great monuments “Demonstrating a love both for the physical worlD of i n D i a anD for the realm of the spirit, inDian architecture g proDuces structures that are often warm anD r sensuous, as well as complex anD intriguing.” e Jonathan glancey, architecture critic a t m o n u m e n t s o A practical, evocative, and inspiring guide to India’s most impressive f monuments—packed with stunning photography, maps, and illustrations. i n D i a Discover more at A unIque vIsuAl guIde to IndIA’s hIstorIc sItes www.dk.com GREAT MONUMENTS OF I N DIA 0000--0011__bbiinndduupp__HHaallff__TTiittllee..iinndddd 11 67//1193//0099 34::3001::4226 PPMM DORLING KINDERSLEY London, New York, Melbourne, Munich, and Delhi DK INDIA Editorial Team Suchismita Banerjee, Glenda Fernandes, Kingshuk Ghoshal, Alka Ranjan, Ankush Saikia, Rohan Sinha, Dipali Singh, Saloni Talwar, Rima Zaheer Design Team Neha Ahuja, Aparajita Barai, Romi Chakraborty, Tannishtha Chakraborty, Mahua Mandal, Neerja Rawat, Ivy Roy, Malavika Talukder DTP Designers Harish Aggarwal, Dheeraj Arora, Jagtar Singh, Preetam Singh DTP Co-ordinators Sunil Sharma, Balwant Singh Production Manager Pankaj Sharma Design Manager Arunesh Talapatra Art Director Shefali Upadhyay Head of Publishing Operations Aparna Sharma DK LONDON Project Art Editor Anna Hall Managing Art Editor Karen Self Managing Editor Camilla Hallinan Art Director Bryn Walls Associate Publisher Liz Wheeler Publisher Jonathan Metcalf Production Editor Luca Frassinetti Production Controller Inderjit Bhullar First American Edition, 2009 Published in the United States by DK Publishing 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 09 10 11 12 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 GD136—November 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley Limited All rights reserved Contains content from the Eyewitness Travel monuments series: Amber Fort (2008), Fatehpur Sikri (2008), Humayun’s Tomb (2008), Qutb Minar (2008), Red Fort (2008), and Taj Mahal (2008). Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-75665-907-3 Printed and bound by Hung Hing, Hong Kong Discover more at www.dk.com 0022--0033__bbiinndduupp__CCoonntteenntt__UUKS..iinndddd 22 66//2225//0099 66::1050::3387 PPMM Content Imprints of time 4 Sanchi 22 Mamallapuram 44 Khajuraho 66 Qutb Minar 92 Konark 110 Hampi 130 Humayun’s Tomb 152 Fatehpur Sikri 170 Amber Fort 194 Red Fort 212 Taj Mahal 236 In the vicinity 256 Glossary 260 Index 262 Acknowledgments 264 suhag Mandir, aMber fort The topmost storey of the Ganesh Pol (gateway), the Suhag Mandir, is a small pavilion with delicately carved marble screens and windows. 0022--0033__bbiinndduupp__CCoonntteenntt__UUKS..iinndddd 33 67//2123//0099 64::1560::0133 PPMM 0044--0055__bbiinndduupp__IInnttrroo__11..iinndddd 44 66//2224//0099 62::0365::5115 PPMM Imprints of Time India is a young country with an ancient granite and marble – the story of India’s history, where the ancient and the modern past and its people. This book is not meant exist side by side. Successive waves of to be a comprehensive survey of every invasions and migrations over time have significant historical structure found in created a society characterized by India; even so, its selected monuments kaleidoscopic variety. The seventh largest encompass the period from the 3rd country in the world, with a population century bce to the middle of the 17th second only to China, India stretches from century, presenting an architectural history the Himalayas in the north to a tropical of India that also explains key religious and peninsula in the south, containing within political developments. The monuments it a dazzling mosaic of languages, dialects, have a wide geographical spread too, religions, castes, and customs. It is only from Buddhist funerary mounds in central natural that India’s great monuments paint India to temples in a south Indian port city a similarly diverse and a hilltop citadel and vibrant picture. in western India. Great Monuments of All are masterpieces, India is a selection encapsulating Red Fort of 11 sites that DeLHi Humayun’s tomb India’s rich legacy JAiPuR AGRA qutb Minar best capture – in Amber Fort taj Mahal to our shared Fatehpur sikri sandstone and BHoPAL global heritage. Khajuraho sanchi BHuBAnesHWAR Konark Ancient Mosque BenGALuRu At the Qutb complex in Hampi cHennAi Delhi, the pillared cloisters Mamallapuram of the late 12th century Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque are richly decorated with MAP KeY Hindu motifs such as tasselled ropes and bells. neARest citY 0044--0055__bbiinndduupp__IInnttrroo__11..iinndddd 55 67//2123//0099 64::0061::5345 PPMM Ancient India Milestones The history of Indian architecture begins with the earliest c .2500–1500 bce First urban cultures known civilization of the Indus Valley. Although archaeology flourish in the Indus Valley. records the existence of Neolithic communities, nomadic c.1500 bce Aryans arrive from hunters, and farmers in northern India from around 7,000 Central Asia. c.1500–600 bce The Vedic Age. bce, planned settlements and cities only become evident in c.570–475 bce The Age of the Buddha the cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro around 2500 bce. and Mahavira. This great civilization ended when c.327–325 bce Alexander the Great a nomadic warlike tribe, the invades northwest India. Aryans, migrated from Central c.320–180 bce The Mauryan empire. c.268–231 bce Ashoka’s reign. Asia to northern India and c.185 bce–250 ce Rule of the Sungas, settled down in the fertile Satavahanas, and Kushanas. plains of the river Ganges. c.52 ce St Thomas arrives in India. c.320–550 The Gupta empire. c.400–1200 The Pallavas, Chalukyas, First settlements and Cholas dominate peninsular India. c.800–1200 The Pratiharas, Chandellas, The first dwellings, developed and Chauhans rule northern India. as natural shelters for hunters c.998–1200 Mahmud Ghazni and and food gatherers, were made Muhammed Ghur invade northern India. of mud, wattle and daub, and c.1206–1526 The Mamluks, Khiljis, stone. Pit dwellings were dug Tughlaqs, and Lodis rule northern India. and covered with thatch, and c.1336–1518 The Vijayanagara and timber huts gradually emerged, Bahmani kingdoms rule southern India. along with clusters of circular 1469–1539 Guru Nanak founds houses, surrounded by mud Sikhism. fortifications. Evidence of these are regal bearded priest 1498 Vasco da Gama arrives in India. seen in parts of central and western This Indus Valley stone statuette is 1526 Babur establishes Mughal rule. India. Settlements in south India, believed to depict a priest-king; his 1556–1605 Akbar’s reign. in the present states of Karnataka trefoil-patterned robe indicates that he may have been a ruler. 1600 British East India Company starts and Tamil Nadu, developed later, trading in India. around 3000 bce. In the Indus Valley, advances in farming methods, 1674 Shivaji founds the Maratha crafts, and tool technology heralded the emergence of the first cities kingdom in western India. in India and the beginning of urban life. 1857 The first War of Independence. Indus Valley civilization 1858 The British Crown takes over India. 1920 Mahatma Gandhi starts the Non The “twin capitals” of the Indus Valley civilization covered nearly a Co-operation Movement. square mile each. Immense in size for their time, each city housed 1942 Quit India Movement launched. a population of over 30,000. Both were built on a grid-iron pattern of 1947 India attains Independence; streets running north-south and east-west, which divided each city into partition of India and Pakistan. a higher central citadel and lower residential blocks. Another hallmark of 1950 India becomes a republic. their town planning was an elaborate and efficient sanitation system: a 0066--0077--iinnttrroo..iinndddd 66 66/1/224/0/099 1 61::0279::1053 PAMM IMpRInTS of TIME  The Vedic Age common well shared by a group of houses, with individual bathing areas connected to drains that ran under the By the middle of the 1st millennium bce, the Aryans had streets and into large sewers and brick pits. migrated further eastwards and settled in the fertile Ganges In the citadel of Mohenjodaro was the Great Bath, plains. As they transformed into an agrarian society, they a ceremonial tank most probably used for ritual ablutions. began to adopt new customs, beliefs, and gods. Society was There was also a massive granary, and a vast hall, conjectured now divided into four classes, headed by Brahmins (priests), to be either a palace or place of worship. Terraced platforms followed by Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (traders), and contained cells for the priests, platforms for flour-making, Sudras (labourers). The Vedic religion enshrined a pantheon of and rooms for workers. In the residential section, a house was gods and its philosophy is contained in