Chapter 3: A Journey Through Indian Architecture (Culture)

Width: using the 5-metre scale bar under the drawing, the house measures about 4½ to 5 lengths of the bar, i.e. roughly 20–25 metres wide. A typical classroom is about 7–9 m long, so the house is about three classrooms long, a very large home.

Staircases: at least two flights of steps can be made out: one in the upper (rear) wing and one in the left wing beside the small rooms. This shows the house had an upper storey or flat roof that people used.

Ground-floor rooms were probably used for:

• storage of grain, oil and goods (some rooms are small and closed);
• a kitchen, a well and a bathing area with drains;
• rooms for servants or workers, animals, or a workshop or shop facing the street;
• receiving visitors around the central courtyard, which gave light and air to the rooms.

About 20–25 m wide (about three classrooms); at least two staircases (so there was an upper floor); the ground floor was probably for storage, kitchen and bathing, workers, workshops or shops, around a central courtyard.

Building a brick dome (Sanchi):

1. Level the ground and lay a strong, circular base (a drum) of bricks or stone.
2. Build the solid hemisphere in rings of bricks, each ring slightly smaller than the one below (corbelling), so the shape curves inwards.
3. Pack the core with earth and rubble. Check the curve with a rope tied to a central pole, which works like a giant compass.
4. Plaster the outside smooth. Add the railing, gateways and the umbrella-shaped top (chhatra).

Carving a rock ceiling (Ellora):

1. Choose good rock (Ellora is basalt) and mark the design on the cliff face.
2. Carve from the top down: first cut the ceiling, standing on the uncut rock below, then remove rock layer by layer towards the floor. No scaffolding is needed, and nothing is built: the cave is "subtracted" from the hill.
3. Use iron chisels and hammers, cutting rough shapes first, then the ribs and beams that copy wooden roofs, then fine finishing.
4. Plan everything carefully: a mistake cannot be undone.

Dome: a circular base, then rings of bricks stepped inwards (corbelling) around a rubble core, guided by a rope from a centre pole, then plastered. Rock ceiling: mark the design and carve from the top down with chisels, roughing out and then finishing, with no room for mistakes.

• Water levels change with the seasons. Steps all around and at every level let people reach the water whether the tank is full after the monsoon or low in summer.
• Many people can use it at once for bathing, rituals, festivals and fetching water, without crowding.
• The steps strengthen the sides, holding back the earth like a terraced wall so the tank does not collapse.
• At Shringaverpur, the series of tanks was fed by a channel from the Ganga during floods, so steps were needed to reach water in each reservoir.
• In the Vijayanagara puṣhkariṇī, the symmetrical steps also have ritual and artistic value.

To reach water at any level as it rises and falls with the seasons, to let many people use the tank at once, to strengthen its sides, and (at Vijayanagara) for ritual and beauty.

Terracotta (Fig. 3.27) is easier.

• Terracotta is clay. Designs are pressed or carved into soft, wet clay tiles, often using moulds to repeat patterns, and then the tiles are baked. Mistakes can be fixed before firing.
• Marble (Fig. 3.25) is hard stone. Every detail must be chiselled out of a solid block, and one wrong blow can crack it. The Dilwara carvings are so fine and lace-like that they took enormous skill and many years.

However, marble lasts much longer, while terracotta can wear away in rain.

Terracotta: soft clay is shaped (often in moulds) and then baked, and errors can be corrected; marble must be slowly chiselled from hard stone, where any slip is permanent, though it lasts longer.

Common features:

• a garbhagriha (sanctum) housing the main image;
• a shikhara or vimana (tower) rising above it;
• a mandapa (pillared hall) for devotees;
• a raised platform, and a path for circling the sanctum (pradakshina);
• rich carvings of gods, animals, plants and stories, and planning based on the śhilpa śhāstras;
• the temple often stands at the centre of community life: learning, music, markets and water tanks.

Differences:

• Style: the Nagara (north) style has a curved, beehive-like shikhara. The Dravida (south) style has a pyramid-like vimana and huge gateway towers (gopurams). The Vesara style mixes both.
• Materials: granite or sandstone; marble (Dilwara); or terracotta brick (Bishnupur, Bengal, where stone is scarce); and rock-cut temples carved out of hills (Ellora).
• Roofs: Bengal temples have curved roofs copying village huts.
• Size and decoration: from small shrines to vast complexes with walls and many halls.

