History and Philosophy of Art and

Architecture

Neesaun Naveed
BARF08-20
Medieval India reveals a society rich and diverse in culture and
architecture.
Comment and compare it with medieval Europe.
 Chapter 1

Indian Subcontinent:
The Land of Many People

When we talk about the culture of the Subcontinent; the modern day Indo-Pak, we
see a community that is diverse; not only with regards to the religion, but also
with regards to the culture. We see, living together, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists,
Jains, Jews and Christians. We see them dwell together in peace and prosperity.
This tolerance for other religions and people did not develop over night. No. It
took thousands of years to get to this point. Let’s go back in history. Let’s have a
look at the origins of this diversity in culture, religion and architecture. Let’s see
where this tolerance comes from.

Indian Subcontinent, a place rich not only in minerals and spices (a very rare
specialty), but also having extremely fertile planes, also largest in the world. A
land where crops grow up to three or four times a year. This was a very peaceful
land. City planning was a more important factor for the people here, as compared
to building monuments. Cities like Gandhara, and Indus Valley, became centers of
education, agriculture and trade. Trade routes like the Silk route were developed,
increasing the interaction with the people of other areas; giving a rise to greater
understanding of technology, development in science art and architecture. The
peace and prosperity here, gave rise to religious scholars settling down here,
making these areas religious centers as well. Peace and tranquility. The people
were not much of warriors at all.

Taking advantage of this, invaders came to take away as much of the riches as
they could. However, they were surprised, the people were not fighting back as
such, in fact they were just letting them BE there peacefully. This was new!
Surprised, yet happy, the invaders slowly settled among them, giving rise to a rich
culture that was an amalgam of the best of both. This was just the beginning of
the most versatile community in the world.

Map 1 : Subcontinent in the ancient times

The above mentioned, is just ONE of the many reasons for the varied culture, is the
geographical diversity. Of all the places, subcontinent is the ONLY place in the world,
where we can find all sorts of terrain.

Map 2: Geographical detail of the Subcontinent

The drastic variation in the geographical conditions can be seen on this map
easily. This has an immense affect on not only the architecture, but also life style
and culture. Thus, the Medieval India reveals a society rich and diverse in culture
and architecture, that has taken so many decades to mature into this
amalgamation.
 Chapter 2

The medieval times:

An overall comparison

The world was going through a difficult time during the medieval ages.
Christianity had come, and was being adopted by the Kings and Leaders in 300’s.
The great king Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman
Empire. In 395 C.E., the Roman world was permanently divided.

Map3: The
division of
Byzantine
Empire.
The people were forced to follow one religion, the religion of the king…
Christianity. They were given little or no freedom to think for themselves, and
then speak their minds. Anyone who did so, was punished severely in the name of
God and Church.

This was the time, when religion and politics became one for Europe.

Everything became so integrated with Christianity, that there was no room for
tolerance. The pope wanted everyone to follow his religion. The years that
followed carried a lot of hardships for those onboard.

There was not much learning in this era, when it came to science and technology.
This era, in European history is described as;

‘a thousand years without a bath’

And by another scholar as the time during which;

‘Human consciousness lay dreaming or half-awake’

Not proud of their history during this time, this age is considered the age in the middle of
the old golden age of Roman Empire and the new golden age of Renaissance.

Another historian states that this time was;

‘One enormous hiccup in human progress’

All these people seem to have forgotten, that during this exact time period, on this very
globe, another area, was going thru the exact opposite phase. Yes, the people of Indian
Subcontinent were experiencing a Golden Age of sorts. It was the age of the Gupta
Empire.

The above statement is an example of the orientalist theory. They Europeans

believed that they were the best nation ever, and all the rest of the world
consisted of barbaric people, who did not have any education at all. They were
very uncivilized people.

How wrong they were.

Based in the capitol of Pataliputra, the Gupta Empire ruled over a rich and
prosperous Indian Subcontinent. The rule was a very tolerant one, where people
were not only given a chance to think what they wanted, but also their thoughts
were respected when spoken. There was a general respect for learning as well.
The people did not only learn from their masters in the monasteries, but also from
all that was around them.

Compared with Europe at that time, they were better at almost everything. Let’s
take things one by one in the following pages and study them in detail so they
make more sense.

