Indian Art and Architecture

I

Introduction

Indian Art and Architecture, the art and architecture produced on the Indian subcontinent from about the 3rd millennium bc to modern times. To Western eyes, Indian art can appear strikingly ornate, exaggeratedly sensuous, and voluptuous. A strong sense of design is also characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern as well as in its traditional forms.

To be properly understood, the art of India must be placed in the ideological, aesthetic, and religious framework of Indian civilization. This framework was formed as early as the 1st century bc and has shown a remarkable continuity through the ages. The Hindu-Buddhist-Jain view of the world is largely concerned with the resolution of the central paradox of all existence, which is that change and perfection, time and eternity, immanence and transcendence, operate dichotomously and integrally as parts of a single process. In such a situation creation cannot be separated from the creator, and time can be comprehended only as eternity. This conceptual view, when expressed in art, divides the universe of aesthetic experience into three distinct, although interrelated, elements—the senses, the emotions, and the spirit. These elements dictate the norms for architecture as an instrument of enclosing and transforming space and for sculpture in its volume, plasticity, modelling, composition, and aesthetic values. Instead of depicting the dichotomy between the flesh and the spirit, Indian art, through a deliberate sensuousness and voluptuousness, fuses one with the other through a complex symbolism that, for example, attempts to transform the fleshiness of a feminine form into a perennial mystery of sex and creativity, wherein the momentary spouse stands revealed as the eternal mother.

The Indian artist deftly uses certain primeval motifs, such as the feminine figure, the tree, water, the lion, and the elephant. In a given composition, although the result is sometimes conceptually unsettling, the qualities of sensuous vitality, earthiness, muscular energy, and rhythmic movement remain unmistakable. The form of the Hindu temple; the contours of the bodies of the Hindu gods and goddesses; and the light, shade, composition, and volume in Indian painting are all used to glorify the mystery that resolves the conflict between life and death, time and eternity.

The arts of India expressed in architecture, sculpture, painting, jewellery, pottery, metalwork, and textiles, were spread throughout the Far East with the diffusion of Buddhism and Hinduism and exercised a strong influence on the arts of China, Japan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Java. These two religions with their various offshoots were dominant in India until Islam became powerful from the 13th to the 18th century. With Islam, which forbids the representation of the human figure in religious contexts, geometrical patterns became the most common form of decoration in art and architecture created under India's Muslim rulers.

II

Architecture

The earliest surviving Indian architecture consists of brick buildings. While early wooden structures have generally not survived, later stone buildings, built in a similar style, are known.

A

Early Indian and Buddhist Styles

The oldest traces of architecture in India are the vestiges of buildings of burnt brick found at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa (now in Pakistan), dating from about 2500-1750 bc. The subsequent Vedic period, which precedes the beginning of historical styles, is represented by burial mounds at Lauriya Nandangarh, in Bihar State, and rock-cut tombs in Malabar, Kerala State.

The establishment of historical styles began about 250 bc in the time of the Indian king Ashoka, who gave imperial patronage to Buddhism. Accordingly, the monuments of this time were built for Buddhist purposes. A characteristic Buddhist construction was the tope, or stupa, a hemispherical or bell-shaped masonry monument, typically surrounded by a railing, and with four entrances marked by gateways, and designed as a shrine or reliquary. The best example of these structures is the Great Stupa in Sanchi in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which commemorates the death of Buddha and his entrance into Nirvana.

Other Buddhist structures are the dagoba, a relic shrine, said to be the ancestral form of the pagoda; the lat, a stone edict pillar, generally monumental; the chaitya, a hall of worship in basilican form; and the vihara, a monastery or temple. Chaityas and viharas were often hewn out of the living rock. Architectural details such as capitals and mouldings show influence from Middle Eastern and Greek sources. Notable examples of early rock-cut monuments in Maharashtra State are the Great Chaitya Hall at Karle (c. early 2nd century ad) with its elaborate sculptured façade and tunnel-vaulted nave, and various temples and monasteries at Ajanta and Ellora.

B

Jain and Hindu Styles

Buddhism waned after the 5th century as Hinduism and Jainism became dominant. The Jain and Hindu styles overlapped and produced the elaborate allover patterns carved in bands that became the distinguishing feature of Indian architecture. The Jains often built on a gigantic scale, a marked feature of their architecture being pointed domes constructed of level courses of corbelled stones. Extensive remains have been discovered on hilltops in locations far removed from one another in three states, at Parasnath Hill in Jharkhand, Mount Abut at Abu in Rajasthan, and Satrunjaya in Gujarat. Small temples were built close together in great numbers on hilltops; one of the earlier groups is on Mount Abu. Typical of Jain commemorative towers is the richly ornamented, nine-storey Jaya Sthamba.

The Hindu style is closely related to the Jain style. It is divided into three general categories: northern, from ad 600 to the present; central, from 1000 to 1300; and southern, or Dravidian, from 1350 to 1750. In all three periods the style is marked by great ornateness and the use of pyramidal roofs. Spire-like domes terminate in delicate finials. Other features include the elaborate, grand-scale gopuras, or gates, and the choultries, or ceremonial halls. Among the most famous examples of the style are the temples in the south at Belur, and at Halebid, Tiruvalur, Thanjavur, and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu State; temples in the north at Barolli in Rajasthan, at Vārānasi in Uttar Pradesh, and the Sun Temple at Konarak in Orissa State.