12_Building, Painting and Books SOCIAL SCIENCE/HISTORY/CLASS-VI BUILDING, PAINTING 12 AND BOOKS INDIAN ARCHITECTURE Harappan civilisation show excellent town planning. The most spectacular buildings are the Great Bath and the Great Granary. PROGRESS MADE IN THE FIELD OF ARCHITECTURE SCULPTURE AND PAINTINGS Find Arts and Architecture : Ancient India had achieved wonderful heights in the fields of fine arts, viz. architecture, sculpture, painting, jewellery, metallurgy, stone and metal polishing, and engineering. In the field of architecture the Public Bath of Mohen-jo-Daro, Buddhist temples at Gaya, the Stupas at Sanchi and Bharhut, the Gupta temples at Deograh and Bhitrigaon, the Lingaraja Temple at Bhubaneswar, the Tejpal Temple at Mount Abu, the Mahadeva Temple at Khajuraho, Vishnu Temple at Badami and the Shiva Temple at Tanjore deserve special mention. The Khajuraho temples were built by the Chandela Rajput rulers. The Cholas were also great builders. They built many beautiful temples. Their best known temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjore (in Tamil Nadu), dedicated to Lord Shiva. PAGE# 53 12_Building, Painting and Books SOCIAL SCIENCE/HISTORY/CLASS-VI This is the biggest and most perfectly built temple of South India. It is known for its spacious courtyard and massive tower. Its tower rises to a height of 57 metres (190 feet) like a pyramid in 13 successive storeys. This temple, especially its tower, is the finest example of the Dravidian art. The tower-like structure is called Vimana. The idea of constructing a Copuram or a fine gateway to the enclosed walls of the temple was first conceived by the Chola kings. In the field of sculpture and stone-carving, we have the Indus seals and toys, the Ashokan pillars at Sanchi, Sarnath, Lauria Nandangarh, Rampura, etc., stone-images made during the Gupta and the Rajput periods, several other pieces of sculpture made in the Gandhara style and the images carved in stone at the Ajanta and the Ellora caves. AJANTA AND ELLORA CAVES The Ajanta Caves situated in Maharashtra are among the most famous Buddhist caves in India. They are a World Heritage Site4. They date back to the 2nd century BCE. There are 29 caves in all of which only a few are chaitya grihas (stupa monument halls). The others are viharas (monasteries) where Buddhist monk lived. All these rock-cut caves exhibit excellent architectural skills and are exquisitely carved. The caves also have paintings and sculptures which are masterpieces of art made by skilled craftsmen. They depict scenes from the Buddha's life, his previous births and the Jataka tales. Beautiful paintings called murals adorn the walls ceilings and pillars of the Ajanta Caves. The technique of painting is known as frescoes. A thick layer of mud mixed with vegetable material was applied on the rock surface. This was covered by a thick layer of plaster. This formed the base surface of the painting. The painting was done with the help of pigments mixed with a gum. Brushes were made of animal hair. These frescoes also depict many scenes from the everyday life in cities and villages. Of the Buddhist caves, the Carpenter's hut or Vishwakarma Cave is the most famous. It has a 15 ft statue of the Buddha sitting in a preaching posture. Rock-cut caves are also found in Odisha near Bhubaneswar. These are the Khandagiri Caves built in the 1st century BC. There are 33 caves of which 18 are in Udayagiri and 15 are in Khandagiri. These awesome caves were built during the reign of King Charvela. PAGE# 54 12_Building, Painting and Books SOCIAL SCIENCE/HISTORY/CLASS-VI Of the Udayagiri Caves, Rani Gumpha is the most famous. The wall carvings depict scenes from the royal courts. The Hathi Gumpha Cave is important because it has a 17 line inscription in Brahmi script which is a valuable source of information about king Kharvela. Apart from these rock-cut temples many stone temples were also built in India. An outstanding example is the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram. It was constructed in the 7th century BE during the rule of King Narasirnhavam II. It is a five-storeyed structure made of blocks of granite. It is not carved out of rock unlike the temples we have read about earlier. It is an excellent example of Pallava architecture. The spire of the temple is not rounded. It has pyramidical tiered spires. It is dedicated to both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. The ratha (chariot) temples at Mahabalipuram are monolithic temples carved out of granite rocks. These five temples have multi-pillared halls and sculptured walls. The Vishnu temple at Deogarh was built during 'the Gupta period in the 5th century BC. It is one of the earliest examples of stone temples in India. There are many sculptured panels showing the myths and