture of
Indus Valley Civilization
1. Citadel
2. Lower Town
3. Fortifications
4. Houses
5. Street and Drains
6. Wells
7. Great Bath
8. Granary
9. Pillared hall
10.College of Priest
Citadel in
Mohenjo-Daro

15. 1. Structure
2.Bath
3.Granary
4.Assembly Hall
5. Priest house
6.Fortification
Wall

16. Plan of the
Site: Lothal
1.Acropolis
2.Lower Town
3.Dockyard
4.Ware house
5.Bead
industry
6.Houses
7.Bathrooms
8.Cemetery

17. Plan and architecture
Of
Kalibangan

18. Citadel: “Acropolis” of Lothal
• Trapezoidal in Plan
• Elevated area (mud
platform)
• Size: 128 x 61 meters
• Remains of
1. Residential buildings
2. Streets
3. Lanes
4. Bathrooms
5. Drains

19. Citadel of Kalibangan
• Plan: Parallelogram (समानाांतर चतुर्ुुज)
• Height from GL: 9 meters
• Size: 240 meters north-south and 120 meters east-west

20. Lower Town: Residential Architecture
• Various size Houses
• Generally 4-6 rooms
• A large courtyard and
veranda
• Bathrooms
• Fire alters
• Manufactures/
Artisans houses:
1. Coppersmiths
2. Bead makers

21. Houses
• Chess-board pattern
• Layout of the city was according
to the fortification wall
• Fortification and streets were
planned at the same time
• Early Harappan houses made of
mud bricks
• Houses opened from lanes
• Double-storied houses also
present
• Roof probably flat with mud
plastered
• A few floors were paved with
decorated tiles with intersecting
circles
• Door size: 70-75 cm. wide
• Door shape: single -leaf

22. Lower Town

24. Lower Town of
Hadappa
• Lower town encompasses
over 80 ha.
• Enclosed by fortification
wall
• Town was planned with
broad streets intersecting
each other at right angles
• Main street was 9 meter
wide
• Miner street were 1.5 to 3
meter wide

25. Houses of Mohanjodaro
• Different size of houses
• One bigger house with multiple room
where large number of seals and
sealing and statue found considered
as house of important person.
• In HR area 16 houses (room +
bathroom) identified as workers
quarters.
• Numerous shops were also reported.
• Many workshops, manufacturing
area also identified according to
material culture.
• Size may indicate the social hierarchy

26. House Pattern of the Mohenjo-daro

27. Streets
• Systematic streets
• streets running north-south
• lanes running east-west
• Made of mud bricks with gravel
at the top
• One big street identified as
“bazaar street”
• There were shops along the street

28. Roads:Kalibangan
• Eight main roads have been exposed
• Five roads in north-south and
• Three east-west.
• B. B. Lal: streets were also in ratio
• Small lanes connect to the roads
• Size: 1.8 meters to 7.2 meters
• Drains were found below the roads
• Probable evidence of wooden drains

33. Bathroom &
Drainage
• The main sewer, 1.5 meters deep and 91 cm
width
• It connected to many sewers.
• Bricks smoothened and joined together
seamlessly.
• These sewer are watertight.
• Drops at regular intervals for cleaning.
• Houses baths and drains that emptied into
underground soakage jars.

36. Fortifications
• It has Massive defensive walls on all sides
• Bastions are seen at regular intervals
• Bastions also has entrance to go up.
• This leads to ramps and terraces to supervised from guardrooms.
• The fortifications have been built and rebuilt many times
• First utilizing simple brick-bats were replaced nearly from the ground up
by baked bricks
• Varies gates have been found
• One gate found measures only 2.6 meters wide

37. Fortification: Kalibangan
• Fortification wall: 3 to 9 meter
width
• Rectangular bastions at regular
intervals
• Fortification wall made of baked bricks
(40 x 20 x 10 cm and 30 x 15 x 7.5 cm)
• Southern wall portion is heavily
fortified with corner bastions
• Three entrance: east, north and west

38. Fortification
• Fortification wall made of
baked bricks (40 x 20 x 10
cm and 30 x 15 x 7.5 cm)
• Southern wall portion is
heavily fortified with corner
bastions
• Three entrance: east, north
and west
• Plan: Parallelogram (समानाांतर चतुर्ुुज)
• Height from GL: 9 meters
• Size: 240 meters north-south and 120 meters east-west
• Fortification wall: 3 to 9 meter width
• Rectangular bastions at regular intervals

39. Sanitation
• Bathing platforms were situated next to the wells.
• Bathing platform were raised above ground level.
• Bathing place had tightly fitted brick floors which made them more or
less waterproof.
• Drains from these rooms led separately to the main drains
• Almost every house in Harappa has a latrine.
• Latrines had a large terracotta jar sunk into the ground and sometimes
connected to the external drains.