Map 4; The Indian Subcontinent in the medieval

times
 Chapter 3

Society, religion
And Politics

Lets begin from one thing. The culture and the society of the people of medieval
times in Europe was a very interesting culture, since the early Middle Ages were a
time, when the great Roman Empire was coming to a final end. The common
people were 10-15% slaves, and the rulers were not too concerned with the
restoration of the public monuments built. Everything that was being built was
much smaller, much less grander than the earlier times. There was a dramatic
decrease in trade, because of the bandits, pirates and barbarians attacking the
trade caravans more and more frequently, because of which the industries like
large scale pottery making completely vanished. Especially the early 7th and 8th
centaury Muslim conquest were a point which made the Roman Empire very
weak, crumbling it to pieces.

Although the Church was the main unifying point

for the people of that time, it is also a noted fact,
that all the people who lived beyond the core
areas of the Western Europe, had scarce contact
with classic roman culture and Christianity.

Then, in 800’s came a power, Charles the Great or

Charlemagne. His reign filled the power vacuum
created since the 476. He was the person, who
assumed an imperial character, dealt with the
difficulties of medieval empire control. He made judicial and religious reforms, and
his court became the center of “cultural revival”. He realized that an increase in
literacy was the ONLY way for his people to survive.
 Map 5: the division of Europe during
Charlemagne’s time

The literacy rate increased, and specific importance was given to development in
Art and Architecture. He brought English monk Alcui to his courts, who brought
with him the classical latin education. A commentary on this subject says,

“The return of this Latin proficiency to the kingdom of the Franks

is regarded as an important step in the development of medieval Latin”
Work on architecture, and art
progressed quickly. Some examples
include the Carolingian Renaissance
chapel. It is a beautiful piece of art.
As long as he was alive, Charles the
Great fended his enemies off. However,
after his death in 840C.E, his empire
broke up very soon.
A lot of chaos followed, with countless
attacks and invasions. The empire, it
seemed, had been held together ONLY
by a single factor; Charlemagne.

Map 6: The breakup of the Charlemagne Empire.

After this, followed the crusades, when in 1095, Pope urban realized that the Holy
Land needed to be saved. He said at the counsel of Clermont;

"You have seen for a long time the great disorder in the world caused by these crimes. It is so bad
in some of your provinces, I am told, and you are so weak in the administration of justice, that one
can hardly go along the road by day or night without being attacked by robbers; and whether at
home or abroad one is in danger of being despoiled either by force or fraud. Therefore it is
necessary to reenact the truce, as it is commonly called, which was proclaimed a long time ago by
our holy fathers. I exhort and demand that you, each, try hard to have the truce kept in your
diocese. And if anyone shall be led by his cupidity or arrogance to break this truce, by the
authority of God and with the sanction of this council he shall be anathematized."

His words sent a wave of vigor in the hearts of all those who listened. And so, they
set about to do God’s work.

Map 7: the route taken by the crusaders towards the holy land.
What started out as a war against the
“infidels” soon became a massacre of
innocent civilians of the Christian
community, when Pope Innocent III did
not even go beyond Constantinople in
1198.
From a war to save the Holy Land, it
turned into a war to increase the
captured land. Christians fought
Christians. It became a battle for
survival.

A blog post by one named

“aegri_somnia”, says about the
crusades;

“This idea that Pope Urban II was just an

opportunist and wanted the Holy Land for all of Christendom is not so farfetched of an
idea. Urban II was presented with a really good opportunity to recapture the Holy Lands
when the Byzantine emperor Alexius I called for the church’s help. Seeing that the
church acted upon this opportunity is evidence that recapturing the Holy Land was on
the church's agenda. Why not expand Chritendom a little?”

Available at < http://historyportal.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html>

While Europe was going through this period of turmoil and instability; slowly
crumbling threatening to come down to nothing, the Indian Subcontinent did not
have any such problem. There were occasional invasions and revolts, but nothing
as drastically disturbing as the crusades.
In 320 C.E, the Gupta family came to rule in the Indian Subcontinent. Pataliputra
was their capitol, and they reigned all over the subcontinent.

