Early Indian Architecture and Art

Ancient Indian temple architecture is a profound reflection of the region's historical, cultural, and religious evolution. These architectural wonders, spanning from the early centuries CE to the 12th century, illustrate the ingenuity and artistic excellence of their creators. Temples served not only as places of worship but also as centers of learning, art, and community gathering, embodying the socio-political dynamics and religious ideologies of their times. The architectural styles of ancient Indian temples are diverse, with significant regional variations. The Nagara style, prevalent in North India, and the Dravidian style of the South, along with the unique Kalinga style of Odisha, each exhibit distinct characteristics and aesthetic principles. These structures are often richly decorated with intricate carvings, sculptures, and inscriptions, offering insights into the mythology, iconography, and cultural narratives of ancient India. However, the study of these temples is fraught with challenges. Preservation issues due to natural decay and human interference threaten the integrity of these ancient structures. Interpretative challenges arise from the complex symbolism and lack of comprehensive historical records, while contextual analysis is complicated by the continuous evolution and modification of temple sites over centuries. Furthermore, technological constraints limit the extent to which modern non-invasive methods can be applied to uncover hidden details without damaging the sites. This essay will delve into the scope of temple architecture within ancient Indian archaeology, examining the key research problems, reviewing significant scholarly contributions, and analyzing data collected through various means. By doing so, it aims to highlight both the achievements and ongoing challenges in understanding and preserving this vital aspect of ancient Indian heritage.

2004

This study is a systematic overview of the temple architecture built in Bengal between the ninth and sixteenth centuries. Spanning eight hundred years, it attempts to define the tradition of Bengal Temple Architecture and examines the traits of continuity and of disruption in the tradition. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: In the last stages of this study, I lost my father, the main source of my inspiration in his mortal form. As a firm believer of Hindu concept of life and death of the body and permanence of the soul, I always felt his presence and I dedicate this work to his memory. I could even dream about this research study only because of Dr. Adam Hardy. His various writings inspired me to study the Hindu temple architecture and much needed guidance to formulate the ideas of research came pouring down from him even before my formal enrolment at De Montfort University. More than a supervisor, Dr. Hardy remained and will always remain my mentor. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Adam Hardy and sincerely wish our friendship to grow further. The research bursary of the De Montfort University and their procedure of research degrees made this work possible while doing major fieldwork in India. I am extremely thankful to all good offices of the De Montfort University for their support in UK and in India. I am lucky to have received support from Dr. George Michell who gave a head start to my work and happily presented his book `The Islamic Heritage of Bengal'. One major moment of my study came when Dr. Michell introduced me to a group of scholars in 4th International Congress on Bengal Art held at Kolkata. This group led by Dr. Enamul Haque proved a great resource for my research and this friendship grew further with the 5`h International Congress on Bengal Art held at Dhaka, where I could present a part of my this study in front of the group comprising S. S. Biswas, Zulekha Haque, Alamgir Khoundkar, S. N. Mitra, A. J. Gail all major contributors of the field of knowledge about Bengal Art. The 6`h International Congress on Bengal Art is being organised by me at Ranchi in 2005 and I hope the friendship with this group of some 50 scholars from all over the world to get stronger. My wayward ideas of research could be streamlined by the help of my second supervisor Dr. Crispin Branfoot. His knowledge about Indian temple architecture helped me from initial stages of my work, when he gave the names of the rare and special books about history, culture and architecture of eastern India. He remained a patient listener, keen observer and active supervisor all through my work and was very helpful with the text at all stages. To him I owe art and science of research work.

Indian textual evidences support the hypothesis of an extant geometrical knowledge at least since the Later Vedic days, what with the references to bricks, brick making, structural activities in the Brahmana texts transcending into focussed technical discourse in the sulba texts, like the Baudhayana, Katyayana and Apastamba Sulba Sutras The voice of the sulbas project another problematic, which shall be briefly discussed in the main paper. Suffice it to say here that the marked religious orientation of the building activity stressed in the sulbas delineates the scope of geometrical and architectural knowledge within the religious sphere. This probably leads to a lopsided view of the real world of building technology of the context we are discussing. Yet, the sulba texts are full of details of techniques involved in the construction of yajna citi, which, when clearly analysed, are seen to be based on extremely precise, perfect geometrical formulations.

Kalakalpa- IGNCA Journal of Arts, 2021

This is an exploration into the origin and development of the indigenous style of Kerala temples within the broader category of Dravidian architecture. The present paper, rather than focusing on any intact stylistic aspect, would focus on the formation of sub-regional architectural styles in pre-modern times.

2015

2007

The origin of the curvilinear superstructure in the Indian temple has been the subject of inquiry in the works of Indian temple architecture and it still remains a mystery to be proven, despite a number of solutions given based on scriptures and guesses. The principal reason for this ignorance, according to Simpson, is owing to the absence of monuments representing the steps by which the Hindu temple was developed to its complete form. 1 However, Chandra states that Coomaraswamy was the first to interpret the Hindu temple not only as a building providing shelter for the image and the worshippers but also as the image of the cosmos, the house of God and also his body. It represents in its parts the drama of disintegration and reintegration which is the essential theme of Indian myth and its ritual enactment in the sacrifice. 2

IRJET, 2020

This paper narrates an essay on the major distinctive styles of traditional architecture of India from its different regions which has acquired a lot of fame in the worldwide over decades. It's a matter of pride to all the Indians for getting such an opportunity to experience varieties of traditional architecture spread throughout their motherland as it has a huge asset of heritage and antiquity. A range of architectural varieties have developed in the parts of the country due to its diversified socio-cultural, traditional and religious background as well as most importantly climatic variations. Among all the aspects, the religious diversity has played a vital role in the development of distinctive architectural styles chronologically. It is the result of above-mentioned aspects which contributed towards the formation of a set of architectural assets within a single piece of land. There may be a lot of research works done in the field of traditional Indian architecture; still my study attempts partially to contribute in the existing body of literature through a documentation of major traditional architectural styles found across the different regions of India.

Hinduism in India : the early period, 2015