Formation of styles: Early temple architecture
In this course we will learn about Formation of styles: Early temple architecture.
Period – 400 CE to 700 CE
Indian Subcontinent
Geography & Climate
India and Pakistan together with Afghanistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives constitute the geographical area called the Indian Subcontinent. To the north, the region is bounded by high mountains stretching from the Hindu Kush in the west, through the Pamir, Karakoram and the Himalayas to the mountains in China to the north-east.
On the east, south and west it is bounded by the sea (the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east).
From the earliest times, land communication was through the passes of the northwest and northeast. Sea communication developed gradually. By the 1st century CE, there was a thriving maritime trade with the Roman Empire. The great rivers in the north, the Indus and Ganges and their tributaries provided water transport and many important cities were founded along them.
Climatic conditions
Much of the area lies south of the Tropic of Cancer, which crosses the Indian subcontinent between the Indus and Ganges deltas. In the coastal belt of the Bay of Bengal, there is a heavy monsoon season (May to August) and moderate rainfall throughout the year, the climate is warm and humid.
In most of the peninsula, the temperature is fairly equable throughout the year. In the plains of the north temperatures rises high in the summer months of May to July. And drop in winter. Rainy season is late and of short duration. The climate on the whole is dry, but with a cool winter. Snow-capped mountains lie in the regions of Himalayas.
In the northwest, the hot and cold seasons are of equal duration. In hot season temperature rises to about 50 deg, winter brings night frost and sleet. Both, high angle sun over much of area and intense and continuous rain in monsoon regions have affected architectural forms.
Natural Available resources – building materials
The lack of buildings stone along the Indus and Ganga valleys, and the easily available timber which was floated down the rivers from the mountains, influenced architecture in the area from the earliest times.
In west India – white marble in Rajasthan, fine red and cream sandstone from the neighborhood of Agra, these are used mainly as facing materials for rubble walling behind.
In the centre and south, the ‘trap’ and granite of the Deccan and the chloritic schist of southern Karnataka made their contributions to the development of regional characteristics. The
rock-cut temples at Mamallapuram in the south were hewn out of granite.
In the Western Ghats, due to the horizontal rocks strata which rise in perpendicular cliffs made possible the rock-cut sanctuaries of Karli, Ajanta and Elephanta. In Burma, near the Eastern and Western coastal mountains hard teak is found.
Northern mountains range – An excellent, softwood, deodar, is found abundantly, shisham, a hardwood somewhat inferior to teak, grows everywhere in the river valleys of the north.
In the riverine plains of Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab – the alluvial soil makes good bricks which were, and are, used extensively in these areas. Terracotta has been used from the earliest times. Lime for the building was obtained by burning limestone, shells and kankar, a nodular form of impure lime found in the river valleys.
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