Map 8: The
extent of the
Gupta Empire
The Gupta period, which lasted from 320 C.E. to 540
C.E., was the classical age of the Indian Subcontinent.
It was the time, when the basis of modern art,
architecture, literature and music were laid. It was a
time when the Indian Subcontinent flourished.
Education was common among the people, and
everyone was at peace. India was becoming a center
for the learned to come to and live.
The agrarian based economy, was flourishing with
every passing day. Crops were harvested up to three
and even four times a year. Trade was at the peak.
Indian Philosophers and thinkers were all over,
teaching, and more importantly, learning from
everything around them.
The most important side of the empire was the southern kingdom of Chola, which
got rich basically by trading pepper and cinnamon and other spices at their
seaports to Arab traders. All over the Indian Subcontinent, the RajaRaja(supreme
ruler) was given the highest regard. It was because even though the Indian
Subcontinent was broken down into four major castes, but EVERYONE was given
their due rights. They were all protected; before and after their death. The
RajaRaja was given the highest regard.
The administration was among the best, as the area was divided into Provinces
and then smaller divisions. These were all administered excellently. There were, of
course some problems, but these were mainly because of the lack of control over
territory too far beyond the control. Some of the states regained independence.
The caste system, one that was the backbone of the feudal system, was very
strong here in the Indian Subcontinent. Four castes, Brahmin, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas
and Shooderas, made up the whole community. Event the Shooderas (slaves)
were given their rights and were by law supposed to be protected by their owners.
But then, like everything else that ends; the Gupta period ended as well.
What followed was not a time of confusion and turmoil. No. In fact, unlike the
Europeans, the Indians quickly fell under a new rule. One after the other, the
Maukharis of Kanauj ; the Pushyabhutis of Thanesar and the Maitrakas of Valabhi
came to power, before the reign of Harsha’s in the Early Seventh Century. Harsha
came to the throne in 606 and ruled for 41 years. This was when Bana, wrote the
first of the major biographies in Sansikrat; the Harshacarita (“Deeds of Harsha”).

Then in the 8th century, the Rajputs came to power. They created the city of
Dhillika, modern day Delhi. During all this time, orthodox Brahmanism received
encouragement, especially from the royal families.

Then the last king of Rai dynasty (follower of Buddhism) was defeated by a
Brahman named Chach.
‘His son, Dahar (Dahir), faced Arab invasion in 708. A ship of maidens from Sri Lanka to al-Hajjaj
ibn Yusuf (governor of Iraq) was captured by the Meds (pirates) in the port-city of Debal (in vicinity
of modern Karachi). Al-Hajjaj demanded King Dahar of Sind to secure the release of maidens, but
King Dahar said that he has no authority over pirates. Thus a Land forces headed by Muhammad
ibn Qasim, captured the city of Debal. Its temple was partly demolished, its priests (Brahman or
Buddhist) were massacred. A mosque was constructed for four-thousand-man garrison.’

Finally, in 710 to 713, Arab forces conquered Nerun,

Brahmanabad, Alor and in the end, Multan. With these
arab invaders, came Muslim sufis. They were the
ones who not only settled in the places with the locals,
but also preached their religion in a way that the
people nmot only listend, but actually followed. Thus,
even now, a rich and diverse religion was being
followed. There are examples here, of such
religious tolerance, as such are not found in many
places.

For example, the people of an area, would pray to not

only the Hindu gods, but also come to pay their
respects to the Muslim sufis.

Basically, the Muslims who were aware of the wealth

of Indian Subcontinet, came at regular intervals to
raid the place.

It is a Psychological fact, that after so many years of

being ruled over, by one or another ruler, be it a raja
or a maharaja; the people of India were ready to be ruled
by anyone who came along.

The Muslim’s who came along, settled down, into the India. One historian has said,
“Neither of these two communities had a homogeneous culture and religion.”

Even then, the two communities settled down in an amalgamation of amazing

harmony. This was the glory of the Indian Subcontinent.
 Chapter 4

Art, Architecture
And religion

Art and Architecture is the most diverse subject of all. It requires a very vast
understanding of every aspect of them. It must be understood, that the art does
not only include the paintings and sculpture of that time, but also the
development in music, dance, poetry, literature, education and science to some
extent, and the impact of religion on them.
When we talk about a comparative analysis of the development in art and
architecture of the two regions; Europe and India, we can only touch upon the
vast things that come under this subject.
The temples of the Indian subcontinent had vast variations.
1. Nagara or Northern style.
2. Dravida or Southern style.
3. Vesera or Hybrid style.
The temples styles of the Indian Subcontinent
The vast differences in style can only be seen, and not described. Thus, the
images below.

