Category 1 · Art & Culture

Architecture

35 micro topics in Art & Culture for UPSC Prelims, in book order: Harappan Period (town planning, Great Bath, granaries); Mauryan Architecture (Ashokan pillars, palaces); and 33 more.

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Harappan Period (town planning, Great Bath, granaries)

Harappan architecture, also called Indus Valley Civilisation architecture, dates to the mature phase of c. 2600 to 1900 BCE and is the earliest urban building tradition of the subcontinent. Cities were planned on a grid with…
1.2

Mauryan Architecture (Ashokan pillars, palaces)

Mauryan architecture (c. 321 to 185 BCE) is the first large-scale use of polished stone in India. Its forms are the Ashokan monolithic pillars of Chunar sandstone (at Lauriya Nandangarh in Bihar and at Sankisa, Sarnath…
1.3

Post-Mauryan Period (Sunga, Kanva, Kushana)

Post-Mauryan architecture (c. 185 BCE to the 3rd century CE) covers the Sunga (Shunga), Kanva, Satavahana and Kushana (Kushan) periods, when Buddhist building moved from plain mounds to carved monuments. The Sungas gave the railings of…
1.4

Gupta Period Architecture

Gupta architecture (c. 320 to 550 CE) is the first phase of structural Hindu temple building in India, in stone and brick. An early Gupta temple is a small square flat-roofed shrine with a sanctum (garbhagriha)…
1.5

Buddhist Rock-cut & Stupa Architecture (Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta Caves; Sanchi, Bharhut, Amaravati Stupas; Chaityas and Viharas)

Buddhist rock-cut and stupa architecture covers the cave halls, monasteries and relic mounds that Buddhist communities built from the Mauryan age to about the 7th century CE. A stupa is a hemispherical mound on a base,…
1.6

Nagara Style

The Nagara style is the northern Indian temple architecture, found from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas and beyond, and developed from the Gupta period (5th century CE) to the 13th century under dynasties such as the…
1.7

Dravidian Style

The Dravidian style (Dravida) is the temple architecture of South India, found south of the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers and developed from the Pallava period (7th century CE) through the Cholas, Pandyas, Vijayanagara and Nayakas. Its…
1.8

Vesara Style

The Vesara style, also called the Karnata Dravida or Chalukyan style, is the hybrid temple style of the Deccan that mixes Nagara and Dravidian features. It developed under the Badami (Early) Chalukyas at Aihole, Badami and…
1.9

Hoysala Style

The Hoysala style is the ornate temple architecture of the Hoysala dynasty of Karnataka (11th to 14th century), a late form of the Vesara or Karnata Dravida tradition. It uses soft soapstone (chloritic schist), a star-shaped…
1.10

Temples of Khajuraho

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, is a group of Hindu and Jain temples built by the Chandela dynasty between about 950 and 1050 CE, in the mature Nagara style. About 25…
1.11

Temples of Odisha

The temples of Odisha, also called the Kalinga school, are a regional variety of the Nagara style built from about the 7th to the 13th century under the Bhauma-Karas, Somavamsis, Eastern Gangas and Suryavamsis. A temple…
1.12

Temples of Gwalior

The temples of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh are medieval temples of the Gurjara-Pratihara and Kachchhapaghata (Kachwaha) periods, mostly inside Gwalior Fort. The Teli ka Mandir, built in the 8th to 9th century under the Pratiharas and…
1.13

Temples of Gujarat

The temples of Gujarat are the western Indian variety of the Nagara style, called the Solanki or Maru-Gurjara style, built mainly between the 8th and 13th centuries under the Maitrakas, Chalukyas (Solankis) and Vaghelas. They have…
1.14

Temples of Rajasthan

The temples of Rajasthan are a western Indian regional group of the Nagara style, built from the 8th to the 15th century under the Gurjara-Pratiharas, Solankis (Chalukyas of Gujarat) and Mewar rulers, and noted for their…
1.15

Temples of Bengal

The temples of Bengal are a regional temple tradition of West Bengal and Bangladesh, known for terracotta decoration and roofs shaped like thatched bamboo huts. Built in brick and laterite from the Pala-Sena period (8th to…
1.16

Temples of Assam

The temples of Assam are a regional tradition of the Brahmaputra valley, shaped by the Kamarupa, Pala, Koch and Ahom periods (about 5th to 18th century). Early work such as the Da Parbatia doorframe near Tezpur…
1.17

Temples of Himachal Pradesh

The temples of Himachal Pradesh are Himalayan temples built from the 7th century onward under the Varman rulers of Chamba, the Katoch kings of Kangra and the Bushahr and Kullu chiefs. They fall into stone Nagara…
1.18

Temples of Jammu & Kashmir

The temples of Jammu and Kashmir follow the Kashmiri style (Kashmir school) of Hindu temple architecture, which flourished from the 8th to the 10th century and peaked under the Karkota (c. 625 to 855 CE) and…
1.19

Pallava Period Temples

Pallava temples (Pallava architecture), built in Tamil Nadu from the 6th to the 9th century CE from the capital Kanchipuram, mark the start of the Dravidian style. They passed through four stages: the rock-cut caves of…
1.20

Chola Period Temples

Chola temples (Chola architecture), built in Tamil Nadu from the 9th to the 13th century CE, are the high point of the Dravidian style. The Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur (Brihadeeswara, the Big Temple), raised by Rajaraja…
1.21

