On behalf of the members of the Institute for Oriental Study,
Thane, I extend my heartiest welcome to you all, to this seminar
on the subject " Sthapatya " in Ancient India being held under
the auspices of the Institute. We have been conducting seminars
for last sixteen years on different facets of the Indian culture.
This will be the twenty-fourth seminar. Today we are going to
have two special lectures and more than fifteen scholars from
different parts of the country are going to present their papers
in this seminar. I am sure these deliberations would throw light
on various dark corners of this subject and by the end of the
day we will be richer in knowledge.
Every
culture or civilization of the world has its own history especially
related to the " architecture ". Here we may ask a question,
what do we mean by architecture? If we see only the dictionary
meaning, it means the art and science of designing and constructing
buildings. This may lead us to believe that this is the history
of bricks and mortar or the evolution of design, etc. However
this is not true. By and large human needs like protection,
shelter and many basic functions of the society are the same
the world over. In spite of this, we do not see similar or identical
structures everywhere. Not only do they differ in design but
they also differ in many respects in their expression as seen
in their art. It would be worth while to see the definition
of the Art of Architecture given by Encyclopaedia Britannica,
[1]
Architecture
is the art and the technique of building, employed to fulfil
the practical and expressive requirements of civilized people.
Almost every settled society that possesses the techniques for
building produces architecture. It is necessary in all but the
simplest cultures; without it, man is confined to a primitive
struggle with the elements; with it, he has not only a defense
against the natural environment but also the benefits of a human
environment, a prerequisite for and a symbol of the development
of civilized institutions.
This
definition is more restricted and confined to the ability of
the society or the civilization to construct shelter for protection
and also speaks of symbol of development from primitive to civilized
institutions. By and large human beings do not stay in isolation
but they form settlements. These buildings built by him for
any purpose, become the part of this settlement. So these structures
also do not remain in isolation, but are related to and dependent,
for the fulfillment of their functions and for longer survival,
on the environment in which they are built. Any disharmony,
incompatibility or disrespect to the environmental resources
to build these structures may lead to undesirable effects on
the environment and the settlement. So art or architecture does
not mean only building the shelter but it also speaks of philosophy,
ethical, moral and cultural values and the religious beliefs
of the society in which it is created. In the year 1996 (3rd
to 14th June) United Nations had a conference on Human Settlements
(habitat II) in Istanbul, Turkey. The preamble of the conference
is more inclusive. The preamble says, [2]
1.Human
beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development.
They are entitled to enjoy the benefits of human settlements
for a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature and
in harmony with shared spiritual and moral values and ethical
considerations. Without these values and considerations that
imply justice, peace, love and compassion, a human being cannot
live in harmony with others.
5.Throughout
history, cities, towns and urban areas have served as centres
of culture and civilization, facilitating the evolution of knowledge,
fine arts, as well as industry and commerce. [At their best
these areas play a primary role in the transformation and growth
of the economy, in the division of labor, in social, cultural
and political evolution, beginning from traditional societies,
and in opening up to the modern world ]. At their worst, they
perpetuate social exclusion and internal disorganization. Many
cities are no longer efficient places for commerce and employment
and harbor detrimental patterns of production, consumption and
mobility. These are symptoms of mismanagement, lack of resources
and failure to adapt to new social, cultural and economic realities
in a changing world. On the other hand, enhanced communication
increased trade and capital flows and technological developments
offer new opportunities for cities, not least in developing
countries, to provide the framework for accelerated and ecologically
sustainable industrialization. Thus, cities can be the engines
for sustained economic growth and sustainable development and
can be part of the world economy. However, if present urban
problems are not solved, they will become obstacles to stability,
well being and the attainment of sustainable development. Urban
areas must continue to fulfil their vital roles in order to
nourish and sustain socio-economic development, culture and
civilization. Therefore, deliberate and concerted efforts are
required by all women and men, civil society, Governments at
all levels and the world community to overcome the growing,
serious problems of social exclusion and the rapid degradation
and disorganization of cities. [The establishment of appropriate
management machinery and the allocation of adequate resources
are also necessary].
The
draft of the preamble is definitely shows concern about the
present situation of our urban centers specially it's disrespect
to the environment. It also warns of degradation and disorganization
of cities. If the visible part of architecture is to build houses,
the invisible part of this art is to see how it respects the
philosophy of the culture and the environment in which it exists.
As seen earlier the requirements of human settlement are many.