Common: a sanctum, a tower (shikhara or vimana), a pillared hall, a circumambulation path, rich carving and a community role. Different: Nagara, Dravida or Vesara tower styles, materials (stone, marble, terracotta, rock-cut), roof shapes, size and decoration.

No. Such houses are designed for it:

• The courtyard floor is lower than the rooms and verandahs around it, and gently sloped.
• Drains and outlets carry the water out to the street, or into an underground tank to be stored. Rooftop channels also lead rainwater to the courtyard or the tank: an old form of rainwater harvesting.
• The rooms stand on a raised plinth, and deep verandahs and sloping roofs keep rain off the walls and doors.

So the courtyard collects light, air and rain, and the house stays dry.

No: the courtyard is lower and sloped, with drains or an underground tank to carry or store the water, and the rooms are on raised plinths with verandahs.

A sample list covering different regions, periods, materials and purposes:

Together they show different periods (from the Harappan age to Mughal times), regions (north, south, east, west and centre), materials (brick, stone, marble, terracotta, wood and rock-cut) and purposes (homes, cities, worship, water and tombs).

Choose ten covering different periods, regions, materials and uses, e.g. Mohenjo-daro or Dholavira, Sanchi, Ajanta and Ellora, Brihadishwara, Konark, Dilwara, Hampi, Rani ki Vav, the Taj Mahal and Bishnupur.

A sample answer: the Sun Temple at Konark (Odisha).

• Type: a Kalinga (Nagara-family) temple of the 13th century, built by Narasimhadeva I.

Markers used:

• a curved tower; the jagamohana (assembly hall) with a pyramid-shaped roof;
• built of stone (khondalite);
• the whole temple is designed as the Sun god's chariot, with 24 carved wheels and horses;
• richly carved walls showing daily life, music and dance;
• it stands on a high platform.

Use the same method for a monument near you. Look at its shape (stupa, temple tower, dome, arch, step-well, fort), its materials, its decoration and inscriptions, and its purpose. Then match it to a style: Buddhist, Nagara, Dravida, Indo-Islamic, colonial and so on.

Identify the monument's style from its shape (tower, dome, arches, stupa), materials, decoration and purpose (e.g. Konark: a Kalinga-style stone temple shaped as the Sun god's chariot).

Planning the exhibition:

1. Divide topics: for example, temples or shrines, forts and palaces, traditional houses, water structures (tanks, stepwells, wells), and colonial or modern buildings.
2. Collect information: visit sites if possible, or use photographs, books, the ASI and state tourism websites, local museums, and elders' memories. Invite a local historian or architect to talk to the class.
3. Make a panel for each structure (the contents are listed below).
4. Add models (clay, cardboard), a map marking all the sites, and a timeline.
5. Present to other classes and parents, with each student explaining one panel.

Each panel should have:

• a picture or sketch;
• its name, place and date, and who built it;
• its materials and style;
• two or three special features;
• why it was built that way: climate, materials available, and beliefs.

Divide by type (temples, forts, houses, water structures, colonial buildings), research with sources and experts, and make panels with a picture, place, date, materials, style and features, plus models, a map and a timeline.

Threats:

• Neglect and lack of maintenance: many smaller monuments are crumbling, overgrown or forgotten.
• Encroachment and unplanned construction around monuments, and theft of sculptures for illegal trade.
• Pollution: vehicle smoke and industrial fumes discolour marble, as at the Taj Mahal, and acid rain wears away stone.
• Vandalism: graffiti, littering and touching carvings.
• Over-tourism: crowds, and poorly done "restoration" that uses wrong materials such as cement.
• Natural disasters and climate change: floods, earthquakes and heavy rains.
• Loss of traditional skills: fewer artisans know the old building methods.

Protection:

• Enforce laws: no construction within protected zones around monuments, and stop the smuggling of antiquities.
• Scientific conservation by experts (such as the ASI), using traditional materials.
• Control pollution near sites, and manage tourist numbers.
• Awareness: schools, heritage walks and "adopt a heritage" schemes.
• Support traditional artisans and pass on their skills.
• Document monuments digitally (3-D scans and photographs).
• Be a responsible visitor: no graffiti, no litter, no touching the carvings.

Threats: neglect, encroachment, pollution, vandalism, over-tourism, bad restoration, disasters and the loss of traditional skills. Protect by enforcing laws, expert conservation with traditional materials, pollution and tourism control, awareness, supporting artisans, digital documentation and responsible visiting.