tales related to Lord Vishnu. The Iron Pillar at Mehrauli This iron pillar is about 22 ft high and weighs 6 tons. It is said to have been built at the time of Chandragupta Vikramaditya. It has not rusted even after 1,600 years. The pillar has a Sanskrit inscription in Brahmi script and gives information about a King Chandra who has been identified as Chandragupta Vikramaditya. LITERARY WORKS The great epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana were both written in Sanskrit by Ved Vyasa and Valmiki respectively. They have timeless moral teachings. The Ramayana was passed down by oral tradition before it was written down. The exact time of its writing is not known. It is the story of King Rama and his queen Sita. The Mahabharata is a collection of more than 74,000 verses divided into 18 books. It tells us the story of the Pandavas and their victory over their evil cousins, the Kauravas. It also contains the Bhagavad Gita which is a conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna on the battle field. This epic unfold some great moral truths. THE PURANAS There are 18 Puranas. They contain myths and stories of gods and goddesses, cosmology and spiritual philosophy. Initially, they were passed on as oral tradition and written down much later. Some of the important ones are the Vishnu Purana and the Shiv Purana. The Puranas serve as guide books for life. They have many interesting stories WORKS OF KALIDASA Kalidasa wrote many poems in Sanskrit. Two of his lyric poems are Meghaduta and Ritusamhara. Meghaduta is one of the finest works of Kalidasa. Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava are epic poems. He also wrote plays like Malavikagnimitra and Shakuntalam. The play Shakuntalam has been translated in many languages and is considered a masterpiece. These are a few lines translated from this play. PAGE# 55 12_Building, Painting and Books SOCIAL SCIENCE/HISTORY/CLASS-VI JATAKA TALES These are collections of short stories written in the 3rd century BC. They teach values and morals in an interesting manner. These stores have been passed down many generation. They are about the previous lives of the Buddha and each stories teaches some important lesson of life. They inspire honesty, truthfulness, kindness and self-respect. These were originally written in Pali but they have been translated. Scenes from the Jataka tales have been carved on stupas and painted on the walls of the Ajanta Caves. PANCHATANTRA (FIVE TREATISES) These are also a collection of short stories each of which teaches a moral. The stories are presented and narrated by a sage called Vishnu Shanna. He wrote these stories to teach values of life to a king's sons. Most of the stories are amusing and animals play an important role in them. One famous short story is The lion and the hare. TAMIL LITERATURE Tamil literature dates back almost 2,000 years. The history of Tamil literature is closely related to the history of Tamil Nadu. Jain and Buddhist monks also contributed to Tamil literature. The five great Tamil epics are Silappatikaram, Manimegalai, Civaka Cintamani, Kundalakesi and Valayapathi. Silappatikaram was written by Ilango Adigal, a Buddhist monk. It dates back to 5th century BC and involves three ancient Tamil kingdoms – Chera, Chola, and Pandya. The epic also vividly describes the Tamil society of the period, its cities, the people's religious and folk traditions and their gods. NATYA SHASTRA This is regarded as the oldest surviving text on stagecraft in the world. It consists of 6,000 verse stanzas and the whole text is written in Sanskrit. It is also known as the fifth Veda owing to its huge importance. The text tells us that the Natya Shastra was passed on from Brahma to a sage named Bharata. It also tells that natya or drama was created to give pleasure to tired minds. It deals with all aspects of dramatic performances like acting, speech, expressions etc. It also discusses plots of plays, dialogues and characters. It gives details about the music and instruments of that period. Thus Natya Shastra can be considered as the foundation of the fine arts. SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS The earliest known historical astronomer is Aryabhata. He described in his writings that the planets moved around the Sun in circular epicycles. He explained why eclipses were caused. He was the first to discover that the earth rotates on its axis daily. He also worked out the correct equation for calculating the orbit of a planet and knew the length of a year. He also described the properties of a circle and gave an accurate value for pi . He also described the decimal system and how to calculate square root and cube root. He is regarded as the 'Father of Algebra'. Varahamihira was an astronomer and mathematician of the 6th century.