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    The Vedic Age: What Are The Sources?

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    Sukhman Chawla
    The Vedic Age from 1500-800 BC saw the Aryans settle in small villages along riverbanks in northern India rather than large cities. They lived in simple timber and thatch huts arranged around courtyards, which later evolved into rectangular structures. Multiple hut clusters came together to form the basic Aryan village, protected by wooden palisades. These early village structures had a lasting influence on Indian architecture for thousands of years.

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    The Vedic Age: What Are The Sources?

    Uploaded by

    Sukhman Chawla
    2K views4 pages
    The Vedic Age from 1500-800 BC saw the Aryans settle in small villages along riverbanks in northern India rather than large cities. They lived in simple timber and thatch huts arranged around courtyards, which later evolved into rectangular structures. Multiple hut clusters came together to form the basic Aryan village, protected by wooden palisades. These early village structures had a lasting influence on Indian architecture for thousands of years.

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    History of architecture-Vedic times

    Original Title

    Lecture-7 Vedic Architecture

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    The Vedic Age from 1500-800 BC saw the Aryans settle in small villages along riverbanks in northern India rather than large cities. They lived in simple timber and thatch huts arranged around courtyards, which later evolved into rectangular structures. Multiple hut clusters came together to form the basic Aryan village, protected by wooden palisades. These early village structures had a lasting influence on Indian architecture for thousands of years.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    2K views4 pages

    The Vedic Age: What Are The Sources?

    Uploaded by

    Sukhman Chawla
    The Vedic Age from 1500-800 BC saw the Aryans settle in small villages along riverbanks in northern India rather than large cities. They lived in simple timber and thatch huts arranged around courtyards, which later evolved into rectangular structures. Multiple hut clusters came together to form the basic Aryan village, protected by wooden palisades. These early village structures had a lasting influence on Indian architecture for thousands of years.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    01-11-2017

    The Vedic culture End of II millennium

    The Vedic Age


    B.C. 1500 800 The Aryans did not settle into the well-planned cities of the
    Harappan culture.

    Preferred to clear forests around the riverbanks of the Gangetic


    plain and settle in small villages.

    Due to the inherent dislike of a pastoral people to settle in one


    place for very long, and thus their innate suspicion of any hint
    By: of permanence.
    Ar.Sukhman Chawla
    They preferred to stick with the tried and tested.

    what is the importance of this period?

    what are the sources?

    No architectural examples of this


    These ancient texts (Vedas) were
    period are surviving.
    composed by the Aryan seers and handed
    Early Aryan architectural forms were down through generations orally.
    translated into the architecture of India The great epics - the Mahabharata and the
    for thousands of years. Ramayana -picture village and town life
    during Aryavrata, or the Aryan age.
    The caves of Ajanta and Ellora, much
    Carvings on the Stupas at Barhut and
    of Buddhist architecture, were directly
    Sanchi - depict Aryan village life vividly.
    influenced by the simple village
    structures of the Aryan villages.

    The Aryan Village Coming to India

    The settlers gave up their totally


    Aryan invaders familiar with the use of timber and able to
    nomadic existence and became part-
    adapt their carpentry skills easily to wooden structures.
    agriculturalists
    Simpler and easier to maintain , or to rebuild in case of floods
    This provided the impetus to build
    and rains.
    villages, the basic unit of which was the
    Brick structures symbolic to the people whom they have
    hut
    conquered.
    For building material, the abundant
    The early Aryan village conglomerate of timber and thatch
    forest provided ample raw stock.
    huts of different types.

    1
    01-11-2017

    Aryans Residential unit

    Huts were of various shapes but The Aryan hut - basic shape - circular in plan - with a thatched

    predominantly had a circular plan roof over a bamboo network of ribs.

    Huts were of beehive pattern made of a Later elongated to become rectangular in plan, with roofing of
    circular wall pf banboos held together with bamboo - curved in the shape of a barrel.
    bands of withes and covered with either a
    domical roof of leaves or thatched with
    grass.

    The three stages of Vedic house

    The roof made in bent bamboos conical or domical shape, Some of the huts were arranged in groups of 2,3 or 4 around a
    made water tight with overlapping thatch or grass. square courtyard and the roofs were covered with planks of
    wood or tiles.
    Two or three groups of huts were arranged around open In the better class houses, unbaked bricks were used for walls .
    courtyard.

    A conglomerate of such units typical Aryan village

    Clusters of these huts(grama) formed a


    courtyard resembles huts in Indian For protection against wild
    villages even today. animals - a palisade fence of
    wood and bamboo
    The better-off citizens roofed them surrounded the whole
    with planks of wood or tiles, and used settlement.
    unbaked bricks for the walls This fence was made of
    upright posts(thabha) of
    bamboo with horizontal
    To maintain the barrel shape of the
    members(suchi) threaded into
    roof, a thong or string, perhaps of
    holes in posts.
    animal hide, was stretched across the
    end of the bamboo. Controlled entry cattle to
    pass to and fro of pasturage.

    2
    01-11-2017

    At one point, the fence was


    extended forward to form a City of Kasingara near
    sort of gate Gramadwara Magadha , in Bihar

    Huts in modern Orissa -one of the


    These forms - the barrel
    poorest Indian states - carrying
    vaulted roof, the tie-cord, and
    the palisade fence and railing, traces of this influence, with
    formed important motifs for symbolism dating back to Vedic
    future Indian Architecture. times.
    Eg:Torana archway.

    Material and Construction

    With the conversion of the early Vedic people into A palisade wall inevitably protected the cities and the
    buildings within made entirely of wood.
    agriculturalists, a growing rivalry for precious fertile land
    was inevitable.
    The Vedic carpenters developed skill in timber
    construction of a very high standard.
    Groups of small villages banded together, and small 'cities'
    began to take shape In later ages timber construction techniques were
    employed even though the material of construction was
    radically different - i.e. stone.

    Layout of ideal Vedic Village - Arthashastra

    The cities of the Vedic period -


    rectangular in plan. Divided into four
    quarters by two main thoroughfares citadel residential
    intersecting at right angles, each leading
    to a city gate.
    One of these quarters contained the merchants tradesmen
    citadel and another housed the residential
    area.
    A third quarter was reserved for the
    merchants, and the last for tradesmen
    who could display their wares.

    3
    01-11-2017

    End of Vedic Age.

    An ideal town was laid out as square with grid iron pattern.
    The main streets north south directions,remaining three
    east west directions.
    A number of the living cities of today are built over ancient
    sites.
    From these modest beginnings, early Hindu architecture
    gradually metamorphosed into the magnificent Buddhist
    stupas and the rock-cut caves at Ajanta.

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