Pariksha SaathiLesson 1 of 10 · Indian Art and Culture
Ancient Indian Architecture: Harappan Cities, Stupas, Rock-cut Caves and Temple Styles
Drafted with AI assistance and fact-checked on 28 October 2026; not yet read line by line by a human editor. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. Editorial standards & corrections
Harappan town planning
Mohenjo-daro (on the Indus in Sindh) and Harappa (on the Ravi in Punjab, both now in Pakistan) were laid out on a grid, with streets crossing at right angles, a raised citadel on the west and a lower town on the east. Builders used standard burnt bricks in the ratio 1:2:4, with covered street drains. The best-known structures are the Great Bath of Mohenjo-daro, a brick tank sealed with bitumen, the granaries of Harappa, the dockyard of Lothal (Gujarat), the fire altars of Kalibangan (Rajasthan) and the reservoirs of Dholavira (Gujarat), a city divided into three parts instead of the usual two.
Mauryan pillars and stupas
Under Ashoka (third century BCE) stone replaced wood in royal art. His pillars are single shafts of Chunar sandstone with a glass-like Mauryan polish, set without a base and crowned by an inverted-lotus capital and an animal. The Sarnath Lion Capital, four lions back to back above an abacus carved with an elephant, a bull, a horse and a lion separated by wheels, was adopted as the National Emblem on 26 January 1950. A stupa is a solid hemispherical mound (anda) over relics, topped by a harmika and a chhatra and ringed by a railing (vedika) and a path for circumambulation. The Great Stupa at Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh) began as Ashoka's brick stupa, was enlarged and cased in stone under the Shungas, and received four carved gateways (toranas) in the first century BCE. Bharhut (Madhya Pradesh, second century BCE) is known for railing panels of Jataka stories with inscribed labels.
Rock-cut caves
Cutting halls into living rock began in the Barabar hills near Gaya (Bihar), where Ashoka gave caves to the Ajivika sect; the Lomas Rishi cave's doorway copies a wooden hut. In the Deccan two forms followed: the chaitya, an apsidal prayer hall with a stupa at the far end, and the vihara, a monastery of cells around a hall. Karle (Maharashtra) has one of the largest chaitya halls, with wooden ribs still in its vaulted roof. Ajanta, a horseshoe of about 30 Buddhist caves above the Waghora river, was cut in the second and first centuries BCE and again in the fifth century CE under the Vakatakas. Ellora has 34 caves of Buddhists, Hindus and Jains; its Kailasa temple (Cave 16), cut from the top down out of a single rock under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I in the eighth century, is among the world's largest monolithic structures. Elephanta, on an island near Mumbai, is best known for its main cave, a Shaiva shrine of about the sixth century with the three-faced Maheshmurti.
Parts of a temple
The structural Hindu temple took shape under the Guptas, as in the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh (Uttar Pradesh), one of the first with a tower. A temple has a sanctum (garbhagriha) for the deity, a hall (mandapa) for worshippers, often a vestibule (antarala) between them, and a tower over the sanctum, called shikhara in the north and vimana in the south. Temples are grouped into three main styles: Nagara, Dravida and Vesara.
Nagara style
The north Indian temple stands on a raised platform, usually without a large boundary wall or gateway, and rises in a curvilinear shikhara topped by a ribbed stone disc (amalaka) and a pot finial (kalasha). In Odisha the tower is called the deul and the hall the jagamohana, as at the Lingaraja temple of Bhubaneswar (11th century), the Jagannath temple of Puri (12th century) and the Konark Sun Temple, built by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I in the 13th century as the Sun's chariot with 24 wheels and seven horses. The Chandelas built the Khajuraho group (Madhya Pradesh), finest of all the Kandariya Mahadeva, and the Solankis of Gujarat built the Sun Temple at Modhera in the 11th century.
Dravida style
The south Indian temple stands inside a walled enclosure (prakara) entered through gateways (gopurams), with a pyramidal, storeyed vimana over the sanctum and often a tank. The Pallavas moved from rock-cut monoliths, such as the Pancha Rathas of Mahabalipuram (Narasimhavarman I, seventh century), to structural temples, the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram and the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram, both of Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha). The Cholas raised the vimana to its height in the Brihadeeswara temple at Thanjavur, completed by Rajaraja I in 1010, followed by Gangaikonda Cholapuram (Rajendra I) and the Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram. Later, under the Pandyas, Vijayanagara and the Nayakas, the gopuram grew taller than the vimana and long pillared corridors appeared, as at Hampi's Vitthala temple with its stone chariot, Madurai's Meenakshi temple and Rameswaram.
Vesara style
Vesara blends the two and belongs mainly to Karnataka. Its roots lie in the experiments of the Chalukyas of Badami at Aihole, called the cradle of Indian temple architecture, where the Durga temple is apsidal, and at Pattadakal, where Nagara temples such as Papanatha stand beside Dravida ones such as the Virupaksha temple, built by Queen Lokamahadevi to mark Vikramaditya II's victory over the Pallavas. It matured under the later Chalukyas of Kalyani and above all the Hoysalas, whose star-shaped (stellate) temples stand on raised platforms in soft soapstone, covered with fine carving: the Chennakeshava temple at Belur, built by Vishnuvardhana, and the Hoysaleswara temple at Halebidu.
Key facts
- Harappan planning: grid streets, citadel on the west and lower town on the east, burnt bricks in the ratio 1:2:4; Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, dockyard at Lothal, fire altars at Kalibangan, three-part city at Dholavira.
- Sarnath Lion Capital: four lions on an abacus with an elephant, bull, horse and lion separated by wheels; adopted as the National Emblem on 26 January 1950.
- Sanchi Great Stupa: begun in brick by Ashoka, enlarged and cased in stone by the Shungas, four toranas carved in the first century BCE; Bharhut railing panels carry labelled Jataka scenes.
- Barabar caves (near Gaya, Bihar): earliest rock-cut caves, given by Ashoka to the Ajivikas; the Lomas Rishi doorway copies a wooden hut.
- Chaitya = apsidal prayer hall with a stupa (Karle); vihara = monastery of cells around a hall (Ajanta has both).
- Ellora: 34 caves of Buddhists, Hindus and Jains; Kailasa temple (Cave 16) carved top-down from one rock under Rashtrakuta Krishna I.
- Konark Sun Temple: Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I, 13th century, a stone chariot with 24 wheels and seven horses.
- Pallava firsts: Pancha Rathas (rock-cut, Narasimhavarman I); Shore Temple and Kailasanatha, Kanchipuram (structural, Rajasimha).
- Brihadeeswara, Thanjavur: completed by Rajaraja I in 1010, the classic Dravida vimana; later gopurams outgrew the vimana (Madurai, Hampi).
- Vesara: roots in Badami Chalukya experiments at Aihole (cradle of temple architecture, apsidal Durga temple) and Pattadakal (Virupaksha by Queen Lokamahadevi); matured in the Hoysala star-shaped soapstone temples at Belur and Halebidu.
Quick revision
Harappa: grid, citadel, 1:2:4 bricks, Great Bath (Mohenjo-daro), dockyard (Lothal); Sarnath capital = National Emblem 26 Jan 1950; Sanchi: Ashoka brick, Shunga stone, toranas 1st century BCE; Barabar caves for Ajivikas; Karle chaitya; Ajanta ~30 Buddhist caves; Ellora 34 caves, Kailasa by Krishna I; Nagara (shikhara, amalaka): Konark, Khajuraho, Lingaraja; Dravida (vimana, gopuram): Brihadeeswara 1010; Vesara: Aihole, Pattadakal, Belur, Halebidu.