AR3301 Architecture In India: Early Civilisations To Colonialism Syllabus:

AR3301 Architecture In India: Early Civilisations To Colonialism Syllabus – Anna University Regulation 2021

OBJECTIVES

 To give an overall understanding of the architecture in India up to the colonial period as parallel and sequential productions rising from the cumulative effect of forces operating and intersecting in the Indian subcontinent.
 To inform about prominent modes of architecture in India terms of evolution, function, morphology and character.
 To give exposure to works that are architecturally exemplary and/or representative.
 To appreciate architecture as giver of particular and universal meaning.

UNIT I EARLY INDIA AND ITS CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS

Overview of early history of the Indian subcontinent bringing out different conjectures. Indus Valley Civilisation and its society, culture and urbanism. Vedic culture, settlements and architecture through textual and inscriptional sources as well as conjectures. Outline of textual sources related to architecture and town planning in ancient India.

Political, religious and cultural history of India in the first millennium outlining various empires. Evolution of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Interrelationships among them and timelines.

Architecture of early Mauryan empire. Buddhist architecture and art. Stupas, chaitya halls and viharas. Hindu temple form – principles, morphology, meaning, symbolism, iconography and rituals, classification. Early Hindu temple architecture and rock cut architecture of Guptas, Chalukyas and Pallavas. Influence of Buddhist architecture on them. Study of important monuments for all the above.

UNIT II ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTHERN INDIA

Outline history of South India with particular emphasis on Bhakthi movement and evolution of temple town urbanism and architecture. Art and architecture under the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Nayaks and Vijayanagara kingdom with specific focus on Hindu temple architecture. Influence of social and political history on them. Hoysala architecture. Study of important monuments for all the above.

UNIT III ARCHITECTURE OF NORTHERN INDIA

Architecture of Gujarat, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with specific focus on Hindu temple architecture. Study of important monuments. Architecture of step wells in Northern India and their socio-cultural importance.

UNIT IV INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AND EARLY ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA

Brief history of Islam. Islamic architecture of the world as rising from Islam as a socio-cultural and political phenomenon. Evolution of building types in terms of forms and functions. Principles and characteristics of Islamic architecture – to include aspects of religion, geometry, structure, materials, decoration, light.

Early political history of Islam in India. Evolution of Islamic architecture under the Delhi Sultanate – Slave, Khaji, Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi dynasties. Study of important monuments. Early Islamic architecture of Punjab.

UNIT V REGIONAL ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE, MUGHAL ARCHITECTURE AND
AFTER

Spread of Islam into other regions of India and their architectural expressions – Gujarat, Bengal, Malwa and the Deccan. Study of important monuments.
Political History of the Mughals. Mughal architecture and urbanism under Humayun, Akbar, Shahjahan and Aurangazeb. Study of important monuments.
Outline of Post Mughal Islamic architecture. Outline of architecture related to Islam in Tamil Nadu.

OUTCOME

 An understanding of the diversity of architecture in India and sensitivity towards its syncretic aspects.
 Ability to appreciate particular cultural, symbolic, spatial and material qualities in architecture and cities as givers of meaning and continuity.
 Ability to appreciate universal qualities of architecture and their effects.

TEXTBOOKS

1. Percy Brown, ‘Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Period)’, Taraporevala and Sons, Bombay, 2014.
2. Percy Brown, ‘Indian Architecture (Islamic Period)’, Taraporevala and Sons, Bombay, 2014.
3. Christopher Tadgell, ‘The History of Architecture in India – From the Dawn of Civilization to the End of the Raj’, Phaidon, 2002.
4. Robert Hillenbrand, ‘Islamic Architecture – Form, Function and Meaning’, Columbia University Press, 2004
5. RomilaThapar, ‘The Penguin History of Early India’, Penguin, 2015.
6. Burton Stein, A History of India, John Wiley and Sons, 2010.
7. K.A. NilakantaSastri, ‘A History of South India: From the Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar’, Oxford University Press, 2007.

REFERENCES

1. George Michell, ‘The Hindu Temple’, University of Chicago Press, 1988.
2. Stella Kramrisch, ‘The Hindu Temple’, MotilalBanarsidass, Vol I 2002,Vol II1996.
3. Satish Grover, ‘Buddhist and Hindu Architecture in India’, CBS, 2008.
4. Satish Grover, ‘Islamic Architecture in India’, CBS, 2012.
5. Catherine Asher, ‘Architecture of Mughal India’, Cambridge University Press, 2001.
6. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, ‘The Dance of Siva: Essays on Indian Art and Culture’, Rupa Publications, 2013.
7. A.L. Basham, ‘The Wonder that was India’, Picador, 2004.