Vedic Period Architecture (India Tour)

the vedic

thacth & bamboo yoga house

After the decline of the Indus Valley cities in the second millennium BC, the highly developed and standarised brick architecture of this period vanished, in the Vedic Period that followed, to pastrol settlements of mud, thatch, bamboo and timber in the valleys of the rivers from the Saraswati to Ganga.  
Probably there were clusters of circular huts with domed thatched roofs, gables, arched,timber palaces and loggias.

The circular Huts

This situation continued till to arrival of Mauryas. In vedic period Hindu temples and palaces were made of wood. So with the time it did not survive. But it definitely gave a start to Buddhist architecture. Buddhist architecture is inspired from Vedic Hindu architecture. 

Mauryan Dynasty Architecture

Mauryan Architecture (321 BC-200 BC)                                   



The Mauryan period is a great land mark in the history of Indian art.
The Mauryan kings were great builders and some of the monuments and pillars belonging to this period survive even to this day and are considered as the finest specimens of art.

Chandra Gupta Maurya

Chandra Gupta Maurya built buildings, palaces and  monuments mainly with wood which have perished with time.
With the exceptions of the walls of rajgriha near patna, which have no artistic value, we have no architectural remains between the Harappan period and that of the Mauryas. But definitely there were Hindu temples and palaces which were of wood. 

The Ashoka

Use of stone in the buildings began with the time of King Ashoka. Many monuments of Ashoka's time have come down to us which enable us to form an idea about the technical perfection of Indian stone work of the age. Ashoka was worshipper of Lord Shiva but he accepted religion Buddhism in his later life. So he transformed the vedic wood architecture of Hindus into stone and architecture. Instead of wood he used stone to built Buddhist stone stupa. So it is clear that Buddhist architecture is outcome of Hindu vedic wood architecture. This fact Mr Persy brown hes deliberately neglected. 

the stupas

The monuments built by Ashoka can be categorised into four categries -

1    Stupas           

2     Pillars
3     Caves
4     Palaces                                                       




1  STUPAS

The stupa was a massive hemispherical tumults intended to serve as a receptacle for the relics of the Buddha and as supposed to symbolize the demise (Parinirvana) of the master.
Though stupas were mainly religious monuments of buddhists, the jains also constructed them.

It is said that Ashoka built 84,000 stupas all over India and Afghanistan, but most of them have perished. Ashoka was worshipper of Lord Shiva but he accepted religion Buddhism in his later life. 

From sculpture point of of the most prominent of  all the stupas is situated at Sanchi near Bhopal.(India tour)


2 PILLARS

The Lion pillar

                                            
The monolithic pillars set up by Ashoka represent a triumph of engineering, architecture and sculpture. Huge and entire pieces of fine grained sandstone were chiselled into shape of these pillars.
Each pillar was fifty feet high and weighed about fifty tonnes.

The pillar consisted of three parts - the prop, the shaft and the capitol. The prop was buried in the ground and the shaft or main pillar supported the capitol.





3 CAVES

Ellora caves

 Ashoka also credited with excavating rock cut caves, some of which are remarkable for the finely polished surface of the walls. The caves were cut out of hard and refractory rocks and were meant for the residence of monks.

They mainly found in Nagarjun hills and the Barabar Hills near Gaya. 




4 Palaces

India tour

Fa- Hien (Traveler) was highly impressed with palaces of Ashoka. However most of these palaces have since perished.
Ashoka is also credited for founding of two cities      -  srinagar in Kashmir and
Lalita Patan in Nepal






The artists of this period tried to impart religious instructions to the people by representing the stories about Budhha from the Jatakas in their works.


Related Artical : Indian Architecture



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