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Dissertation
GUIDED BY:
AUTHOR:
DIVYA MAKHIJANI
0111731606
JANUARY 2011
Dissertation
Indian Architecture and Identity
APPROVAL CERTIFICATE
The following study is hereby approved as a creditable work on the approved subject,
carried out, and presented in a manner sufficiently satisfactory to warrant acceptance.
It is to be understood that by this approval the undersigned does not necessarily endorse or
approve any statement made, opinion expressed or conclusions drawn therein, but approve
the study only for the purpose for which it is submitted and satisfies himself as to the
requirements laid down by the dissertation committee.
Dated:
(Divya Makhijani)
Acknowledgement
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my guide Prof. Tapan K. Chakravarty for his invaluable advice and
discussions which have helped me to find the direction I wanted to work in. It is through his
inputs that I have been able to shape my thoughts and words.
I would like to thank our Dissertation coordinator, Prof. Ashok B. Lall, for his constant
support and encouragement to pursue even the seed of an idea.
I would like to thank my parents for their continued moral support and guidance. I am
grateful to Mr Sunil Hargunani for his timely help and discussions.
Lastly, I would like to mention the countless experiences within TVB-USAP which have
helped shape me as who I am. I have been fortunate enough to be a part of TVB even
though for a small time.
DIVYA MAKHIJANI
0111731606
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
1.
2.
3.
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1
1.1
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................. 1
1.2
HYPOTHESIS......................................................................................................... 1
1.3
1.4
METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................... 2
IDENTITY ............................................................................................................... 3
2.2
2.3
3.2
3.3
3.4
ATTITUDE TO ORDER......................................................................................... 14
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
IMPLICATIONS .................................................................................................... 16
4.
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 17
5.
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 18
ii
List of Figures
LIST OF FIGURES
iii
Chapter 1 - Introduction
1.
1.1
INTRODUCTION
ABSTRACT
Indian Architectural history is dotted with influxes from numerous cultures. Some of them
were lost and there were a few which have merged with the existing and are still visible in the
current architecture styles. Post-Independence, there have been several attempts at carving
out an Indian Architecture which could give an identity to the nation as a whole. While many
a writings and discourses on Indian Architecture talk about how internationalization of
architecture has led to an irreparable loss of tradition; they assert the need for an
identity. This paper is questioning the very need of one monolithic identity in the specific
case of India and in the wake of globalization. Furthermore, the paper analysis Professor
Kurula Varkeys eight psychic-cultural constants to conclude that, Indian Architectural
Identity is fluid in nature.
1.2
HYPOTHESIS
The concept of a unified Indian identity does not exist. It is continually renewing itself and it is
best left suspended or open to interpretation.
1.3
The aim of this dissertation is to examine the need for Identity constructs in the case of
contemporary Indian architecture. It does not provide insights or any principles to achieve the
right approach to design and build in the present context. Rather the focus is on examining
the relevance of an identity construct for Indian architecture in the present context. It aims to
provide for a logical discussion in the on-going debate on Indian architecture.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
1.4
METHODOLOGY
Stage 1:
Analysing by looking back at Indian architectural history the need for an identity and
its exemplification by various architects.
Stage 2:
Stage 3:
2.
2.1
IDENTITY
By definition, identity is the collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is
definitely recognizable or known. One of the main motives of establishing an identity is thus
to know the distinctness i.e. to establish that individuality.
Identity in terms of architecture of the Indian subcontinent has been a topic of debate for
quite some time now. At first, the question seems to have been brought to the table by the
agendas of Nationalism that had swept India at the time of the formation of the congress
around the 1880s. The quest for Indian identity (in the 1880s) could be attributed to the
long wave of colonial rule that India was exposed to. At that time, the questioning was only
for an image or to put in simpler terms style, whether colonial or traditional. The question
of identity and style continued, even after the country got Independence from the colonial
rule. With the coming up of Industrialization, modernism and internationalisation, we
continue to seek re-alignment of our architectural aspirations.
