Indus River, where 5,000 years ago, around 3000 BC, a remarkable civilisation flourished. Whole cities have been excavated, and a range of artefacts found, but much of the civilisation still remains a mystery because its script has not yet been deciphered. However, the statuettes, seals and other implements found tell of an agrarian society which worshipped, amongst other things, the concept of fertility. This civilisation had trade and other links with contemporary civilisations of the west, contacts being maintained by caravans traveling through mountain passes of the Himalayas.
The Indusvalley civilisation declined about 2000 BC. The causes are not known, but could include drought, floods or drying up of trade.
The Arrival of Hinduism
About 400 years later, various Central Asian tribes began crossing over into India. This migration of fair-skinned people, called the Indo-Aryans, who spoke a language deriving from the same source as Latin and Greek, is again shrouded in mystery for an entirely different set of reasons. The lndo-Aryans were pastoral. They worshipped fire and had anthropomorphic gods and well-established rituals of prayer which were coded in a set of oral texts called the Vedas, which only assumed a literary form 500 years later. Their religion eventually came to be known as Hinduism. The Aryans settled down in the fertile plain of the Ganges River, subjugated the native tribes, and started the process of cultural assimilation that has been one of the hallmarks of the Indian sub-continent's history. Unfortunately, even though literary texts provide us with some evidence of the architectural activities of the time, no archaeological evidence remains.
Aryan society was divided into four varna or castes, of which the uppermost, the brahmanas, monopolised Vedic religion. Reaction against this led to the birth of several dissident religions in the subcontinent, including Buddhism and Jainism. Buddhism was founded in the 5th century BC, and received royal patronage 200 years later under the Mauryan king Ashoka, who converted to the faith after a bloody battle fought against the king of Kalinga (in Orissa) on the eastern coast of India. It was around this time that Alexander of Macedonia reached India, and though he eventually did not succeed in extending his empire to this part of the world, his invasion brought the tradition of stone carving to the Indian subcontinent. Ashoka used the knowledge of stone craft to begin the tradition of stone architecture in India, dedicated to Buddhism. Proof that prior to this period Indian architecture had a strong, well-developed tradition of building in wood, bamboo and thatch is available in the forms created in stone by Ashoka's architects and craftsmen. All the architecture of the period shows that wooden structural forms, especially those of column, beam and lintel, were being replicated in stone.
Among the earliest examples of Gupta architecture are the caves at Udaygiri (4th-5th century AD). They are primarily rock-cut cells of a primitive nature, carved into a sandstone hill near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
The Mauryas and the Guptas
The first great Indian empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 321 BC and his capital at Pataliputra (Patna) is reputed to have been the largest city in the world at the time. A sound administrative system, clear-cut social order, peace and security established a firm foundation that led to the rule of Ashoka, a great and visionary emperor. Although he ruthlessly expanded his kingdom during the first eight years of his rule, Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism thereafter caused him to espouse non-violence while maintaining a pragmatism in all matters of governance. Only the most southernmost kingdoms of the peninsula remained independent while Ashoka's empire extended across the length and breadth of the rest of India. The extent of his kingdom is evident from the thousands of stupas, pillars and rocks bearing Buddhist edicts erected by Ashoka. His legacy lives on in the Sarnath pillar decorated with four lions that has been adopted as an emblem of independent India.
After the Mauryas, it was not until almost 500 years later that another great dynasty united the country and gave the creative arts and matters of governance inspired patronage. During the era of the Guptas, also referred to as the Golden or Classical Age, the Hindu temple, in particular, acquired an ornate image with the embellishment of extravagant sculptures.
A contemporary map showing India's historical sites.
The Earliest Architectural Traditions
The earliest traditions of building in stone in the Indian subcontinent were those of cave and rock-cut architecture, inspired by itinerant Buddhist monks. Later, the caves excavated by these monks were cut into to create ornate interiors. Gradually, the transition from rock-cut to stone-made architecture took place all over the subcontinent, and the monumental architecture of this period, built to survive through time, is all stone-cut or stone-made.
Buddhist, Jain and Hindu architecture continued to be created all over the subcontinent, with a constant overlap and synthesis. St Thomas had reached the southern shores of India in AD 52, and some churches may have been built, but again no evidence remains, and the predominant monumental architectural activity in the subcontinent at this time was inspired by Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. The iconography of all three religions began to show a fair degree of synthesis of content and form, and many elements originating in one religious tradition were adopted by the others, once again demonstrating the inherent secularism within each diverse cultural tradition.
Although various Central Asian tribes, such as the Kushanas and the Shakas, continued to migrate into India, their religious and cultural identities had the space that the diversity of cultural traditions in India provided and they gradually got assimilated into the complex Indian social structure. Racially and linguistically, however, there were the two major groupings of northern Aryans and southern Dravidians, but there also existed many other indigenous tribes in the eastern, northeastern and central regions with their own distinct cultural identities.
Gateway to the Sanchi stupa, one of the finest examples of early Buddhist architecture.
The earliest tradition of building in stone was that of rock-cut architecture, as seen in the Ellora Caves.
Central and North Indian Kingdoms
Within the country, the first millennium AD was a period of several kingdoms, many of them petty, many with imperial ambitions, which were involved in an almost constant struggle for political supremacy.
Between about AD 750 and 900, there was a tripartite struggle for power between the Palas in Bihar and Bengal in the east, the Pratiharas, descendants of the Rajasthani Gurjaras of central India, and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan. Constant conflict eventually depleted their resources, resulting in their decline.
This finely carved terracotta panel is from Vishnupur, west Bengal. In the absence of stone, terracotta was widely used in the region for both the structural form (derived from the thatched hut) and for decoration.
In the south, the Cholas, still a minor kingdom at the tip of the peninsula, were to achieve political and cultural hegemony between AD 862 and 1310, with an embassy of Chola merchants reaching as far as China in AD 1077.
Architecturally, this period saw prolific building activity, particularly in the south, with religious architecture dominating and some of the most well-known architectural masterpieces of India built in this period, often by minor historical figures. In fact, it can be generally said that perhaps in no other art as much as in architecture did religion play such