Apart from places of worship, society needs proper town planning,
roads, schools and colleges, administrative buildings, water
reservoirs, markets, hospitals etc, etc. To construct these
structures we need timber, iron and many more things. So history
of architecture should also include history of other industries
required for construction of buildings of various nature. Unfortunately,
today in India, history of architecture means history of temple
buildings and sculpture. Many temples in India are gigantic
and massive. It is obvious that it could not have been possible
to construct these temples without the aid of tools, instruments
and engineering devices. However we see archaeologist and historians
in the previous century were more busy in searching the western
influence on Indian art and architecture rather than looking
for indigenous science and technology responsible for these
structures. We have well recorded travelers accounts and internal
and external evidences to show that agriculture [3],
textiles, logic, mathematics, astronomy, grammar, well developed
medicine and health care system, in short all systems that a
civilized society needs, were developed and they existed at
least for more than two thousand years. Why then the historians
of last century and many even today did not look for possibilities
of development of science and technologies rooted and develop
indigenously? It would be worthwhile exercise to find out the
reasons for this mentality, which are preventing us from understanding
the creative and functional aspects of our ancient Architecture,
culture and civilization. [4]
The
" Indology " as we know it today and the Sanskrit studies were
started in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Almost
all earlier Orientalists were Western and howsoever devotion
and sincerity they had, it was very difficult for them to digest
or rather accept that a non-western civilization can have well
developed science and technology of its own. James Mill's views
on Indian civilization are well known. In one of his dispatch
of February 1824, his views on Indian science are, [5]
With
respect to the sciences it is worse than a waste of time to
employ persons either to teach or to learn them in the state
in which they are found in the Oriental books…to establish seminaries
for the purpose of teaching mere Hindoo, or mere Mohomedan literature,
you bound yourselves to teach a great deal of what was frivolous,
not a little of what was purely mischievous and a small remainder
indeed in which utility was in any way concerned.
Lord
Macaulay father of English education in India was of the opinion,
[6]
….
when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems which,by
universal confession, wherever they differ from those of Europe
differ for the worse, and whether, when we can patronize sound
philosophy and true history, we shall countenance, at the public
expense, medical doctrines which would disgrace an English farrier,
astronomy which would move laughter in girls at an English boarding
school….geography made of treacle and seas of butter…. We are
a board for the wasting the public money, for printing books
which are of less value than the paper on which they are printed
was while it was blank-- for giving artificial encouragement
to absurd history, absurd metaphysics, absurd physics.
Charles
Grant and Wilberforce expressed similar views about Indian Science
and civilization about forty years before. These and such opinions
shaped the direction of education in India and the mindset of
contemporary Englishmen who made their careers as historians,
archaeologists or Sanskritists in India during nineteenth and
early twentieth century. Prinsep, Cunninham, Fergusson and Havell
are founding fathers of Indian archaeology and history of architecture.
Their opinions and conclusions are treated as gospel truths
by succeeding generations of Indologists. James Furgusson arrived
in India in 1820 and started indigo business at Calcutta and
left for England within ten years. Cunningham arrived in India
in 1833 at the age of twenty. Their knowledge and views about
India relied on James Mill's History of India (The History of
British India Vols. 1 and 2, 1840, London: James Madden and
Company.), which was, required reading for all English men who
were to serve in India. Mills never visited India and knew no
Indian languages. India was a second-rate civilization incapable
of evolving any art, architecture, sculpture or sciences equal
to those in the West. Obviously any remarkable construction
just could not have been original Indian creation but had to
reflect western i.e. Greek, Roman or Persian influence. The
finding and conclusions of these archaeologists and art historians
further strengthened Deindianization and westernisation of Indians,
started by Macaulay. About forty years later in 1875 Sir Richard
Temple while writing to the then British Viceroy Northbrook
observed, [7]
No
doubt the alumni of our schools and colleges do become as a
class discontented. But this arises partly from our higher education
being too much in the direction of law, public administration,
and prose literature, where they may possibly imagine, however
erroneously, that they may approach to competition with us.
But we shall do more and more to direct their thoughts towards
practical sciences, where they must inevitably feel their utter
inferiority to us.
Once
this goal of denigrating India was set, any theory howsoever
absurd could be put forth to justify Western influence. Fergusson
proposed a classification of Indian architectural styles on
racial basis and called them Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Pathan,
Moghul and Rajput. Even Buddhist and Jain were to him racial
groupings and not only religious. This led him to believe that
the people of south India were devoid of noble feelings and
their intellectual status was mediocre This further led him
to believe that nine out of ten south Indian temples are a fortuitous
aggregation of parts, arranged without plan, by sheer accident!
Fegusson contrasted the Halebid temple with the Parthenon. He
acknowledged that all the pillars of Parthenon were identical,
while no two facets of the Halebid temple were the same. However
to him the Parthenon was a product of the intellect, and though
the Halebid temple was a portrayal of human faith and feeling,
lacked intellect.
