Indian/ South Asian architecture one of the best yet criminally unappreciated

[U-571]

hello, i started a similar thread on a different history forum as well

my purpose is to highlight indian/south asian architectural achievement in the time period stated as ''ancient'' which starts from beginning of civilization to 500 AD

im a south asian/ indian sub continent nationalist and i believe from what i have found out that indians have always been ahead of their contemporaries in architecture, i argue that even though rome, egypt and greece boast loads of monotone architecture in large numbers, india is home to very diversified architecture and it evolved tremendously and indeginiously as opposed to some western theorists who look down and down play importance and significance of south asian architecture, i believe that indian architecture was one of the greatest if not the greatest architecture in the world.

please contribute to this thread thanks

we need to tell the world what our civilization achieved for thousands of years and we were not as cultureless and without past as european neanderthals.

today these western colonists who got civilized during industrialization boast a lot about their ''ancient architecture'' and the funny thing is, their history really begins at 1200s not sooner.

in the following link i have only shared ancient sites, but here you are free to share any pre modern non colonial architecture.

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when i say indian architecture is criminally unappreciated, i say it because i consider transformation of wooden architecture to the stone/brick masonry ones as a big mile stone, which india/sub continent achieved in a very ancient time, very early during birth of civilizations.

when i look up towards east and south east asia, there are hardly any surviving examples of stone built achietecture but india/south asia was blessed to have loads

this is the prime reason why india unlike many other asian countries can trace their architecture to thousands of years compared to east and south east asia especially.

i also think that india/south asia is responsible for evolution of south east asian wooden architecture into brick or stone ones, whether it be angkor wat in cambodia, bagan in myanmar, ayothaya in thailand, my son in veitnam, borobodur in indonesia, credit goes to indians/ south asians for revolutionizing their architecture and they should in part be thankful to india.

thanks

Link: http://historum.com/asian-history/1...cture-one-greatest-yet-least-appreciated.html

 

[HariPrasad]

In india there are many masterpieces of architechs. Even today some awesome architectures are built in India which are top class which are not possible byb others to build.

 

[U-571]

hinduism somewhat retarded growth of indian architecture, they started using heavy stones instead of bricks formerly used by buddhists, they throw away concept of vaulting and using arches, always used corbelled or fake arches for fear of true arches, which buddhists applied freely and which was then transported to myanmar. instead of using bricks sculptures they resorted using tough stones like granite to cave sculptures, hindu architecture got smaller and smaller in size with the passage of time. this hindu technique of avoiding true arch and use heavy stone was thn taken up by cambodians and indonesians.


hindus couldnt make big temples because of using heavy stones instead of bricks

i think myanmar with their vaulted temples exceeded indian architecture by learning from indians themselves and made magnificent temples in bagan in the 10-12th century..

 

[N.Siddiqui]

egypt and greece boast loads of monotone architecture in large numbers, india is home to very diversified architecture and it evolved tremendously and indeginiously as opposed to some western theorists who look down and down play importance and significance of south asian architecture, i believe that indian architecture was one of the greatest if not the greatest architecture in the world.

What is Indian vernacular, local architecture...there must be lots of public or monumental buildings, but vernacular architecture is domestic and functional and each region has different characteristics...like a monolithic single form in architecture is unlikely in functional buildings in India as it is a huge country.

But monuments and public buildings can have a single monolithic architecture...

Post some related matter and pictures...if possible of different regions of India and their architectural styles, north, south, south east, north west etc.

 

[U-571]

What is Indian vernacular, local architecture...there must be lots of public or monumental buildings, but vernacular architecture is domestic and functional and each region has different characteristics...like a monolithic single form in architecture is unlikely in functional buildings in India as it is a huge country.

But monuments and public buildings can have a single monolithic architecture...

