Encyclopedia of society and culture in the ancient world ( PDFDrive ) 97

68

architecture: Asia and the Pacific

constructed in a similar way. It, too, has largely disappeared.
The Great Wall that remains a tourist attraction in China was
built under the Ming Dynasty over a 300-year period beginning in the 14th century.

ARCHITECTURE

OF I NDIA

Historians and archaeologists use the phrase Indian architecture to refer to the architecture not just of the nation of India
but of the entire Asian subcontinent as well, including the
modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
In ancient times, and even in modern life, these nations shared
a culture and religion that gave rise to a common architecture.
The history of Indian architecture begins in the Indus
Valley (roughly corresponding to the modern Indian state of
Punjab) when, some 5,000 years ago, people migrated into
the area and found a fertile, hospitable land. Archaeologists
have discovered the remains of cities that were laid out with
a degree of planning that would put to shame many modern
cities, with defensive walls and streets arranged in a regular
octagonal pattern, making it easier for carts laden with food
and other materials to make turns. The remains of numerous
houses have been found. These houses were built around a
central courtyard that afforded privacy while also allowing
light to enter the rooms constructed around it. The courtyard
also provided a cool place for the family to gather during hot
spells, yet it held warmth during colder weather. Long before

the ancient Romans developed plumbing systems, the cities
of the Indus Valley had sewage and drainage systems.
Roughly 3,500 years ago the cities of the Indus Valley, most
prominently Mohenjo Daro, fell to nomadic Aryan invaders
from the northwest. These invaders drove out the indigenous
people, but rather than occupying their cities, the invaders preferred to live in forest hamlets. Although little of their architecture survives intact, archaeologists have studied ruins and have
determined that the simple architecture of the Aryans influenced Indian architecture for many generations. Much of what
is known about the architecture of this age, called the Vedic
Age (ca. 1500–ca. 600 b.c.e.), is preserved in the ancient texts,
the Vedas, that later formed the basis of Hinduism. It is known
that the Aryans built homes with the abundant materials that
lay at hand, including lumber and bamboo thatch. Their homes
were circular and domelike, though later the homes expanded
into a more rectangular shape. In time Aryan villages developed into small cities divided into quadrants and intersected
by two main streets at right angles to each other. One quadrant was for the city’s citadel, which guarded it from outsiders.
A second was residential, a third was for merchants, and the
fourth was for tradesmen.
A third phase of Indian architecture is associated with
the rise of Buddhism. The connections between Buddhism
and architecture, though, provide an interesting case study
in the links between religion and other elements of a culture.
During the Vedic period and up to about 500 b.c.e. the teachings of the Vedas had an impact on virtually every aspect of
people’s lives. The rigid caste system separating the social

classes of India emerged, and religion consisted primarily of
pure ritual. At about this time two major religious reformers rose. One was the Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama, who
was born in 563 b.c.e. and founded the Buddhist religion. The
other was Mahavira, the date of whose birth is uncertain but
whose life probably overlapped that of the Buddha. Mahavira
was the founder of Jainism, another major Indian religion

and one that has many features in common with Buddhism.
In both instances, the new emphasis was on the nature of the
soul rather than on ritual observances.
Both of these key religious figures attempted to reform
Vedic culture by lessening some of the emphasis on ritual.
Buddhism turned out to be the religion that had the wider
appeal, and it won the support not only of the region’s mercantile classes but also of the king, Asoka the Great (r. ca.
273–232 b.c.e.), who declared Buddhism the state religion.
Under Asoka, funds were provided to build monasteries
throughout the region. Further, because the Buddha himself
was the closest thing to a god among Buddhists, his relics
became scattered throughout the land. The key point is that
these religious developments gave rise to much of the architecture that developed in the Buddha’s wake.
Accordingly, throughout India a large number of shrines
were built in honor of the Buddha, many of them little more
than piles of rocks purporting to contain a relic of the Buddha.
In time, however, the people began to believe that these shrines
needed to be improved, which gave rise to more elaborate stupas, or spherical configurations of stone, that reflected the
growing influence of Buddhism. These stupas could be found
throughout the country, and people visited them as shrines.
By about the second century b.c.e., though, the influence
of Buddhism began to wane. India’s rulers were returning to
the teachings of the Vedas, and they found the Vedic caste
system more congenial to their notions of power. After the
reign of Asoka the Great and the decline of two major Indian
ruling dynasties (the Kushans in the north and the Andhras
in the south), Indian art and architecture underwent a severe
decline. Buddhism, however, by no means disappeared. Merchants continued to support Buddhism, and they supplied
most of the funds that allowed Buddhist monks to establish
monasteries and centers of learning.

One of the most important of these centers was Sanchi,
located near the modern-day city of Bhopal in India. Sanchi
survives as a major pilgrimage site for modern Buddhists and
as a tourist attraction for people the world over. The stupa at
Sanchi is a domelike structure with a surrounding path and
topped with a finial called a harmika. (A finial in this context is an ornamental projection from the top of a wall or column.) The domed shape of the stupa reflects the shape of the
universe, and the harmika represented the Bodhi tree where
the Buddha achieved enlightenment.
In addition to the main stupa are a number of other buildings that serve the needs of visitors and the monks who travel
to the site to meditate and do penance. One, called the vihara,
consists of cubicles, or cells, arranged around a central court-