Pandya Temples

Pandya temples (Pandyan architecture) of southern Tamil Nadu, with Madurai as the capital, developed in two phases. The early phase of the 7th to 9th centuries is rock-cut and monolithic, as at the Vettuvan Koil at…
1.22

Rashtrakuta Period Temples

Rashtrakuta temples of the Deccan, from the 8th to the 10th century CE, are known for the Kailasa Temple (Kailasanatha, Cave 16) at Ellora in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, Maharashtra, a monolithic Shiva temple carved top down…
1.23

Vijayanagara Period Temples

Vijayanagara period temples are the Dravidian temples built between 1336 and 1565 CE by the Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva and Aravidu rulers of the Vijayanagara Empire, with the capital at Hampi in Karnataka. They are marked by…
1.24

Nayaka Temples

Nayaka temples are the late Dravidian temples built from the 16th to the 18th century by the Nayaka governors of Madurai, Thanjavur and Senji (Gingee) who succeeded the Vijayanagara Empire in Tamil Nadu. They are marked…
1.25

Temples of Kerala

Keralam (Kerala) temples form a regional school of temple architecture with sloping, tiled roofs of wood and copper sheet, a circular, square or apsidal sanctum, wood carving and murals, and a compact layout without tall gateway…
1.26

Imperial Style (Delhi Sultanate)

The Imperial Style, or Delhi Sultanate architecture, is the Indo-Islamic building tradition of the Delhi Sultanate between 1206 and 1526 CE under the Slave, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi dynasties. It introduced the true arch and…
1.27

Provincial Style

The Provincial Style is the group of regional Indo-Islamic architectural styles that grew in the independent sultanates of the 14th to 16th centuries, after the Delhi Sultanate weakened. Main schools are Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) with the…
1.28

Mughal Style

Mughal architecture is the Indo-Persian style of the Mughal Empire between 1526 and 1707, known for bulbous double domes, charbagh gardens, red sandstone and white marble, pietra dura inlay, chhatris and jali screens. Humayun's Tomb in…
1.29

Sikh Style of Architecture

Sikh architecture is the building tradition of the Sikh gurdwaras, from the 16th century, that blends Mughal, Rajput and local Punjabi forms. Its hallmarks are a fluted or lotus-shaped dome, often gilded, kiosks (chhatris), a low…
1.30

Avadh (Oudh) Style

The Avadh (Oudh) Style is the late Indo-Islamic and Indo-European architecture of the Nawabs of Awadh, mainly at Lucknow and Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, from the mid-18th century to 1856. It joins Mughal forms with European…
1.31

Rajput Architecture

Rajput architecture is the building tradition of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajasthan from the 8th to the 19th century, known for hill forts, palaces with jharokhas and chhatris, havelis, stepwells and planned cities. It joins Hindu…
1.32

Jaina Art & Architecture

Jaina art and architecture is the sacred art of the Jain community, from the Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves in Odisha of the 2nd century BCE to the marble temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is known…
1.33

European Influence (Portuguese, Danish, British)

European influence on Indian architecture began with the Portuguese in Goa in 1510 and continued with the Dutch, Danish, French and British until 1947. The Portuguese built Baroque churches such as the Basilica of Bom Jesus…
1.34

Indo-Saracenic Architecture

Indo-Saracenic architecture, also called Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic or Hindu-Gothic, is the revivalist style used by British architects in India from the 1860s to the 1930s, which blends Gothic and Neo-classical structure with Indian, Mughal and Rajput features…
1.35

Post-Independence Period Architecture

Post-Independence architecture in India, from 1947, moved from colonial revival to modernism and then to contemporary and regional design. Chandigarh, planned by Le Corbusier from 1951 in Punjab and Haryana, became the symbol of the new…

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Frequently asked questions

Which topics are in Architecture?

Architecture has 35 micro topics in Art & Culture: Harappan Period (town planning, Great Bath, granaries); Mauryan Architecture (Ashokan pillars, palaces); Post-Mauryan Period (Sunga, Kanva, Kushana); Gupta Period Architecture; Buddhist Rock-cut & Stupa Architecture (Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta Caves; Sanchi, Bharhut, Amaravati Stupas; Chaityas and Viharas); Nagara Style; Dravidian Style; Vesara Style; Hoysala Style; Temples of Khajuraho; Temples of Odisha; Temples of Gwalior; Temples of Gujarat; Temples of Rajasthan; Temples of Bengal; Temples of Assam; Temples of Himachal Pradesh; Temples of Jammu & Kashmir; Pallava Period Temples; Chola Period Temples; Pandya Temples; Rashtrakuta Period Temples; Vijayanagara Period Temples; Nayaka Temples; Temples of Kerala; Imperial Style (Delhi Sultanate); Provincial Style; Mughal Style; Sikh Style of Architecture; Avadh (Oudh) Style; Rajput Architecture; Jaina Art & Architecture; European Influence (Portuguese, Danish, British); Indo-Saracenic Architecture; Post-Independence Period Architecture.

Is Architecture important for UPSC Prelims?

Architecture is a part of the UPSC Prelims Art & Culture syllabus map on MaargX UPSC. Each of its 35 published topics has key terms, a Mains angle and practice questions.