Visual Arts
| Architecture | Sculpture |
|---|---|
| It is the design and construction of buildings | it is relatively smaller work of 3D art |
| Uses a mixture of materials such as stone, wood, glass, metal, sand. | Uses a single type of material for a single sculpture |
| Involves study of engineering mathematics and detailed accurate measurements | Involves creativity and imagination and may not depend heavily on accurate measurements. |
Harappan Art and Architecture
This civilization flourished during 3BCE and had two major cities Harappa and Mohen jo daro. The indus valley civilisation as it was called had a number of sculptures, seals, pottery and jewelleries.
Harappa and Mohen jo daro were the earliest examples of urban city planning.
Archaeological findings at Indus valley cities :
Harappa : Rows of granaries on stone platforms, a stone symbol of linga and yoni. Mother goddess figure, wheat and barley in wooden mortar, sculpture of dog chasing a girl in bronze metal, nude dancing girl statue in stone and red sandstone male torso.
Mohenjodaro: Bearded preist sculpture, great bath and great granary; evidence of post cremation burial.
Dholavira: Giant water reservoir, dams and embankment, stadium, unique water harnessing system and incription comprising 10 large sized signs.
Lothal: Manchester of Harappa civilisation. Dockyard, double burial, fire altars, rice husk, painted jars, modern day chess, terrecota figure of horse and ship, instruments for measuring 45, 90 , 180 degrees
Ropar : Dog buried with human; oval pit burial
Balathal and kalibangan : bangle factory, toy cart, citadel, bones of camel, lower town, decorated bricks
Surkotada: First actual remains of horse bones
Banawall : Only city with radial streets
Alamgirpur : Impression of a cloth on a trough
Architecture in Harappa civilization
Harappa and mohenjodaro were excavated and their remains reveal a sense of twon planning. Roads were from north - south, east - west and cut each other at right angles.
Big roads divided city into number of blocks and the smaller roads were used to link to the individual houses to the main roads.
There are three types of buildings in the excavation sites such as dwelling houses, public buildings and public baths.
Harappans used burnt mud bricks of standard sizes for construction. Many layers of well baked bricks were laid out and joined together by gypsum mortar.
The city was divided into two parts. The upraised citadel in the western part was used for buildings of rulers, aristocrats and large sized buildings like granaries, courtyards and pillared halls.
Granaries were intelligently designed with raised platforms and air ducts to protect them from pests and vermin.
Presence of baths indicate the importance of ritualistic cleaning in their culture. The great bath at mohenjodaro has no cracks and this indicates their engineering acumen.
In the lower part of the city, one room constructions have been found which indicate residences of working class people. Some houses were double stories. Houses have private bathrooms and are well ventilated.
A striking feature of the civilization were the advanced drainage systems which ran from each house and connected to each other. Cesspits were placed at regular intervals. The drains were loosely covered to indicate that they might have been kept open for regular cleaning.
Features of Harappan Seals
Seals were mostly squares but circular, triangular and rectangular seals were found too.
Steatite, a soft stone found in river beds was most common for making seals however even copper, ivory, gold and terracotta seals have been found.
Most seals have a pictographic script which is yet to be deciphered. It is written from right to left.
Seals have an animal incription on one side and human figure on other side. Or only animal incriptions. Cow was not mentioned in any seal. Seals were mostly used for commercial purposes. But some have been found on bodies indicating that they might have been used to identify the owners. Seals with mathematical symbols too have been indicating "educational" use.
Bronze Figures
The lost wax technique was used for bronze casting, in this wax figures were first coated with wet clay and allowed to dry.
The clay coated figures were then heated allowing the wax inside to melt. The wax is then allowed to escape through a hole and then molten metal is poured in it.
The metal cools and solidifies and then clay coat is removed and a metal figure the same shape of a wax figure is obtained.
Terracota
It is fire baked clay for sculptures. These sculptures are less in number and crude in shape and form.
It is generally used for making toys, animal figures, carts and wheels etc.
The terracota figures are made using pinching methods.
These are found mostly in Gujarat and Kalibangan
Pottery
Pottery was of painted and plain types. The painted type had red background drawn on the pots. This had designs made of black color.
Trees, animals, geometrical designs and birds are recurring designs.