Cultural
and social engineering started by Macaulay and the success it
obtained have no parallels in the world history. John Keay the
author of the book India Discovered writes, [8]
This,
however, was not quite the same thing as taking Indian architecture
at its Indian value. For Fergusson, as for Macaulay, Hinduism
was still " the most monstrous superstition the world has ever
known". He made no attempt to master the symbolism and iconography
of Hindu temples, and took his stand simply on what he regarded
as the universal values of architecture. This dispassionate
outlook eased the business of classification and his three temple
styles (Dravidian, Chalukyan and Indo-Aryan), though much subdivided,
are still accepted today. But one can understand how irritating
such pontifications must have been to Alexander Cunningham,
whose scholarly bent precluded all aesthetic judgements. Havell,
too, rightly insisted that Fergusson's "true styles of architecture",
"true principles' and ''universal values'' were nothing of the
sort. They were just a rationalization of his European outlook.
This
intoxication of " European superiority " complex just denied
any creativity to the native civilization. Missionaries whose
only goal was to spread Christianity at any cost strengthen
this premise. So natives were left only with their superstition,
primitiveness and backwardness in all walks of their life. However
the ground reality was different and the Englishmen working
in India for any purpose, was seeing magnificent temples, arts
and crafts and every system, which a civilized society needs.
As ability for its creation was not to be attributed to the
native civilization the only choice or explanation left was
to either advance absurd racial theories or outside i.e. western
influence theories. Your eyes cannot see what your mind cannot
think. Temples were the part of the human settlements i.e. habitat
and were not isolated entities. Their creation had some societal
function, needed various materials, sciences and skilled artisans.
Cunningham and Fergusson's accounts have excellent details of
height, lengths and breadth of column and beams of temples but
fail to muster see or appreciate the throbbing society behind
this creation. The ample proof of this was available in the
literature and other activities of the society, which it had
left behind, and was available for examination even at that
time. We can examine some of them here.
Never
was the concept of vaastu restricted only to the temple construction.
It included all construction activity needed for the functioning
of any civilized society. Town planning, construction of roads
and dams, hospitals, stadiums, gardens and parks is the subject
matter of many shilpa texts. It also included metallurgy and
mining. Traditionally shilpa shastra typically included 32 vidyas
and 64 kalas. Even if one goes through the names of these kalas
and vidyas you get the idea of its extensive coverage of human
activity. The word vaastu is derived from the root vas i. e.
to inhabit. The definition of vaastu and the qualities required
by sthapati given in the shilp samhitas, is very interesting.
According to Mayamata, vaastu means, [9]
A
vaastu is a place where anybody, immortal or mortal, could live.
The God Divine is all pervading, hence any object is called
vastu. Houses, palaces, cloths, pots and pans are all vastu.
Houses and palaces contain many vastus and are also built of
them. They are made of vastu, they are related to vastu and
hence the ancients have called them vaastu. In short, a house,
palace, town and a city are called vaastu.
According
to Bhrugu Samhita, shilpa means, [10]
Fabrication
of objects of many kinds, different type of machines, their
designs, i. e. mechanical engineering, metallurgy as well as
different appliances and construction of all kinds of residential
buildings are included in the science of shilpa.
All
Bhrugu, Kashyap and Mayamata give the essential characters of
an engineer (sthapati). According to Mayamata Ch.5, [11]
An
engineer should have knowledge of all branches of engineering
and capable of laying foundation of any project. He should have
adequate ability, not more or less. He should be compassionate
and kind hearted; he should neither hate nor be jealous of any
body. He should be always alert and creative. He should be expert
in mathematics, history. He should be truthful and having control
over his senses. He should know the art of drafting and drawing,
and also topography and meteorology of the land and the country.
He should be a good employer and should not be covetous. He
should be healthy, avoid committing mistakes and also not afflicted
by seven bad habits.
I
think this definition should be valid even today. Only I do
not know how many would qualify the test?
Another
vaastu text Shilpsamhita also gives us the detailed information
of areas and activity shilpa shastra typically covered. The
concept of town planning was well developed as can be seen in
the passage of Shilpa Samhita. [12]
According
to this text the planner had to take into consideration various
vocations of the society. He had to select appropriate, suitable,
safe and productive land for the development of the city or
town. Detailed consideration was given for the construction
of houses of kings, learned people, warrior class, merchants,
traders and business people as well as service class. Outlets
for agriculture, for industries of various craftsmen and bazaars
for fishermen and butchers were provided. Town planning also
included recreation and amusement parks, play grounds and stadiums,
gardens and creeper clusters, art galleries and pleasure pavilions,
water reservoirs and wooden play hills. Royal palace complex
had mansions for preceptor, army chief, prognosticator and ministers.
