2017 JUNE VOLUME 82 ISSUE 05 100 AN APPEAL Dear Friends, It gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction to inform you that a long cherished desire of the members of the Institute of owning the IIA Head Office premises at Prospect Chambers Annexe, Fort, Mumbai of which we are the tenants for the last several decades has fructified. Friends, we have finally entered into an agreement to purchase, with the Owners of the premises for a price of Rs. 1.25 crores. Applicable Stamp Duty and other fees amounting to Rs.6.55 lakhs along with a token advance of Rs. 1 lakh has already been paid. I congratulate all the members of the Institute for this achievement in the Centenary Year of I.I.A. I also take liberty of appealing to all the Chapters/Centres/Sub-Centres and also individual members of the Institute to handsomely contribute to meet the requirement of the balance payment to be made to the Owners. “Wishing you all the Best once again”. With warm regards, Ar. Divya Kush President The Indian Institute of Architects VOL-82/ISSUE-05 JUNE 2017 04 Editorial - Ar. Anand Palaye 05 President’s Message - Ar. Divya Kush 07 Urban Transformation - A. K. Jain 11 Sustainability Through Climate Responsive Design For Housing - Prof. Parag Narkhede & Prof. Aparna Mhetras 17 Student Membership Form 18 Welcome New IIA Members 20 JIIA One Year Subscription Form 21 Pre-colonial and Post-colonial Elements in the Syrian Christian Churches of Kerala : Establishing the Plurality and Multi Religious Base of Syrian Christian Architecture in Kerala - Ar. Rakhi Mariam Johnson & Ar. Anjith Augustine 26 Five Year Plans' Imprint on the Master Planning Exercise for Cities - A Study of Delhi - Ar. Taiyaba Munawer 30 Appreciating the Indian Temple Architecture - An Indian Viewpoint - Ar. Ujjwala Khot & Dr. Ujwala Chakradeo ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2006. 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Ar Amogh Kumar Gupta - Jr Vice President Tel. : +91.22.22046972/22818491/22884805 Fax : +91.22.22832516 Email : iiapublication@gmail.com / iiaho1214@gmail.com Website : www.indianinstituteofarchitects.com Editor : Ar Divya Kush R.N.I. No.9469/57 Email : divyakush@yahoo.co.in Printer’s Email : fotocopy.ks@gmail.com Ar Sunil R. Degwekar - Hon Treasurer Ar C. R. Raju - Jt Hon Secretary Ar Lalichan Zacharias - Jt Hon Secretary Ar Anand Palaye - Chairman Publication Board & Executive Editor, JIIA APPRECIATING THE INDIAN TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE - AN INDIAN VIEWPOINT Appreciating the Indian Temple Architecture - An Indian Viewpoint Ar. Ujjwala Khot - Email : ujjwala.khot@gmail.com Ar. Ujjwala Khot - Palsuley, is working as Principal I/C, S. B. Patil College of Architecture and Design, Nigdi, Pune. She has completed her B. Arch from Smt. Manoramabai Mundle college of Architecture (2001) with Second rank in university and M. arch in Architectural Conservation from School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi (2003), is currently pursing Doctoral Research from Nagpur university. Her focus area is influences of Indian temple architecture in South East Asia. She has published & presented her work in this area at various National & International conferences. Dr. Ujwala Chakradeo - Email : uchakradeo@gmail.com Dr. Ujwala Chakradeo is professor and Principal of W.E.S. Smt. Manoramabai Mundle College of Architecture, Nagpur from over 20 years. She has been instrumental in starting M' Arch course in Architecture Education at Nagpur University. Understanding the 'process in designing' has always fascinated her. She has also conducted special lectures on heritage of India to architects of South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique and Swazi land. She has presented technical papers on architecture education and heritage at national and international forum. ABSTRACT : Indian temple is considered to be a synonym for Indian architecture worldwide. Most of the authors describe temples only with the physical form of the temple. During the 18th & 19th C, there was literature published to evaluate the architecture of these temples. The interpretation is very superficial; restricting the explanations only to the visible structure excluding any consideration of the philosophy/ science behind the construction of the temples. This method to describe and analyze the temples, is continued to be followed by majority of the scholars widely. The ignorance about the philosophies mentioned in the oriental literature is evident. This paper aims to establish a need to have an “Indian” view point to appreciate the temples holistically. Introduction : The temples like Brihadishwara in Tanjavure, Lingaraja