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Golden Temple of Sikhism,
Amritsar
In this book, I want to introduce as much as is possible the various
facets of Indian architecture. I want to show this variety and receptiveness
of Indian architecture through its history, geography and religions
classification. Browsing through the photographs in this book, one can see
the great variety. One might also be led to think that compared with
European architecture, Indian architecture lacks consistency.
One of the causes for this architectural diversity is the religious
diversity of this vast land. Europe has believed in Christianity as a
principle from medieval times and it continues to believe in it even in the
present age. The difference between the Catholic and Protestant is not so
glaring, and thus did not necessarily induce distinction of style in
architecture. The difference is similar in degree to the differences in the
Shaivite and Vaishnavite groups of Hinduism or the Shia and Sunni groups of
Islam.
However, in India, apart from Hinduism, Buddhism was dominant in ancient
age, and from the medieval age Islam has been. Added to this were Jainism,
Sikkism and in recent centuries, Christianity. All these religions have
greatly contributed to significant buildings in every urban landscape of the
country.
Hence, adding an easy explanation of these religions here may be useful,
to see its relation with architecture and may lead to a better understanding
while reading through the following chapters of this book.
Hinduism as everyone knows is the most prominent religion in India.
However, this religion differs from the Western-concept of religions. There
is no founder for this religion as there is in Christianity and Buddhism. As
Jesus preached Christianity and Buddha preached Buddhism , Hinduism was not
preached by any one individual. It is supposed that the fundamentals were
handed down from the heavens. Hinduism is a set of codes of conduct written
in the "Vedas," in the epics "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata," and in the "Manu
Smriti."
If Hinduism has to be summarized in one sentence it can be called an
aggregated Indian way of thinking and lifestyle. It is old styled Brahminism
when the system was not highly organized, and is a ceremonial religion in
which only a person born in the Brahmin upper caste could interact between
man and God.
As in ancient Greece, during the 5th, 6th century BC, in Indian too many
philosophers and free thinkers appeared against the religion hardened to a
caste regime of birth and sacrifice. The typical monks of that revolt were
Buddha who founded Buddhism and Mahavira who founded Jainism.
Mahabodhi Temple of
Buddhism, Bodhgaya
Both Buddha and Mahavira were born in similar circumstances. Both were
born in Bihar, in eastern India as Kshatriyas (warrior caste). After getting
married and begetting children both the princes renounced their family and
wealth and became shramanas or monks and after a long period of penance and
meditation attained nirvana.
There is no established date of the birth and death of both these
persons. There are various views, but Mahavira is considered to be senior.
While Buddha took the middle path of pain and pleasure, Mahavira took the
hard path of the asceticism whose fundamental doctrine was Ahimsa or
nonviolence.
Jainas did not create a centralized church system, and since it was not
keen on propagation, Jainism did not collect a large following.
On the other hand, Buddhism spread on account of its moderate nature and
was well received by the governing classes, and thus it was able to
overshadow Brahmanism and turn into a dominant religion in India. Above all,
the person who propagated Buddhism was Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire
who conquered a great portion of India during the 3rd century.
As an ancient architectural inheritance, Buddhism has left many ruins
all over the country; the relics of Jainism are scarce. What is more amazing
is that there is not a single relic left of Brahmanism. Hence stating that,
the ancient architecture of India is Buddhist architecture is not a fallacy.
However, Brahmanism gained over Buddhism gradually in the 5-6th century
in developing highly its religious theory. This mature phase of revived
Brahmanism is called Hinduism. Originally Hindu meant people living on the
banks of Sindhu river (Indus river) as viewed from the west. Their religion
is called Hinduism and their language is called Hindi.
Tikse Gompa (monastery)
of Tibettan Buddhism, Ladakh
While it had achieved an advanced stage of philosophical development,
Hinduism also assimilated the native faith, gods and traditions and mores of
various parts of India, captured people's hearts and became a huge system
consisting of myths and codes that cannot be contained in one book of
scriptures.
Buddhism that enjoyed the support of the ruling classes gradually lost
its foothold after entering the age of Tantric Buddhism, heavily influenced
by Hinduism and disappeared from India completely by the 13th century.