Location for temples of different Gods, inside as well as outside
the town was provided. The most important aspect of town planning
was the road, lanes and squares, which divided the city. Last
but not the least, the provision for the prostitutes was also
made.
We
have many literary, archaeological and epigraphical evidences,
to confirm these statements.
Bharata's
Natyashastra is at least two thousand years old. He has not
only given the information regarding construction of stage or
theater but his overall dimensions of a theatre are based on
the theory of acoustics. Bharata has specifically mentioned
that the length of the theatre should not be more than 30 meters
as otherwise echo effect would be operational and the audience
can not hear the oration of actors properly. (2.19)
He
further states that, if the length of theatre is more than 30
meters then the men sitting in the last row of the auditorium
cannot see the expressions on the face of the actors. Thus maximum
length of the theatre is restricted to 30 meters for the above
two reasons. (2.18)
Bharata
specifically mentions that theatre should have height as if
it is the two storied building.
Increasing
the height of the theatre also helps hear the oration of actors
clearly. He advises that the roof of the theatre should be like
that of a cave.
In
order that there is a very mild breeze in the theatre all windows
should be provided with grills and shutters. This ensures that
the words spoken by the actors reach the audience without any
obstruction. (2.80-81) Natyashastra of Bharata. [13]
Construction
of dams and water management also exhibits excellent skills
Following
are the principles used by the irrigation engineers at the medieval
period, i.e. before 1000 AD, [14]
A
weir has flat slopes on the upstream and the downstream side.
A vertical wall is not favored. The flat upstream slope help
the silt in floodwaters to pass over the weir, the life of dam
is thus not reduced because of silting of reservoir. In south
India, there are many dams, which are functioning even after
one thousand years.
A
weir has to be constructed on solid rocks. It may be zigzag
in its alignment. This precaution has two effects, one the length
of weir increases, increasing its capacity of water flow. Another
advantage is that the weir never fails by piping.
Grand
anicut near Thanjavur is the best example. British engineers
were very much impressed by the engineering professionalism
with which it was built and also its long service life. British
engineers constructed an anicut across the river Cauvery, imitating
the construction of the grand anicut. But after constructing
the new weir at the time of very first reservoir filling the
weir failed because of piping.
A
large number of reservoirs were built on the tributaries and
nallas of a river. In a distance of 10 to 15 kms, there are
33 reservoirs across river Suruliyar in Tamilnadu. The reservoirs
are inter connected. The river in flood feeds its floodwater
to these reservoirs. Thus number of small weirs help augment
floodwater and the destructive effect of flood is controlled.
Thus the system of many small reservoirs helps control flooding
also.
The
Ery system of south India [15] is an
excellent example of simplicity and efficiency achieved by traditional
engineering skills. According to one estimate there are 2 lakh
Erys in India which receive about 1000 mm or less rainfall which
provides irrigation to about 5 million hectares. Ery is not
water tank. Tank usually is a dug out reservoir, which has steps
on all sides reaching down to the water. An Ery is a reservoir
of water contained behind earthen bunds or embankments. Inspite
of its usefulness in irrigation proved for centuries, the modern
intellegentia feels this technology is backward and primitive.
Bav
in Gujarat is also an excellent example of traditional constructional
skills.
We
have many literary evidences for hospital and Sport Pavilions.
Now we have inscriptional evidence from Kakatiya period to show
that general and maternity hospitals were maintain by the State
for the benefit of the public. [16]
In a recently held excavation at Nagarjunakonda an arena was
unearthed. [17]
Kautiliya
Arthashastra is full of engineering and technological references
related to Building Construction, Transportation and Communication
engineering, Town Planning and Irrigation Engineering. [18]
Superior
quality of Steel produced in ancient and medieval India and
simplicity of its production technology is unmatched in the
history of science in the World. Dr Helenus Scott sent samples
of Indian steel to Sir J. Banks, President of the British Royal
Society with the following note, [19]
I
enclose in one of the boxes a specimen of a kind of steel which
is called wootz and is in high esteem among the Indians. It
appears to admit of a harder temper than anything we are acquainted
with. I should be happy to have your opinion of its quality
and composition. It is employed here for covering that part
of gun locks which the flint strikes, for cutting iron on a
lethe, for chissels for cutting stone, for files and saws and
for every purpose where excessive hardness is necessary.
The
opinion expressed was " excellently adopted for the purpose
of fine cutlery, and particularly for all edge instruments used
for surgical purposes."
The
sample was sent to England in 1794 at least four decades earlier
when Macaulay was commenting on Indian Science as utter absurdity
and Cunningham and Fergusson had started expressing their views
on Indian architecture.
Indian
architectural history needs a through revision. I hope this
seminar will be a step in that direction.
Dhanyavad.
Dr. Vijay V. Bedekar