temple in Bhubaneswar, Temples at Vrindawan, Vishvanath temple at Kas̅hi, Dwaraka, group of temples at Khajuraho are associated with the lives of people. It is evident that there was a reason beyond the specific form and structural manifestation of these temples. The structure of temple; though varied from region to region e.g. Nagara, Dravida, Vesara etc, had their roots in the various Shastra and Sciences; on the basis of which the rituals of the gods were performed, and hence based on this overall architectural form was derived. Fig 1. Kailasa Temple, Ellora Fig 2. Brihadishwara Temple, Tanjore Indian temple is considered to be a apex of Indian architecture, which is identified as a soul of Indian culture worldwide. Amongst all other architectural heritage of India; temples are one of the earliest form of architectural manifestation of Indian culture and are directly associated with the philosophy of Indian Culture. 30 www.indianinstituteofarchitects.com JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS JUNE 2017 APPRECIATING THE INDIAN TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE - AN INDIAN VIEWPOINT Fig 3. Lingaraja Temple, Bhubaneshwara Fig 4. Minakshi Temple, Madurai From 6th AD to 16th AD, it was also demonstrated in the other countries like Cambodia (Cambuja), Thailand (Shyam), Laos (Lav Desh), Bali and others parts of South East Asia also were under Indian influence. maintaining any documents. James Fergusson in his book History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, published in 1910, states - “The greatest difficulty that exist, in exciting an interest in Indian Antiquities arises from the fact that India has no history properly so called, before, the Muhammadan invasion in the 13th Century. The sequence of events, wars can be taken from Puranas, which is still not a historical document. Buddhist literature, gives account of the historical events, and these can be taken as a historical account. The temple construction was comprising the philosophy stated in the Purans, various Granthas and gradually developed for its spatial arrangement, structural forms and decorations. The sthapatis were trained to interrelate the Shastras with Prayoga, this traditional knowledge system was beyond the books and western means of documentation. Over a period of time, the link of the knowledge with its practical implementation is lost. Today, the Indian arts are studied in isolation with various perceptive keeping the focus on chronologies, styles etc. The major reason being the literature available is written and published by western authors during the British rule in India, with a complete ignorance towards the traditional knowledge system. Even today, basic understanding of the temples is perceived with a western perspective. For the holistic study of the temples, it is important to study these with the background of the traditional knowledge system & understand the metaphysical aspect which goes beyond the guidelines established by the western authors. This paper aims to emphasize a need for an “Indian” view point to appreciate the temples with a holistic method of understanding the Temple architecture. Western outlook for the temples : During the British era, there was a considerable amount of literature published to evaluate the temple architecture. Due to lack of knowledge of the Indian traditional sciences, these temples were interpreted in a very superficial manner restricting the explanations only to the visible structures ignoring the understanding of the Philosophy of the construction of the temples. This method was being followed by majority of the scholars to understand the temple architecture, which depends only on the visible parameters of a structure. Another major obstacle was lack of written information about the Indian History of the phase where there are no system of JUNE 2017 He further states that 'The south Indians had no aspirations, they had no history to which they could look back with pride, and their religion was an impure and degrading fetishism. It is impossible that anything very grand or imposing should come out of such a state of things.” He believed that – “The Dravidian temples are a fortuitous aggregation of the parts, arranged without plan, as accident dictated at the time of their errection, and without plans, no adequate idea could be conveyed to those who have not seen them”. The whole exercise of constructing temples was merely put up as a meaning less work done to exhibit flashiness as there was no other way to spend the money of the kings collected by the revenues out of farming. With this bias and limited understanding of the religion, it is evident the