INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

the past and present building traditions of the Indian subcontinent. Indian architecture dates back to at least the 2nd millennium BC and has been primarily religious in function, serving Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Jainism. The earliest Indian buildings were Buddhist and Hindu temples made of wood and then of brick; other temples were carved out of solid rock and are called cave temples. By the 4th century BC, stone had become the accepted material for buildings, and successive Indian cultures acquired great skill in the carving and construction of stone buildings. Large stupas, or dome-shaped Buddhist shrines, and rectilinear temples and monasteries were built during the the Maurya period (4th2nd century BC), along with cave temples. The Gupta period (4th6th century AD) marked the beginning of the zenith of Indian architecture and the emergence of its most characteristic structure, a temple with a square base and a pyramidal tower that has either a straight or curving outline and is heavily decorated with architectural and figural ornament. This temple form was brought to its stylistic height during the 7th to 11th centuries AD, and the Hindu temple complexes themselves became larger and more elaborate in plan, layout, and building type. A rich variety of regional building styles developed at this time, all concentrating on the temple complex. The extension of Islam into India in the 11th and 12th centuries introduced typical Muslim architectural forms such as the dome, the pointed arch, and Islamic decoration into mosques, tombs, and other structures. This period is viewed by some scholars as a decline relative to the splendour of the previous indigenous architecture, but such marvels as the Taj Mahal resulted from the rule of the Muslim Mughal dynasty in the 16th18th century. The period of European colonization and then of British rule in India resulted in the introduction and imitation of European building styles in India, and, by the time of Indian independence in the mid-20th century, Indian architecture was almost entirely modern in its form, style, and materials.