Architecture in India (History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, Vol. VI, Part 2)

The volumes of the PROJECT ON THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE IN INDIAN CIVILIZATION aim at discovering the main aspects of India’s heritage and present them in an interrelated way. In spite of their unitary look, these volumes recognize the difference between the areas of material civilization and those of ideational culture. The project is not being executed by a single group of thinkers and writers who are methodologically uniform or ideologically identical in their commitments. The Project is marked by what may be called ‘methodological pluralism”. Inspite of its primarily historical character, this project, both in its conceptualization and execution, has been shaped by scholars drawn from different disciplines. It is for the first time that an endeavour of such a unique and comprehensive character has been undertaken to study critically a major world civilization like India. In this volume an attempt is made to present a panoramic view of the development of art and architecture during the early and the medieval periods of Indian history in the whole country from Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the South, from Maharashtra in the west to Bengal in the east. Altogether there are sixteen research papers which have given authentic accounts about the material, technique, style and idiom of the prominent religious and secular architectural structures, sculptures and other historical monuments constructed at different times under the patronage of various rulers of great kingdoms.