Early Indian Architecture: IV. Huts and Related Temple Types

1988 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
Michael W. Meister ◽  
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
Keyword(s):  
Indian Architecture

scholarly journals Art. II.—Some Suggestions of Origin in Indian Architecture

1888 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-71
Author(s):  
William Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Great Achievement ◽  
Indian Architecture ◽  
Wrong Direction ◽  
The Subject

When Mr. Fergusson commenced the study of Indian Architecture, nothing was really known on the subject. He had first to collect the materials, and after years of work he was able at last to leave the Architecture of India in a classified form. This was in itself a great achievement for one man to do. But he did more than this. He traced back the developments of form and construction in many cases to their early beginnings, and thus gave us their origin. It is only when this has been accomplished that we can truly say “we know” any particular style of architecture. We have still some very interesting problems of this kind to work out in regard to India; and suggestions regarding them, even although they should ultimately be found to have pointed in the wrong direction, may yet be useful in many ways; such speculations may call the attention of men in India to the information that is required, and by this means we have the chance of receiving knowledge. I have often discussed some of these questions of origin with Mr. Fergusson, and he used to refer to some of the unexplored parts of India, where he thought some remains of the older forms of Architecture might yet be found, which would throw light on what we wanted. His mode of expressing himself was, “If some man, with the necessary knowledge, and with an eye in his head, could be sent,” he felt certain that there are old temples in many parts not yet discovered that would clear up most of the doubtful points.

Ornament in Indian architecture

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 29-5488-29-5488
Keyword(s):  
Indian Architecture

Paradigms of Indian Architecture

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. R. Tillotson
Keyword(s):  
Indian Architecture

On the Idea of the Mandala as a Governing Device in Indian Architectural Tradition

2000 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonit Bafna
Keyword(s):  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
The Other ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Historical Scholarship ◽  
Square Grid ◽  
Indian Architecture ◽  
Architectural Tradition ◽  
Two Bodies

This paper is an attempt to reconsider our current understanding of the role accorded to the mandala within traditional Indian architecture. It is generally held that the mandala-in particular the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, the mandala associated with vāstu (inhabited or built site)-has played a determining role in the genesis of architectural form in India. Within more popular, and less circumspect, writings, this influence is held to be directly formal; the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala is traditionally drawn within a square grid, and any sign of an orthogonal planning or a grid-like layout is taken to be a sign that the form in question was based upon the mandala. In investigating the foundations of such a belief, this paper reviews two bodies of literature. The first is modern art-historical scholarship, an examination of which shows that the idea of a morphogenetic mandala emerged only recently, and that it was not so much culled from the traditional writing as constructed afresh by art historians such as Kramrisch. The other body of literature examined is that of the traditional writings on architecture, many of which are cited as key sources of evidence for this idea. Here it is argued that there is almost no direct evidence for the use of mandalas in laying out complexes or designing buildings, and that such ideas of the use of mandalas rest on several assumptions that must themselves be questioned.

scholarly journals Measuring the body of god: Temple plan construction and proportional measurement in early texts on north Indian architecture

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valdas Jaskūnas
Keyword(s):  
General System ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ground Plan ◽  
Indian Architecture ◽  
Geometrical Form

Vilnius UniversityBy reconsidering the fragments from early texts on north Indian temple architecture, namely the Purāṇas and their supposed sources, this paper sets out to explore the accounts of arrangement of the plans for temple ground plans and the modes of proportional measurement. It is contended that the general system of proportional measurement, called sāmānya or sarvasādhāraṇa and elaborated on in the texts under discussion, comprises temple garbha-shrines of various scales and forms, from which measurements for the entire temple structure are derived. The importance given to the garbha-shrine is attested by the method of classification of diverse temple types that are distinguished by the geometrical form of the ground plan of the garbha-shrine. It is consequently suggested that the arrangement of the ground plan of a garbha-shrine adapted by temple architects most probably reiterated the practices used for building Vedic altars, the layouts of which, as the Śulbasūtras state, might have served as models for structuring the ground plans of garbha-shrines.

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