the four Vedas, which the basic unit, varying in size and storeys. Timber rafters were later became the foundation of Hinduism. They are also the used for the roofs, and bricks were the natural material for main sources of information about the Aryans. Two great epics, walls, using the rich soil provided by the river Indus. Each Mahabharata and Ramayana, were composed in this period, house had a central courtyard open to sky, a feature that and richly illustrate the religious and secular life of the time. is still common today. As rulers began policies of expansion, territorial states Archaeological evidence suggests that the Indus Valley and hereditary kingships replaced tribal chieftains. This led to people were a prosperous society. Their government may the emergence of several large kingdoms such as Magadha, have been a form of theocracy, consisting of a small priestly Kashi, and Koshala. Towns such as Ayodhya, Rajgriha, class headed by a priest-king or a council of high priests. Kaushambi, and Kashi became centres of trade and urban life. The cities had extensive trade contacts with the Middle East, Building activity largely followed the Indus Valley pattern, as evidenced by Indus Valley seals found in Sumeria though frequent rebuilding over older sites has destroyed (present-day Iraq). More than 3,000 Indus Valley many ancient settlements. Common features included baked inscriptions have been discovered, pointing to a highly bricks, open courtyards, a sewage system, evolved script, which has yet to be deciphered. This and planning on a grid-iron peaceful and advanced society was, however, vulnerable pattern – all documented to the recurring floods of the Indus and ill-protected from in the later Arthashastra, invasions. By 1500 bce, its cities had been sapped of their a political treatise of the vigour, making way for the Aryan invasion. 2nd century bce. well-planned city the ramayana Like Mohenjodaro, the streets of This scene shows Hanuman, Harappa were neatly laid out in the monkey god, bowing an orderly, grid-like pattern. before Lord Rama. 0066--0077--iinnttrroo..iinndddd 77 66/1/225/0/099 1 51::4229::0185 PAMM 8 IMpRINTS of TIME Buddhist and Jain Architecture In the 6th century , as class stratification intensified, resistance to the bce hegemony of the Brahmins led to the emergence of two great religious leaders. Siddhartha Gautama (c.550–468 ) renounced a princely life to seek bce alternative answers to the suffering of humankind, and founded Buddhism. Similarly, Vardhamana Mahavira (c.540–476 ) founded Jainism. The principles bce of equality and ahimsa (non-violence) formed the bedrock of both religions. Buddhist and Jain buildings was later enlarged and an The main features of Buddhist architecture derive from the elaborate stone vedika, or railing, practice of renunciation, dharma (propagation of the faith), replaced the original timber fence and reverence for the Buddha. The chaitya (sanctuary or place surrounding it. Its crowning glory of worship) was a natural development of the rock-cut cave was the four stone toranas, or which provided shelter to itinerant monks; the viharas (cells) gateways. Remains of buildings or monasteries were more permanent structures where monks have also been excavated at Yakshi This Didarganj Yakshi (a lived and studied (as seen at Nalanda and Vidisha, where wood and brick symbol of fertility) statue Sanchi); stone pillars were inscribed shrines, with timber domes and is at the Patna Museum. with edicts; and the semi-circular brick vaults, once existed. The 2nd mound, or stupa, enshrined the century bce temples at Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra are Buddha’s relics. The grandest of stunning examples of how rock-cut caves continued to these is the Great Stupa at Sanchi develop and became increasingly sophisticated in style. (see pp.22–43), constructed The Jains were mainly bankers and traders, and their during the reign of King temples (also evolved from rock-cut caves) were richly Ashoka (268–231 bce). This endowed. Brick was rarely used, but marble was popular, mahabodhi temple Constructed by Emperor Ashoka in Gaya, the temple is 55m (180.5ft) high. ashoka’s edicts This is a copy of a stone edict of King Ashoka. These edicts, carved on stone pillars, reflected Ashoka’s thoughts on morality, war, kingship, and religion. 0088--0099--mmaauurryyaann eemmppiirree..iinndddd 88 67/1/123/0/099 1 41::0219::4442 PAMM