Heritage

Religion

Art & Architecture

Cultural Heritage

Indian Art

Art & Architecture:-

The story of the Indian art begins with the Harappas culture. You have seen that the Harappas were great builders ,skilled in town planning. Their houses with the various facilities, the granaries, the Great bath, show how skilful and efficient the people were in construction. The terracotta and stone images the bronze figure of the dancing girl And the artistic seals reveal the exquisite workmanship of the artists.

Mauryan period:-

The next stage of Indian art begin with the great monuments of the mauryan age Some scholar trace these pillar to the influence of Persia. The most striking feature of this pillar is the finely carved capital with magnificent animal figure.we are all familiar with sarnath lion capital blem. Th Rampurva bull capital is one of the best specimens of animals sculpture. The polish and smoothness of these pillar are amazing.

Gandhara and mathura schools of art:-

The next important stage in the growth of art is the association with the name of Gandhara in the northwest. By this time the worship of the image of Buddha had become common. After the Greek invasions and during the period of the Kushanas, many artist from west Asia had settled down in the north -west of India. They were deeply influence by the Greco-Roman art. Mahayana Buddhism encouraged images worship. The Kushana kings, particularly kanishka, encouraged the gandhara artists to sulputure themes from Buddha Life and the jatakas . The distinctive school of art which grew here is called the Gandhara School of art. A large number of the images of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas were Produced.

Cave architecture:-

The development of the cave architecture is an important phase in the history Of the Indian architecture. More than a thousand caves from about the second century B.C. to tenth century A.D was excavated in different parts of India. Most of them are Buddhist; some are Hindu and Jain .Beautiful chaityas(worshipping hall),viharas(monasteries), mandapas, rathasand cave.Temples have been cut out of from rocks. The stability and permanence of rock attracted the patrons to encourage the building of enduring monuments and dedicate them for religious purposes. The rocks were turned into lovely shrines with pillared halls and living -rooms decorated with sculpture. This is an amazing evidence of the extraordinary skill and patience of the craftsman and mastery that they acquired over the head rock. The growing popularity of image worship in Mahayana Buddhism , Hinduism and Jainism Stimulated building activities. The caves temple of Ajanta, Elephanta,Ellora,the Mandapas, the Rathas of Mahabalipuram, the Kailasa temple of Ellora are some of the great Achievement of this period. The size of these monuments, the infinite variety of themes From Mahayanas Buddhism ,Hinduism and Jainism , the colossal images of the Buddha The magnificent panels depicting all aspects of life -these strick us when we visit the caves of Ajant ,Ellora and Elephanta. Some of the excellent sculptures in these caves Were executed under the patronage of the Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas.