B.Arch &NATA Lesson 2:- BUILDING OF ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE

Buildings of Architectural Importance

Introduction
The first knownd civilization of India is Indus-Valley Civilization. The two settlements of this
civilization Harappa and Mohenjodaro were famous for their town planning. But reveal a
culture in which building had no great artistic value. However, the finished quality of materials
used and stability of construction is astonishing. In both the cities, the buildings were
composed of burnt bricks. The size of which were on an average larger than the common size of
the bricks used today. They are led in mud-mortar, care being taken to break the joint wherever
necessary. The upper stories were composed largely of wood, the roofs were being flat and built
of stout beams covered with planking finished with a top dressing of beaten earth
" These buildings though built of materials in a manner in far advance of their time cannot aspire
to be the works of architecture. They represent a very practical form of building construction
Civilization entered into an era of timber construction. Cities of largely wooden
constr eion began to appear in various parts of the country and according to a Buddhist
commientator Dhhammapala, they are planned by an architect named Mahagovinda who is said
to hav
en responsible for the layout of several of the capitals of North India
Early Mauryan Dynasty
During the early Mauryan Dynasty a marked cultural progress is evident. The principal
contributions made by this school to Art and Architecture of the time were some six in numbers
They were as follows
(i) A series of edicts inscribed on rocks
(ii) Stupas
(iil) Monolithic Pillars
(iv) Monolithic accessories to shrines
(v) Remains of vast palace
(v) A group of rock cut chambers
Among these, the one that more directly affected the course of the art of building were the stupas
on account of their structural significance