Instead, it spread far and wide in the Asian countries and became a world
religion and as such it is still being practiced in the northern most part
of India in Ladakh and Sikkim. They follow Tibet Buddhism, which is also
called Lamaism.
Many of the Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Indian mainland were
destroyed as there was nobody to maintain them. Most of them are ruins or
excavated sites now.
On the other hand, early Hindu architecture followed the lines of
Buddhist architecture, or converted Buddhist temples to Hindu temples. In
the 7th century two unique temple styles developed for the two major gods
Shiva and Vishnu, that played a major role in the stone architecture that
developed 1000 years later.
Mahavira Temple of
Jainism, Kumbharia
Jainism did not spread much outside India. Instead it continued to
thrive in west India and has left a large amount of architectural heritage.
As it was a small minority group it followed Buddhism and Hinduism in its
architectural style, but in the 11 -15th century it developed remarkably in
west India.
As Jainism was a religion opposing Brahmanism, it was originally
atheistic religion. It is not Gods but 24 Saviours called Tirthankaras that
are worshiped in the temples. It is said that the 24th and the last
Tirthankara was Mahavira.
Islam that came from outside India originated in Arabia in the 7th
century. Prophet Muhammad brought the words of God to the people and this
was written down as the sacred book Koran. One of its most important
teachings is that there is only one God and all men are equal in front of
Him. With this equality concept Islam spread quickly from Spain in the west
to central Asia in the east.
They build Mosques as the places of worship and other buildings in every
place they conquered. As there was a preceding civilization in each area;
the Islamic principles were mixed with the native architecture and thus a
unique Islamic architecture for each area originated.
Tomb of Salim Chishti,
Islam, Fatehpur Sikri
The Islamic invasion upon India started in the 11th century, and the
Islamic architecture of Persia from the west was brought in. Indo-Islamic
architecture reached its pinnacle during the rule of the Mughal dynasty
since the 16th century, which fused the Islamic and native architecture.
In the process however, the monotheism of Islam and polytheism of
Hinduism collided with each other. According to Islamic faith, God (Allah)
is the Absolute and his existence cannot be seen with the eyes, and so
expressing or representing him with an image is absolutely forbidden. Not
only that, it was prohibited to make the image form of man or animal, not to
mention Prophet Muhammad. Hence not a single idol carving or mural painting
can be found in the mosques. Thus the Hindu temple filled to the brim with
images was blasphemy for a believer of Islam (Muslim).
It would be rash to think that it is because of this belief that Muslims
completely destroyed the buildings and culture of infidels. Islam was rather
tolerant to the pagans.
Islam became the religion of the rulers in India. But the public was
still free to believe in Hinduism if they paid excess tax. Even Rajput
countries in west India served as vassals in the Mughal Empire and
maintained half-independent Hindu kingdoms. For this reason Hinduism and
Jainism was also able to survive up to the present age and many structures
of great temple architecture have remained intact.
Afgan Memorial Church of
St. John, Mumbai
Christianity was introduce to India very early. Tradition says that the
apostle Thomas came here for the mission work, but this has not been
ascertained. The Roman Catholic Church was brought to India by the
Portuguese in the 16th century and many churches and monasteries of the
times still stand in Goa and Cochin. When Britain started governing India,
the Church of England was introduced, and cathedrals and parish churches
were built in various places including the four big cities.
Christianity as a foreign culture, as compared with Islam, strictly
adhered to the European style in colonial buildings as its architectural
style and fusion with native architecture was not considered. Perhaps this
might show that Christianity is more the religion of non-tolerance rather
than Islam.
According to the national census taken in 1981, the rate of religious
population in present day India is as follows. Hindu 82.6 per cent, Muslim
11.4 per cent, Christian 2.4 per cent, Sikh 2.0 per cent, Buddhist 0.7 per
cent, Jain 0.5 per cent, Others (Parsi, Jew etc.) 0.4 per cent.
In present day architecture, religion does not play a main role in its
development. When a new temple is built, it would be in old style on the
whole. Probably the impact of religion in changing India's architecture has
replaced by European and American culture and the development of science and
technology.
This personification of modern architecture can be seen clashing with
traditional architecture. It is slowly but steadily changing the townscape
of India and this is a common enough sight in any third world country.
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