page_title: Arts and entertainment in India
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Arts and entertainment in India / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Taj Mahal, Agra, India, south face. Français&#160;: Le Taj Mahal, à Âgrâ, en Inde, vu du sud. Italiano: Taj Mahal, Agra, India, lato sud. हिन्दी: ताज महल, आगरा, भारत, दक्षिण की ओर से।
context_page_description: Arts and entertainment in India have had their course shaped by a synthesis of indigenous and foreign influences that have consequently shaped the course of the arts of the rest of Asia, since ancient times. Arts refer to paintings, architecture, literature, music, dance, languages and cinema. In early India, most of the arts were derived Vedic influences. After the birth of contemporary Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism arts flourished under the patronage of kings and emperors. The coming of Islam spawned a whole new era of Indian architecture and art. Finally the Bish brought their own Gothic and Roman influences and fused it with the Indian style. They have a culture infusion in their art.
context_section_description: The earliest production in the Indus Valley Civilization was characterised by cities and houses where religion did not seem to play an active role. The Buddhist period is primarily represented by three important building types- the Chaitya Hall (place of worship), the Vihara (monastery) and the Stupa (hemispherical mound for worship/ memory) - exemplified by the caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi Stupa. The Jaina temples are characterised by high levels of detail that can be seen in the Dilwara Temples in Mt. Abu. Early beginnings of Hindu temple architecture have been traced to the remains at Aihole and Pattadakal in present-day Karnataka, and have Vedic altars and late Vedic temples as described by Pāṇini as models. Later, as more differentiation took place, the Dravidian/ Southern style and or the Indo-Aryan/ Northern/ Nagara style of temple architecture emerged as dominant modes, epitomized in productions such as the Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, and the Sun Temple, Konark.
  With the arrival of Islam, a new style of architecture known as Indo-Islamic architecture emerged combining traditional Indian and Islamic elements. The earliest examples include the Qutb complex, a series of monuments built by successive sultans of the Delhi Sultanate. The architecture of the Mughal Empire includes the Red Fort, Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Humayun's tomb, Jama Masjid and Fatehpur Sikri.
  With colonization, a new chapter began. Though the Dutch, Portuguese and the French were influencers, it was the English who had a lasting impact. The architecture of the colonial period varied from the beginning attempts at creating authority through classical prototypes to the later approach of producing a supposedly more responsive image through what is now termed Indo-Saracenic architecture- a mixture of Hindu, Islamic and Western elements.
  With the introduction of Modern Architecture into India and later with Independence, the quest was more towards progress as a paradigm fuelled by Nehruvian visions. The planning of Chandigarh- a city most architects hate/love- by Le Corbusier was considered a step towards this. Later as modernism became less popular in the West and new directions were sought for, there was a movement in India toward architecture rooted in the Indian context. This direction called Critical Regionalism is exemplified in the works of architects such as B. V. Doshi, Charles Correa, etc. Apart from this, the advent of globalisation and economic development since the 90s, has spawned a collection of modern IT campuses and skyscrapers, and as economic reform accelerates, metropolitan areas are gaining futuristic skylines.
  Various examples of Indian architecture
caption: The Taj Mahal in Agra is widely considered to be the best example of Indo-Islamic architecture and is one of the most well-known monuments in the world.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-R1", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:22 01:15:47", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "458", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 3, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "DSC-R1", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2010:08:14 06:26:51", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2922", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5221", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:08:14 06:26:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:08:14 06:26:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "47/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "193/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3840", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2525", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R03", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2716", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}