description of the temples would be restricted to only the physical form. James Fergusson had travelled extensively and documented the temples all across in the form of drawings and sketches, the only point of difference is the way the structures are perceived and observations are made. This book by James Fergusson was referred by succeeding historian for years together. The authors like Percy Brown in his book Indian Architecture (Buddhist & Hindu) do not deviate from the method of describing these temples but mentions the “spiritual” aspect of the Indian temples. He states that“The fundamental purpose of the building art was, to represent in concrete form the prevailing religious consciousness of the people. It is Mind materialized in terms of Rock, Brick or Stone”. JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS www.indianinstituteofarchitects.com 31 APPRECIATING THE INDIAN TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE - AN INDIAN VIEWPOINT During the same period, the historian E. B. Havell, in his bookThe History of Aryan Rule in India, from earliest times to the death of Akbar, believed that “It is important to show as accurately as possible the relationship between different schools of religious thoughts and their influence upon political ideas, for there can be no true history of India which separates politics from Religion.” He puts forward the aspect of “psychological” standpoint upon which the Aryan political system was based which influence the architectural activity in the region. All the above authors, apart from being ignorant about the meaning behind the temple, observed only the structural elements like columns, roofs/ Shikharas, podiums (pitha) and judged or evaluated the temples on the standards of Greek & Roman styles. The important aspect is that western scholars did not consider the oriental literature as an authentic source of information and the written documents are in scarcity due to various invasions in last 2000 years. So the available resources which they authenticate; are limited. Overview of Indian Philosophy of Temples : The philosophy of Indian art forms goes back to the Vedic period where all the principles were established through the Shashtra & Puranas. Temples were perceived as a visual representation of the cosmic power on earth. The God who inhibits this abode is said to be seated with his consort on the summit of the metaphysical mountain, surrounded by a circle of peaks in which the divine power descends in diminishing potency as it comes down gradually and takes his abode at the peak of the circle, appropriate to his direction and also relative importance in the hierarchy. This enables devotee to see the image of his devotion within his immediate reach. This metaphysical mountain is called the great Me̅ru - Maha̅me̅ru, which forms the basic concept of the temples. This is aptly demonstrated in the Brihadiswara temple, Tanjavur. As stated by Ra̅machandra Kaulaca̅ra̅, an 11th century Orrisan Architect “He, the creator (Viśhvakarma), lays out the plan of the universe according to measure and number. He is the prototype and the model of the temple builder, who also units in his single person, the architect, the priest, and the sculptor. This small universe (the temple) has to be situated with respect to the vaster universe, of which it forms a part. It has to fall into line with the position of the earth in relation to the course of sun and also the movements of the planets.” The Hindu philosophy revolves around the three important gods Brahma (The creator), Vishnu (The Savior) and Shiva (The destroyer). The Vishnu and Shiva being the savior and destroyer of the universe have varied forms. To understand the role of each of these it is important to understand the basic cosmological principles. The manifestation of this philosophy of Ka̅l can be seen in the Vishnu temple, the perfect example of which is Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia. The details of the temple can be drawn from the Purana, which help comprehending the transformation from Form (the ru̅pa) and the formless (the aru̅pa) and then beyond. As per the traditional sciences, there is an interrelationship of Shastra and Prayoga i.e. the oriental literature and the practical application. To facilitate the later, there were efforts to document the principles in various forms. Sutradharmandan has written various Grantha on the Shilpashatra. Prasadamanadan is the book which gives an overview of the construction of temples (Nagar Style). Fig 5. Diagram of 4 Yuga Cycle on Western Axis 32 www.indianinstituteofarchitects.com Fig 6. Angkor Wat Temple, Siem Reap, Cambodia JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS JUNE 2017 APPRECIATING THE INDIAN TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE - AN INDIAN VIEWPOINT Vastumandana, Vastushastra and Vastusaar are the books which give the construction of buildings. Devata Murti Prakaranam and Roopmandan are the books based on Sculptures in temples. Aparajitapruchha gives the Comparative methods of Principles and practice of the science of Vastu. Aayatatva gives the calculations of Aay (earning), Vyaya (spendings), Nakshatra (Planets), Tara (Stars), for the building construction. Comparison of western outlook and Indian view point : Example : Bruhadeshwara temple, Tanjavur : Temple constructed by Rajaraja Chola-I in AD 1010, who was guided by his guru –I̅śa̅na Si̅va Pan̩d̩ita, and it was executed by architect Rajaraja-perum-taccan. James Fergusson : describes the temple as an exception to the rule that the larger Dravidian Temples are arranged as accident dictated. The Shikhara mentioned as 'Pagoda' is commenced on a well-defined and stately plan. He explains the temple on the basis on plan which shows that the 'compound' has two courts, one a square originally devoted to the minor shrines and residences. The proportions of the temple, as he claims are extremely well, the distance between the gateway and the temple being broken by the shrine of the Bull Nandi which is sufficiently important for the purpose, but not so much as to interfere with the effect of the Great Vimana. The great temple is dedicated to the worship of Siva, as Brihadiswara, in the form of an enormous Linga, and everything in the inner courtyard belongs to the Sáiva Cult. He looked at the sub-shrines 'as a piece of decorative architecture'. The pillars are alternatively square and octagon, with the shafts attached on the two side faces and the whole very richly ornamented. Percy Brown : in his book Indian Architecture - Buddhist and Hindu, categorizes this temple as a Dravidian Style temple under Cholas. His point of reference to explain the temples built during Chola reign is Cathedrals. While talking about the Shikhara of Brihadishwara temple, which is 190 ft high, he states that - As a measure of its size the Vimana is equal in height to the central tower of Worcester Cathedral, but the temple as a whole is only one thirds the area of this Gothic example. Moving forward, he explains the “Axiallity” of the temple complex. The sculptures and motifs on the Shikhara are mentioned as the decorations and “architectural manipulations”. The façade of the temple consists of an assembly of admirable artistic elements, but not in every instance architecturally adequate. He even analyses the architectural texture, and aesthetical quality of the temple based on the horizontal lines maintained in the Shikhara and culminated with the rounded cupola at the summit. The shape of the Vimana is compared to the Pyramids and he mentions that it is for the convenience which conveys the impression of solid strength. From above two examples, it is evident, the temple is described with a focus on the plan form, elevational treatment and the decorative elements. Indian View Point : From the study done by R. Nagaswamy published in the bookBr̩hadi̅śvara Temple- Form and Meaning, the temple is a visual representation of cosmic power on earth. The Metaphysical mountain is called the great Me̅ru-Maha̅me̅ru, which forms the basic concept of the Brihadisvara temple of Tanjavur. All Fig 7. Plan of Brihadishwara Temple, Tanjore. Ref : Tranjavur Br̩hadiśv́ara, an Architectural Study, Pierre Pichard Fig 9. Brihadishwara Temple, Tanjavur Fig 8. Section of Brihadishwara Temple, Tanjore. Ref: Tranjavur Br̩hadíśvara, an Architectural Study by Pierre Pichard JUNE 2017 JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS www.indianinstituteofarchitects.com 33 APPRECIATING THE INDIAN TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE - AN INDIAN VIEWPOINT the literature mentioned in ancient Indian literature about Meru and its encircling peaks are incorporated in the physical temple by Rajaraja, the builder, in this temple which he called as Daks̩in̩a Me̅ru - Southern Meru. He consecrated two important metal images in this temple- “Maha̅me̅ru Vit̩ankar” and “Daks̩in̩a Me̅ru Vit̩ankar” as if emphasizing the concept. Me̅ru, a mythical mountain is said to be a golden mountain. True to its nature, Rajaraja covered the superstructure with gold that made this loftiest temple at that time. The images on the upper tiers with bows and arrows in their arms are the innumerable Rudras call Sata-Rudra, who are said to move in the upper spheres and represents the sun's rays, a representation unique to this temple. This temple also portrays the five