Examples of the southern temple style; Dravaida.

SuryaTemple, Osian, Rajasthan

GhatesvaraTemple, Baroli
Examples of the southern style, Nagara.

Malegitti Sivalaya Temple, Badami

Rathas of Mahabalipuram
 The Indians had the most lavish temples, dedicated
not only to the Gods, but also to the kings and
Rajas. These temples had the most intricately
beautiful carvings on them; carvings of the statues
of gods, epic tales, and mostly biographies. There
were many dancing girls in every temple, who
would be there to
pray to the gods,
give them
homage. The
music and dance
developed a lot,
as the gods had
to be provided
with the best of
everything.
Constant
research was made to make it best of the best.

Scriptures like the Vedas, and the Kamasutra

were developed even further. It was a time
when all developed a lot.and all of this, was
under the influence of religion.

Then came the Muslims. They created the most beautiful mosques and temples
ever. The muslim art and architectural technologies were among the most
beautiful ones created.

The intricate patterns

were made on the
basis of Islamic
patterns.

This was, in short, an

era when all was going
very well for the Indian
subcontinent.
Another important aspect of Muslim art was the Calligraphy, done intricately on
Mosques and sufi Mizarz.
On the other hand, the reopens were also struggling with their religious
architecture. It was an era, which was divided between the simplified beauty of
the Romanesque architecture and the intricate detailing of Gothic Architecture.
Examples are countless. Stain glass was the

Example of a Romanesque church

The intricate detailing of a Gothic Church
Another kind of building that was being developed very quickly, were the Castles.
They were developed to save the people from the invaders.
 Chapter 5

Final
conclusion

The two nations we talk about are opposite of each other. It’s like the two
opposite sides of a balance, where the people of one civilization, are going
through turmoil, and the other is going through the golden age. Same has been
repeating in a cycle.

Only the difference is that the Europeans have covered up their tracks, giving
explanations for every wrong thing in their past, and described our past, with the
presentation of the Orientalist theory.

It is ironic, that a nation, once on its peak, is now in the lowest of its times, and
the other nation has gone up the path, and they have not only considered
themselves to be the best, but also made all the efforts of that nation futile by
presenting bogus theories like the Orientalist theory.
 The bibliography

Map1

http://www.ancientcoins.ca/gandhara/gandhara.htm

map2

http://www.asisbiz.com/images/India-Geographic-Map.jpg

map 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_map_450.PNG

map 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gupta.png

map5

http://homepages.udayton.edu/~schuerwc/Div._of_Carolingian_Empire_AD_843.jpg

map6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:843-870_Europe.jpg

map7

http://historyportal.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

map 8

http://www.freeindia.org/india_maps/historic_maps/images/map3_2.gif

Other internet sites.

http://www.medievalwall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Einhard-paintings-from-the-
early-medieval-illuminated-manuscript.jpg

http://www.archhis.com/bldg/images/04250001.jpg

Books
 1. Wheeler, Mortimer. ‘Roman Art and Architecture’. Singapore: Thames and
Hudson, 1964.

2. Hollister, Warren. C., Bennett, M. Judith. ‘Medieval Europe: A Short History’.

New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2002.

3. Burns, M. Edward., Ralph, L. Philip. ‘World Civilizations’. Karachi: Javed

Press, 1961.

4. Armstrong, Karen. ‘Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s
World’. New York: Anchor Books, 2001.

5. Armstrong, Karen. ‘Islam: A Short History’. London: Phoenix Press, 2002.

6. Hourani, Albert. ‘A History of the Arab Peoples’. London: Faber and Faber
Limited, 1991.
7. Tadgell, Christopher. ‘Islam: From Medina to the Magreb and From the
Indies to Istanbul’. New York: Routledge, 2008.

8. Thapar, Romila. ‘The Penguin History of ‘Early India’: From the Origins to AD
1300’. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2002.

9. Keay, John. ‘India: A History’. London: Harper Perennial, 2000.

10. Harle, J. C. ‘The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent’. London:
Yale University Press, 1994.

11. Armstrong, Karen. ‘A History of God: the 4000-year Quest of Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam’. Gramercy Books, 2004.