Thematic Area 1: New ways of looking at heritage Sub ... - Intbau

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a part of the Universe giving expression to the ideals of its own eternal beauty andunchanging law [1].Therefore, for any architecture to be perfect, it had to satisfy parameters such as astrologicalobservations, principles of eternal beauty, laws of nature etc. as defined in the texts of thatage. This could have been done only with detailed project planning and execution. Theexistence of ancient monuments can be taken as an indication of presence ofmultidisciplinary and multilateral knowledge [2] base of design and managerial skills. Thearchitect (sthapati) was the central figure in the entire scenario and with his team of assistantsthe work was executed. For any architectural project, perfection in all aspects was the mostsought after goal.Documenting and Understanding Ancient Indian ArchitectureOne of the early pioneers of Indology, and the founder of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengalwas Sir William Jones (1746-94) [3]. Archaeological and historical pursuits in India startedwith his efforts, who put together a group of antiquarians to form the Asiatick Society on 15 thJanuary 1784 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). The publication of a periodical journal named,Asiatic Researches was started in 1788, in the researches, surveys carried out by the societywere published to make the public aware of the antiquarian wealth of India [4].In the same decade, William Hodges, the first of the British professional landscape artists tovisit India, spent over three years in the country from 1780 to 1783 and painted amongstother subjects, the architectural heritage. [5] He published his reflections on the country'sarchitecture partly in the notes accompanying his series of aquatints, 'Select Views in India'(1785-88) and then more coherently in his 'Dissertation on the Prototypes of Architecture:Hindu, Moorish and Gothic of 1787'. This material was repeated and amplified in his volumeof memoirs, 'Travels in India' of 1793. In all his works, Hodges clearly perceived that Indianarchitecture had its own conventions, which were quite unknown to Europe. What his worklacked entirely was any reference to the Shilpa Shastras, the traditional and time-honouredtexts in which the local conventions relating to architecture were clearly explained [6]. TheArchaeological Survey of India has been involved in architectural surveys of monuments tilldate and has a very rich collection of architectural documentation [7].The research in this area can be classified into two categories, namely, Field work andTheoretical work. The above works can be classified as field work. In the theoretical researchfront, the first person who attempted to understand ancient Indian Architecture was Ram Raz[8] .Since 1812, Ram Raz collected ancient architectural treatises in Sanskrit and toiled todecipher their mysteries. The result was 'The Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus',posthumously published in London in 1834. Ram Raz's book was a path-breaking work in thefield of Hindu architecture. He was the first Indian scholar to study the principles of Hinduarchitecture as reflected in the ancient Hindu architectural treatises. His work was also quotedby Owen Jones [9] in chapter 13 ‘Hindoo Ornament’ of his book ‘Grammar of Ornament’.Another researcher in this area, Dr. P.K. Acharya [10], also selected the Manasara fortranslation and graphical transcription. His work is available in a number of volumes firstpublished from 1934 to 1946. The treatise ‘Samrangana Sutradhara’ was selected by Dr. D.N. Shukla [11] for his research on Indian architecture and published in 1960. TheMayamatam, another architectural text was translated by Dr. Bruno Dagens which was firstpublished in English in 1984 by I'Institut Francais d'Indologie, Pondicherry and BharatiaInstitute, New Delhi. The same work was then published in a bilingual edition in 1994 andcontains critically edited Sanskrit text which is an improvement over the earlier edition as itcontains explanatory footnotes, analytical table of contents and a comprehensive glossary[12].
Adam Hardy [13] researched the Temple Architecture of Karnata Dravida (NorthKarnataka). He has been interested in relationships between architectural history/ theory andpractice. He opines that architectural history may be approached through the eyes of adesigner, while architectural design can be informed by an understanding of principles andprocesses underlying traditional architectures. His work on temple architecture was publishedin 1995 [14]. A chronological listing of most of areas of research and researchers are given inTable 1. However, this list is not an all inclusive list of areas of research and researchers andtheir supporting organizations.Table 1 A Chronological List of Research in Indian Architecture and Allied areasS.No. Circa Work Persons1. 1780.. Architecture field work William Jones,and ArchaeologicalSurvey of India2. 1780.. Architecture field work through paintings William Hodges3. 1810.. Architectural theoretical work Ram Raz4. 1840.. History of Indian and Eastern Architecture James Fergusson5. 1890.. Architectural Documentation Bannister Fletcher6. 1905 Indian art, architecture, aesthetics Ananda Comarswamy7. 1920… Indian art, temple architecture Stella Kramrisch8. 1910.. The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India E.B.Havell9. 1930.. Sculpture analysis and theory Alice Boner10. 1930.. Architectural translation and graphics P K Acharya11. 1940.. Indian Architecture documentation Percy Brown12. 1960.. Hindu Architecture treatise translation and D N Shuklaresearch13. 1960.. Architectural theory and analysis Madhusudan A Dhaky14. 1970.. Indian culture Kapila Vatsyayan15. 1980.. Architectural translation of Sanskrit Text Bruno Dagens16. 1990.. Architectural documentation with labeling and Adam Hardyanalysis17. 1990.. Architectural documentation and analysis Pierre PichardMayamatamAs per Dr. Bruno Dagens, a prominent expert on the Mayamatam and who has edited andtranslated the book, the body of Sanskrit literature dealing with architecture and iconographyis voluminous, even scattered and insufficiently surveyed and it is matched by a vernacularliterature, more scattered and less known. In the extensive and widely disseminated range ofworks in this area, the Mayamatam occupies a fairly well defined place. It is a generaltreatise, a vāstusāstra, written in Sanskrit but originating from Dravidian India, mostprobably the Tamil area; it is part of the Saivite āgamic literature without the connectionbeing underlined by any pronounced sectarianism and its drafting must have been doneduring the Chola period, at the time when the architecture it describes had reached the peakof its maturity. It can thus be assigned a chronological bracket which goes from the early 9 thcentury to the late 12 th century [15].The Mayamatam published by the ‘Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts’ is in twovolumes with a total of 36 chapters and an appendix. Volume I has 22 chapters and theremaining are in volume II. It is a large text comprising of 3336 verses in all. The chapterscan be classified under areas of town planning, residential architecture, religious architecture,religious rituals, iconography, interior design, renovation work, vehicle design. The chapters
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