42. Wells
•Total 700 wells were reported
• This is largest as compare to any site of IVC
• Mohenjo-Daro identified as a “City of Wells”
•High numbers of wells indicate one in every third
house had a well
• Wells were constructed by 10-15 meter deep
• Constructed by wedge shaped bricks
• Proper drains were planned for circulation of waste
water

44. Public Buildings: Granary
• The granary is located on Mound F.
• Plan: Rectangular
• It is lying on a massive mud brick foundation.
• Size: 50 m x 40 m.
• Total of 12 rooms in two rows (6 rooms each row) divided by a central
passageway
• A central passageway is 7 meter wide and partially paved with baked bricks.
• Each room measures approx. 15 m. x 6 m.
• The main structure would probably have been made of wood
• Triangular openings in the floor might have been air ducts to remove
moisture.
• Circular platforms near the buildings thought to be for husking of wheat

45. Granary: Conjunctural view
6 Rooms
Air ducts
Passage: 7 meter

47. Great Bath
• It’s a unique architecture and model of engineering of IVC
• Size: 14.5 x 7 meter
• Depth: 2.5 meter
• Entry from North and South via wide steps
• The floor and walls are water-tight
• Mortar: gypsum
• Earliest example of waterproofing structure
• Slope: south-west corner (drain with corbelled arch)
• A walkways surrounded the structure
• Series of room from eastern side and one room has a well
• At north eight room with bathing platform

49. Great Bath

50. Granary
• This structure is situated in the citadel area
• Initially it was identified as “Hammam”
• Build on higher platform
• Size: 50 x 27 meter
• Structure probably made of wood with solid brick foundations
• Foundation was divided into 27 blocks with narrow
passageway in-between
• 4.5 meter thick wide stairway to reach the structure
• A brunt brick platform identified as loading dock by Wheeler
• It has a bathing platform and well nearby

52. Assembly Hall/
Pillared Hall
• Situated in the
south of Citadel
• Square in shape
• Size: 27 x 27
meters
• This structure
was divided into
five aisles

53. Assembly Hall/
Pillared Hall

54. Dockyard
• Situated eastern end of the
site
• It is surrounded by a wall of
burnt bricks
• Size:
1. East-west: 212 meters and
215 meters
2. North-south: 37 meters and
35 meters.
• Has a sluice gate and a spill
channel for maintaining
water
• Towards the western side a
mud platform could be a
wharf (jetty)
• At the wharf goods were
loaded and unloaded

55. Dockyard

57. Building Materials
• The main materials used were burnt
bricks
• Bricks were made in moulds of 1:2:4
ratios
• Mud mortar and gypsum cement
were used
• Mud plaster and gypsum plaster are
also found

58. • Mega: big
• Lithic: stones
• Manmade structure
• Collection of stones or boulders
• Mostly found in South India
• Huge concentration in Tamilnadu
and Kerala
• Over 3000 megalithic sites in India
• Many burial sites excavated
Megaliths in India

59. Stone circle
• Most popular burial
type
• Circular stone layout
• Devoid of cairn packing
• Just a circular stone
arrangements
• Stones placed close to
each other
• A pit at the centre
• Consist of urn or
sarcophagus
• Always found in a group

60. Stone Circle

61. Circle with pit inside at Nagarjunkonda
(after IAR 1959-60: fig 3)

62. Cairn
• Heaps of stones
• Another popular burial type
• Circular, oval in plan
• Usually encircled with
peripheral boulders
• Pit was excavated up to 30-
60 cm at the centre
• Skeleton remains found
usually at the centre
• The cist, urn or sarcophagus
placed within
• Rest on 50 cm over the
ground

63. Cairn

64. Dolmen
• A table like structure
• Dol: table
• Men: stone
• Usually rectangular in shape
• Made of four to five slabs
• Found in a single or in groups
• Grave goods inside the
chamber
• Capstones at a top
• Porthole at front slab
• Thin, dressed- undressed
stones
• Generally found in South India,
not reported in north India

65. Cist
• It’s a box-like structure
• Also known as chamber burial
• Normally below the ground/surface
• Usually rectangular on plan
• Four orthostats at the sides and
capstone at the top
• May have floor-stone
• Usually, the port hole at front
• Sometimes enclosed by a stone circle

66. Dolmenoid-Cist
• Dolmenoid Cist is quite a
confusing term
• Its combination of Dolmen + Cist
• Dolmen like cist or cist like dolmen
• Half buried half exposed
• Use of boulders for orthostats
• Usually front is open
• Height: 30-60 cm
• Sometimes encircled with stone
circles

67. Menhirs
• Monolithic upright pillars
• Simplest megalithic structure
• Vary in shape and size
• Height: 1 m. and even 5 m.
• Usually does not exceed 3 m.
• Mostly in groups
• Generally commemorative in
nature
• Tribal still follow the rituals

68. Menhirs

69. Regional variations
of Megaliths
1. Stone circle & Cairn: Maharashtra
2. Anthroporphic, stone coffin: Andhra
Pradesh & Telangana
3. Dolmens, port holes cists: Karnataka
4. Rock-cut cave, umbrella stone, cap
stone, hood stones: Kerala
5. Urn burials, Sarcofagus, cairns,
dolmen: Tamil Nadu
6. Cist within cairn: Vindhyan Megaliths
7. Multiple menhirs inside the cairn:
Chhattisgarh

70. वैदिक वास्तु
वैदिक काल
•गृह
•पुर
•िुगु
•ग्राम
•यज्ञशाला
परवर्ती वैदिक काल
•पुर
•नगर
•गृह
•धादमुक स्थापत्य: दचदत
•वेदिक/प्राकार
70

71. गृह
• गृह क
े अनेक पयाुय ां का दववरण
• नाम: गृह, गय, स्थान, सिन, अयन, वसदत, शरण, वास्तु, शाला आदि।
• गृह वास्तु क
े नाम: स्तम्भ-स्थूण, हर्म्ु- अट्टादलका, धरुण-न ांव, द्वार आदि
1. गृह-द्वार = सामने आँगन
2. बैठक= सर्ा? तथा आस्थान मांडप
3. अांत:पुर
4. अदिशाला=पूजा दवदध
• ऋग्वेि: अनेक कमरे वाले घर
• ऋग्वेि: घर ां क सुरक्षा कारण से बांि दकया जा सकता था।
• घर ां क
े पास पशुओां क
े दलए बाडा रहा ह गा
• पसी ब्राउन : गृह का आकार ग ल रहा ह गा
• वा॰ अग्रवाल: घर क छत स्तांर् ां पर दिकत थ
• स्तांर् काष्ठ क
े रहे ह गे। 71

72. 72

73. िुगु/पुर क
े सांिर्ु
• िस राजाओां से युद्ध क
े प्रमाण
• बडे राज्य क
े प्रमाण: पुरु, यिु, अनु, दृहयु, तुवुशास
• ऋग्वेि : १) अश्ममय एवां २) आयस िुगो क
े उल्लेख
• ऋग्वेि : िुगु क
े र् तर प्रवेश एवां दनगुम का रास्ता बनाने का
वणुन
• ऋग्वेि: सौ स्तांर् ां वाले पुर का उल्लेख
73

74. ग्राम
• ऋग्वेि एवां उत्तर वैदिक काल में ग्राम क
े असांख्य उिाहरण
• ग्राम= वतुमान गाँव
• शथपथ ब्राह्मण: ग्राम एक-िू सरे से दनकि थे।
• छाांि ग्य उपदनषि: ग्राम रास्ते से जुडे थे
• छाांि ग्य उपदनषि: क
ु छ ग्राम िू र- िू र बसे हुए थे
• मैकड नल: बडे ग्राम ां क “महाग्राम” कहते थे
• हैवेल: ग्राम क
े चार ां और प्रवेशद्वार ह ता था?
• पसी ब्राउन : ग्राम क
े चार ां और लकड क बाड ह त थ ।
74

75. यज्ञशाला
• यज्ञशाला: यज्ञ क
े दलए दनदमुत स्थान
• ऋग्वेि: गृह में दकस िेवता क
े दलए िेवस्थान का उल्लेख
• ऋग्वेि: “यक्ष सिम”= यक्ष िेवता का स्थान
• सांर्वतः काष्ठ दनदमुत
• ऋग्वेि में इदिका दनदमुत यज्ञवेि का सांिर्ु
75

76. दनमाुण सामग्र
• लकड का मुख्य प्रय ग
• आयाम: बाांस से छत
• वहुन: घास-फ
ू स तथा पत्त ां का प्रय ग
• ईांि ां क
े सांिर्ु = इदिका
• दमट्ट , पत्थर का प्रय ग
• रस्स
• िुगु क
े दलए पत्थर क
े वणुन?
76

77. 77

78. 78