Post some related matter and pictures...if possible of different regions of India and their architectural styles, north, south, south east, north west etc.

i believe that south asians/ indians used wood for domestic buildings, like homes etc, only for temples and in very rare cases, palaces were built out of stone structures which didn't survive.

for example ashoka or mauryan buddhist sites have bricked structures, where as his own palace was made of wood and maybe only used bricks for foundation or compartment or the outer walls and such.

since no mauryan palace which is recorded in history as very amazing in architecture and even the chinese buddhist pilgrims were amazed on its carvings exist, it leads me to believe that even indian palaces were wooden and stones were used very rarely.

the bricked buildings only evolved under the influence of islamic rulers especially in their areas of influence like dehli, agra, lucknow, and places such as rajasthan who couldnt afford wood, so they used bricks or sandstone for their private homes

but in rest of india wood was easily available so they kept wooden architecture for housing and stuff.

ill post pictures later. you can visit the link i posted.

 

[ashok mourya]

See the 1000 year old konark sun temple...where idol of sun floated ...
MAGNETS & THE FLOATING IDOL
TEXT SIZE

King Narasimhadeva I, the great ruler of the Ganga dynasty had built this temple, with the help of 1200 artisans within a period of 12 years (1243-1255 A.D.). Konark temple was initially built on the sea bank but now the sea has receded and the temple is few kilometres away from the sea. The Sun Temple of Konark is gigantic so also the stories & myths associated with it are many.

The most popular theory associated with Konark temple is its magnets & the floating idol in the air. The uniqueness of the Sun Temple of Konark lies in the fact that it was built with an architectural setup of various magnets. During the construction of the main tower of the temple the artisans put an iron plate between every two stone pieces. There is a lodestone at the top of the temple was said to be a massive 52 ton magnet. According to legend, the statue of the Sun God inside the temple was built of a material with iron content and was said to be floating in air, without any physical support, due to the unique arrangements of the top magnet, the bottom magnet and the reinforced magnets around the temple walls. The placement of the main temple and the Sun God had been aligned in such a way that the first ray of the Sun from the coast would cross the Nata Mandir (Dancing Hall) and would fall & reflect from the diamond placed at the crown of the Sun God.

Other legends state that, the magnetic effect of the lodestone was so strong that it caused disturbance in the ships compasses those passed by the coast (Konark being a major port at that time), thus making the navigation very difficult for the sailors. To save their trade and their ships, the Portuguese sailors destroyed the temple and took away the lodestone. The removal of the lodestone leads to the collapse of the main temple structure.

If you visit Konark temple and hire any guide for your help then they will explain you above legends and stories. But neither there are any historical records against these stories nor any record against the existence of such powerful magnet at Konark. Till now no one knows where the magnet is and whether these stories are true. Let me iterate it again that the current visible structure of Konark Sun Temple is the entrance to the main temple structure and the main temple structure is already destroyed and only remains are available at the same spot. Please click here to read various reasons behind the fall of konark Temple structure.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konark_Sun_Temple

 

[U-571]

konark temple is probably finest achievement in hindu architecture, its khondolite stones are amazing, although they are sustainable to erosion

orisa and andhra architecture used khondolite stones in buddhist monastries and andhra especially used white lime stone in its stupas which resemble greeks or romans using marbles.
if only hindus had not resorted to using heavy stones and used vaulting would have produced master pieces.

 

[U-571]

1000 years old Shastra bahu temple udaipur, Rajasthan

Sringeri temple

Dodda Basappa Temple 12th century CE

Mahadeva Temple (Itagi) in the Koppal district, 1112 CE

 

[U-571]

Sas Bahu / Sahastra Bahu temples complex, about 30 kilometers from Udaipur lakes in Rajasthan India. Much of the temples complex was destroyed and plundered, and the faces of the idols and carvings damaged during Mughal era Islamic invasion and ransacking of temples in Mewar region of Rajasthan (Antoinette E DeNapoli, Real Sadhus Sing to God, Oxford University Press, 2014).

 

[El Sidd]

India and South Asian are not interchangeable words.

@WebMaster @The Eagle @waz

Please change the thread title or simply close the thread. We have enough threads for this.

Thanks.

El Sidd

 

[U-571]

Somesvara Temple

 

[U-571]

 

[Indus Priest King]

We ain't South Asian...keep this Dasyu trash out of the Indus. Thanks.

 

[Hamza913]

Pakistan doesnt have much architecture to show anyway

Joke of the year

The best South Asian architecture is Muslim/Buddhist architecture.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

dont get worked up Pakistan

Can you please stop being a false flagger and show Indian flags. Thanks.