Pottery is mostly wheel made and sometimes hand made.
Main uses of pottery was for storage of household items, straining liquor and decorative purposes.
Ornaments
These were made of bones, precious stones, gemstones and baked clay. Both men and women wore them. But only women wore girdles, earings and anklets.
Mauryan Art and Architecture
The Mauryan system flourished during a time when buddhism and jainism emerged in Gangetic plains. The kshatriya kings patronised them as both these new religions were opposed to the varna and caste system, whereas the kings themselves were opposed to brahmanical tyranny.
Mauryan art is of two types: Court initiatives (Palace, Pillars and stupas) and individual initiatives (Caves, pottery and sculpture).
Court art was commissioned by Mauryan rulers for political and religious reasons.
Mauryan empire was the first powerful empire in India. The palaces were principally built of wood and were as beautiful as the Achaemenid palaces in Iran.
Pillars were used by Later mauryans like Emperor ashok to symbolise the state, for religious sermons and commemorate battle victories.
Pillars were made of sandstone and had four parts A long shaft kept on a base. The shaft was single stone. On top of it was a lotus or bell shaped capital which had Iranian influence. On top of the capital was a abacus (circular or rectangular base) on which an animal was kept. E.g: sarnath pillar at varanasi.
Stupa
These are burial mounds were ashes of monks are kept. Stupa architecture reached its pinnacle during Ashokan reign.
Stupa were vedic tradition popularised by buddhists.
Sanchi stupa in MP is famous, Piprawah stupa in UP is the oldest stupa.
| Ashokan pillar | Achaemenian pillar |
|---|---|
| shaft is made up single sandstone. | shaft is made up of multiple sandstones cemented together |
| Were independently erected by royal orders | Were attached to official buildings. |
Popular Art
Mauryan period saw emergence of rock cut cave architecture. During mauryan period these caves were generally used as viharas (monastery) by jain and buddhist monks.
Caves had highly polished interior walls and decorative gateways. While early caves were used by jain aajivikas they became popular later as buddhist monasteries.
Sculptures too were primarily used for decoration of stupas - two such famous ones were yaksha and yakshini. These were worshipped by all three religions. Art of sculpture reached its climax in the post mauryan period.
Pottery is northern black polished ware or grey ware. These have black paint and highly lustrous finish.
Post Mauryan Art - Rock cut caves
During the mauryan period, rock cut caves focused on building viharas (monasteries) however in the post mauryan period, chaityas (places of worship) too were built.
Karla caves, Ajanta caves (25 viharas and 4 chaityas) are examples of this.
Chiatyas had quadrangular chambers with flat roofs and used as prayer halls.
Stupa
These became larger and more decorative.
Stone was increasingly used in place of brick and wood.
Shunga dynasty introduced torana decoration at the gateways of stupas.
Torans had intricately carved figures and patterns.
| Gandhara school | Mathura school | Amaravati school |
|---|---|---|
| influence of indo greek art | indeginous influence | indeginous influence |
| earlier period used bluish grey sandstone and later mud and stucco | red sandstone | white marble |
| focused on buddhist imagery that had greco roman style | influence of hinduism, jainism and buddhism | influence of buddhism |
| patronised by kushana | kushana | satvahana |
| developed in northwest frontier province | mathura | lower krishna godavari valley |
| buddha is shown in spiritual state with few ornaments and in yogic posture. | Buddha is shown in delighted mood with smiling face. Buddha is seated in padmasana | Sculptures were a part of narrative art and depicted life of buddha i.e. jataka tales. Buddha is in both animal and human form. |
Gupta Empire - Golden age of Indian architecture
The temple, buddhist and jain architecture prospered and reached their climax under this empire.
Earlier gupta were buddhists and later were hindus. The nothern guptan kings worshipped Vishnu, southern worshipped Shiva and those on the malabar coast worshipped Shakti.
During the guptan age, mural paintings on walls became and added feature to cave architecture.
A new school of sculture developed around sarnath. This had cream colored sandstone and used metal. The sculptures were immaculately dressed and the halo around buddhas head was intricately decorated.
The Panchayatan style of temple architecture was developed during this period. Here the chief deity was kept in a central shrine and it had four subsidiary shrines a four corners.