forms of Pan̅ca Brahmans- Tatpurus̩a, Agho̅ra, Sadyo̅ja̅ta, Va̅made̅va ad I̅śa̅na, in individual sculptural forms. With four sides of the sanctum provided with openings and its height exactly double its width at the base, the tower fulfills all the requirements of the Me̅ru type of Temple architecture. Other manifestations of Siva are personified as A̅yudhapurus̩a as Dva̅rapa̅las. This temple locates for the first time in Indian History, 108 forms of nr̩tta kara̩nas which reflects the concept of cosmic space in which Śiva's Dance takes place. The dance sculptures strictly follows the sequence given in Bharata's Na̅t̩yasa ́ ̅stra. The subsidiary shrines are later additions to the temple by subsequent kings as per the rituals and traditions followed during the era. Conclusion : As stated by Kapila Vatsyayan, in Kalatatvakosa - the Indian Arts have been largely studied in isolation, with much emphasis being given to chronologies and stylistic analysis along Western Lines. Various historians, authors, scholars, anthropologists and other allied professionals have studied the temples with their individual perspectives, but independently. The questions of meaning and the interdependence between the arts and other disciplines have received relatively less attention. Literary and art-historical studies have rarely been combined, so as to do justice to both. Considering the complexity of the whole process of temple construction, it is significant to understand the process and the 'meaning' with which the temples were constructed. It is unfortunate that there is an ignorance to understand the traditional knowledge which created our most important temples not only in India but also in other parts of the world. Traditionally, the knowledge from Shastra was transferred to next generations having the intellect of understanding the complexity of these principles, creating a different league of Sthapatis. The link between the philosophy and practical application is missing due to which it is difficult to appreciate the temples holistically. 34 www.indianinstituteofarchitects.com There is scope to evolve a method of accessing the temples which is independent of guidelines established by the western authors. The efforts to develop an understanding of the metaphysical aspect needs a focus. The Indian way of appreciating the temples is to understand the Shastra and Pra̅yoga i.e. oriental literature and the Practical application. It is to organize the philosophy of temples, the art form, the iconography, the sculptures, spatial relationships, materials and even the way of manifestation with the help of existing structures and vast traditional literature. It is to imbibe an important aspect of Indian culture manifested in the architecture - Sarvam̩ Sarva̅tmakam – everything is related to whole. REFERENCES : i) R. Nagaswamy- Br̩hadi̅śvara temple- Form & Mearning ii) Fergusson James, History of Indian and eastern Architecture, published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. 1910, Page no: 351 iii) Ra̅machandra Kula̅ca̅ra, Śilpa Praka̅śa, trans. Alice Boner and Sadashiv Rath Sharma, London, Brill 1966 iv) Ujjwala Khot & Dr Ujwala Chakradeo, Research paper- 'Indian Architecture as an inspiration for Cambodia', published in the conference proceedings of National Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering, Technology & Architecture – NCETETA 2015, Vol-I, ISBN 978-81-920561-6-6 v) ibis vi) R. Nagaswamy, Br̩hadi̅śvara Temple- Form and Meaning, published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. 2010 BIBLIOGRAPHY : 1. Coedes, George (1968) The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. Honolulu: East-West Center Press. 2. A.P.Patnaik, Kalingan Link with Countries of South-East Asia, in: Orissa Review (hereafter OR), vol. XLVIII, no.9, (April) 1992, p.25 3. A.K.Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, New Delhi (Munshiram Manoharlal), 1972, p.157. 4. Fletcher, Sir. Banister. 1992. The History of Architecture. New Delhi: CBS Publishers and Distributors. 5. Temple architecture of Cholas, Madras, Authors' publishing home, 1948 by Pillai J.M. Samsundaram 6. Temples of South India Srinivasan K R National book trust, 1998, New Delhi 7. Temples of south India, India govetnment Inf & broad info of temples, 1960 8. Satish Grover, Buddhist and Hindu Architecture in India, CBS publishers & distributers pvt ltd, 2003 9. Eleanor Mannikka, Angkor Wat: Time, Space and Kingship, University of Hawai'i Press, 2000 10. Dr. Sharad Hebalkar, Krunvanto Vishvamaryam, New Delhi (Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sanshodhan Yojana), 2010 JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS JUNE 2017