As for the present day, there is a growing consensus in the architectural profession that the
special identity of places matters. This seems to be based on the perception that
globalisation is creating an undesirable uniformity in cities around the world.1
2.2
Architectural Review,2000
existed; people had learned to live with their differences in culture and tried to harmonize
them. Similarly, architecture-wise also there were attempts to merge the Islamic and the preIslamic expressions and develop something which would be acceptable by a majority of the
communities. Mughal Emperor Akbars city of Fatehpur Sikri, built in the 16th century, is an
example of such an attempted reconciliation. The reconciliation may be attributed to a
political agenda or purely an incidental one.
Around the 17th century, the European colonialists arrived and brought with them a third
worldview of Cartesian rationality, the Christian religion and European Classicism. Local
craftsmen skilled in millennia-old traditions of craft were re-trained in the European arts.
British Colonial architecture thus became another addition to the plurality of architecture in
India, it brought with it new materials and technology ensuring the demise of the millenniaold traditions of building craft.
Mumbai
This brief period of British colonisation had left a heavy impact on Indian education, art and
architecture, the fields that were dominated by the britishers at that time, it could definitely be
termed as the period of colonization of the Indian minds.Eventually,the politics and agendas
of the Britishers found expression in their designs too.This sudden display of concern for
India, classified as Indo-saracenic architecture, can be said to have been the response to
the rising nationalism in the 19th century.
With the British leaving India, Indian architecture was now free of the politics of its
colonisers. Indian architects who had for long been subjugated as assistants to the British
architects, now had an opportunity to express their own ingenuity. But the Dilemma that they
were posed with was whether to look to the past for inspiration or to move forward with new
materials, ideas and technology.
The mandate was to provide for a new image to the new nation, the young architects of the
1940s and 1950s were keen for a revolutionary change and there was little question of
carrying on as acolytes of the Raj.2
Furthermore, with the demise of Mahatma
Gandhi - and his resistance to modern
technology, the subsequent assumption of full
leadership by Nehru in 1948 the way
opened up for an Indian development policy
modelled on the science and industry.
Through the 1950s, the building of the
model city of Chandigarh by le Corbusier
Bhatt, Vikram; Scriver, Peter (1990) After the Masters: Contemporary Architecture in India,Washington press.
brought in the International style which would be widely emulated by the local architects in
the future. Although its presence diminished as soon as it was realised that it does not suit
Indias pre-industrial aspirations and post-industrial needs.
The 1960s brought the first signals of a renewed questioning of identity in Indian
architecture. How well did the seductive new forms of modern design suit the reality of India?
3
work, --who purged the Corbusian vocabulary of inappropriate idiosyncrasies and gave it a
more familiar form and proportion. Similarly, The Gandhi Smarak Sangharalaya
(Ahmedabad, 1960) by Charles Correa is also one such example.
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
It was in the year 1969, the centenary of Mahatma Gandhis birth, that the policy makers and
planners took stock of the nations development in the independent twenty-two years and
how it had held on to the ideals of its founding father?4 The fact was that it had taken a very
different path of development which was far from Gandhis vision of an ethno-centric country.
Although much change had occurred in the last two-decades in the architectural sense; the
legacies of Louis Kahn and Le Corbusier had inspired many Indian architects, which were a
product of that initial period of big hopes and endeavour following independence. After the
death of Nehru in 1964, the Indian intellectuals, architects and social activists once again
turned to Gandhis ideals to present a unifying wisdom for the time. 5
By 1969, architects became more conscious of their roots; the revival of Gandhis call to
build upon the indigenous technologies and symbols of Indian culture provided a moral basis
for the rejection of the western derived imagery of contemporary Indian architecture. Raj
Bhatt, Vikram; Scriver, Peter (1990) After the Masters: Contemporary Architecture in India, Washington
press.
4
Ibid
5
Ibid
Rewal, Uttam Jain and Charles Correa are some of the architects which have continued
experimenting under the same bracket and have evolved their own styles.
2.3
THE RUPTURE
With the attainment of Independence, the idea of a unified and homogenous "nation"
became an ineluctable reality, and manifested itself in many forms of artistic expression, not
least in the field of architecture. The imperative to modernise, the urgency to "catch-up", of
course, reinforced this idea. Thus, it became common to refer to "Indian Architecture", and
"Indian Art", "Indian Music" and "Indian Culture", when, in fact, one was referring to an
astonishing variety of architecture, art, music and culture within a political entity called
6
India.
The rupture is a disconnect which can be said to lie between different ideologies concerning
the same theme. In this case, as we discuss below, it refers to the aspirations to maintain an
ideal connect to the past while simultaneously bridging the gap towards the future; it will be
pointed out how politicy-makers have played a role in creating this rupture and hence our
identity concerns; and it also lies in the concept of identity constructions in the specific case
of India where one is simultaneously dealing with Pluralism.
India in the present day context is a land of both the ancient culture and a major society of
the modern world. As Romi Khosla points out the ancient culture of Indian sub-continent
confuses the Indians choice today because there are people living in India who are still in
the Stone Age and also others who are making silicon semiconductor devices. Indians live
simultaneously with their beggars, their own satellites, and Indian cosmonauts.7 (Khosla,
1983) The fact of the matter being that our country is a young country with many issues
tormenting it as with any other developing country. It faces a number of challenges such as
poverty and its ever expanding population. We are simultaneously addressing our own
internal issues as well as fuelling our aspirations to find a foothold in the now globalized
world. The root of the issue maybe lies at the need to catch-up ;as pointed out earlier that
India is a young nation and the awareness about it being a political entity called INDIA
dawned upon it on the very day of independence. While it had a millennia old heritage,
history and culture to look back to; it also had the mammoth task of building a nation which
could stand amongst the emerging powers of the world.
On the other hand, concerns for regional identity in India arose in the 1980s in parallel with
the growth of interest in national history and culture. The writings of many prominent
architects during this period elucidate the same. For example, Charles Correa believes that
architects in Asia live with both theses traditions (Vernacular and Modern) [] for these
[Asian] societies, industrialization has not yet closed the doors to the incredibly rich world of
the past; on the contrary, that world is very much part of our everyday lives. Furthermore
Correa asserts that indeed it is not possible to build in Asia without acknowledging in one
way or another, the presence of the traditional- and the potent ideograms that underlie these
traditions.8
The debates and discussions mostly centre around the re-interpretation of traditions in
modern times in order to create an ideal connect and hence, maintaining a sense of
continuity. Doshi points out at the need for incorporation of a sense of identity in designing
new environments while understanding the socio-cultural patterns. Uttam Jain expresses his
fears that this glorious heritage of the past may get eroded if modern mores are to
dominate, and go unchecked in Indias daily life. He goes on to say that the architectural
profession must aim at achieving self-identity for the region. The affirmation of regional
traditions and the inherited cultural symbols must be articulated to people and merge with
the environment and ecology of the place in an organic whole.9 Architect Raj Rewal
describes this endeavour, alluded to both by Correa and Jain, as the way in which his
generation has been trying to discover the common thread in which the fabric of Indian
architecture has been woven in the past; and its significance for our times.10
Here, the rupture is created mainly by two aspirations of the society as a whole; one that of
being able to find a place for itself in the global architectural realities and; second of the
projected need to carve out an appropriate regional expression.
This disconnect is also visible in the different philosophies of the two most influential leaders
of our country at the time of Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. The
Charles Correa in a foreword in the New Asian architecture: Vernacular Traditions and contemporary style by
William S.W. Lim and Tan Hock Beng.
9
Jain, Uttam C. (1985), Regionalism - Resource for Identity. In Regionalism in Architecture. Robert Powell, ed.
Singapore: Concept Media/the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
10
Rewal Raj, 1984
former shaped the young India and the revival of latters ideologies would become the
starting point for the critical examination of our tradition.
ridiculous. I gave that example because there is always the tendency to do that and there is
likely to be more of tendency in a country like India where we hold fast to traditions more
than in other countries.13
Nehru in the inaugural address of seminar on architecture, 1959
Gandhis idea of a nation building at the time of freedom was very different from Nehrus.
While Gandhis views were more ethno-centric, Nehrus views on the other hand stood for an
India which would progress through technology and industrialisation. Both these ideologies
have helped India retain a critical stance on the issue of identity. As Vikramaditya Prakash
11
points out, the phrase modern Indian is something of an oxymoron because while
Indian is an identity claim that in some way or other inevitably relies on a backward look to
the past or a beginning, modern signifies the simultaneous desire for a telescoped rush into
the future, freed from a dragging anchoring in the past. The immense power of suggestion
that the phrase exerts, then, must be an effect precisely of its sense of compression of
seeming opposites.14
The other seeming rupture is in the concept of our identity constructions i.e. looking for a
monolithic Indian identity in the multiplicity of climate, culture and its people. In the next
chapter, we examine how Kurula varkeys eight constants also have acknowledged this
issue and answered the same.
14
Prakash, Vikramaditya (1997), Identity Production in Postcolonial Indian Architecture: Re-covering what we
never had. In Post-colonial space(s). Gulsum Baydar Nalbantoglu and Wong Chong Thai (eds), Princeton
Architectural Press, New York.
10
3.
Professor Kurula Varkey was a crucial figure In Indian architectural education. Being the
honorary director of the School of architecture, CEPT (Centre for environmental planning
and technology), he had passionately steered and influenced a generation of architects
emerging from the institution until his untimely death. CEPT has nurtured some of the
countrys best upcoming architects including Kiran Pandya, Rahul Mehrotra, Soumitro
Ghosh and Nisha P. Mathew. Varkey was also the successor of previous heads including
B.V.Doshi, Hasmukh Patel, K.B.Jain, Anant Raje and Leo Pareira.
Varkeys psychic-cultural constants, rather than being stylistic descriptions of elements from
the past, are typically philosophical and intellectual in nature. These are not a set of
principles from which the direction for Indian architecture could be derived but rather these
are some of the commonalities identified by Prof. Kurula Varkey who had a deep
understanding of architecture in the sub-continent. He believes that the multitude of cultures
that have existed over the years in close proximity have essentially ensured a civilizational
bond.
A host of people and subcultures come together in India to provide richness to its culture
and carry with them generalities that unify and specifities that distinguish. The culture is
manifested through its own psychic-cultural constants. While the language and mode of
expressions may differ the underlying principles unify. The psychic-cultural constants of the
Indian ethos as evident in architecture are open to interpretation and renewed discovery yet
they form the only meaningful beginning point from which a creative renewal
transformation can begin.15
This civilizational bond could be said to be embodied in epics, myths and folk stories, and
family resemblance in styles of art, architecture and religious motifs if not religious
practices. Sunil Khilnani says that this varied amorphous historical inheritance may not
carry any single message16, though it did provide a unified coherence to the ethnically,
religiously and racially diverse population in the sub-continent. These unifying and
distinguishing features characterise the Indian culture and hence, Professor Varkeys
constants are philosophical rather than stylistic.
15
Varkey, Kurula (2000), The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design, Vol 17
no.4, Pg 98-117.
16
Source (Panicker, Shaji K.; Ostwald , Micheal J. , Underlying ethos in Indian Architecture: critical
regionalism in the age of Globalization, University of Newcastle Australia. Retrieved November 19,
2010 from http://weblearn.newcastle.edu.au.
11
3.1
SENSE OF CENTRE
..Centre in Indian architecture, does not necessarily refer to a geometric or physical centre,
rather it has a more metaphysical value attached to it17. It refers to a physical or the spiritual
focus of the form. It is a pivotal feature in Indian philosophy, the shunya, the compelling void,
or Bindu, the primordial source of all energy.
3.2
ATTITUDE TO LANDSCAPE
3.3
charbagh
The Indian attitude to space making is one of layering from outside to inside, from profane
to sacred. In the urban context the coming together of the spatiality of diverse elements
creates conjunctions and overlaps creating multiple layers.19
17
Varkey, Kurula (2000), The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design, Vol 17
no.4, Pg 98-117.
18
Source (Panicker, Shaji K.; Ostwald , Micheal J. , Underlying ethos in Indian Architecture: critical regionalism
in the age of Globalization, University of Newcastle Australia. Retrieved November 19, 2010 from
http://weblearn.newcastle.edu.au.
19
Varkey, Kurula (2000), The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design, Vol 17
no.4, Pg 98-117.
12
He argues that this layering of spatial organization is a response to the values of society, to
behavioural patterns and to the climate of the region. The result of this layering is that the
space is without an axis and the pathway is forever shifting. Yet it is not in the individuality of
spaces that the organisation dwells, but rather in the ideational unity created by the merging
and overlapping of parts within the whole.20 These are exemplified by the temple city of
Madurai in southern India and the city of Fatehpur Sikri. While in Madurai it is a set of
enclosed rings, divided into squares, in which the most powerful point seems to be the
centre. It is an introverted style of planning where the key movements are from the outside in
circling the sacred enclosure in a clockwise direction. In a slightly different manner, in
Fatehpur Sikri the route of movement through the complex does not formally culminate in a
single centre, but instead there are multiple centres which relate to each other and create
the ideational unity.
20
Varkey, Kurula (2000), The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design, Vol 17
no.4, Pg 98-117.
13
3.4
ATTITUDE TO ORDER
precise. It follows from this realization, that the Indian notion of order is something that
accommodates various divergent parts into one ideational unity. Thus the whole is
something that incorporates and derives from the contextual and the circumstantial.
Therefore, the attitude to order is inclusive rather than exclusive accepting complexities in an
organic manner, rather than reducing the forms to some singular unity.21
3.5
21
Varkey, Kurula (2000), The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design, Vol 17
no.4, Pg 98-117.
14
of repetition. Instead, variations in magnitude and size of shrines follow some kind of genetic
notion of repetition that is mostly organic in nature22 . In the Tanjore temple every element in
the composition corresponds and relates to the others in some ways. The complex
composition forces the viewer to perceive the parts in order to perceive the whole.
3.6
ATTITUDE TO FORM
3.7
ATTITUDE TO LIGHT
As essential characteristic of Indian architecture, from the earliest times, has been a
response to the natural lighting and the sun. The elevations and the street patterns evolving
from the response to the climate show sensitivity to the sun and the direct quality of its light.
According to varkey, the challenge for Indian architecture has always been to break the sun
into shadow. This is in part a response to climate which is in turn is indicator of regional
attitudes.
22
Varkey, Kurula (2000), The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design, Vol 17
no.4, Pg 98-117.
23
Ibid
15
3.8
concepts of Shunya or Bindu have been the generators of architecture in the past. They are
themselves metaphoric statements of cultures ethos. 25
3.9
IMPLICATIONS
All of Varkeys constants depend on the deep rooted understanding of Indian architecture
and hence, they have been left suspended and open to interpretation. Following the
multiculturalism, that characterises our country the identification of one single identity or
even proposing an identity construct seems unreasonable.
24
Varkey, Kurula (2000), The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design, Vol 17
no.4, Pg 98-117.
25
Ibid
16
Chapter 4 Conclusion
4.
CONCLUSION
Varkeys eight constants question the very need to worry about a loss of identity. It follows
from this that Indian architectural identity is continually renewing itself and is dynamic in
nature. The first and the second generation of architects were constantly trying to negotiate
a compromise between their education and experience and the demands of a nation worried
about its identity. The quest for such an identity has ended up in canonising certain
architectural styles and patterns from the past. Therefore, the search for Indian-ness by
different architects such as Correa, Rewal and Doshi should be best viewed as
interpretations only and not as the only approach to expressing Indian-ness. Because India
is a vast geographical identity, it has different cultures, religions and climates and hence it
demands for different types of architecture in response to these varying elements.
Therefore, the situation demands the application of critical regionalism and not just a
conceived identity. As Libeskind points out in the case of Berlin :
This obsession of constantly asking for an identity is mediocre. Why should we speak about
identity at all? We should rather speak about the positive sides of the lack of identity, about
the fact that the city does not have only one single identity.
Also I would like to point out that due to the existence of the phenomenon called
Globalisation, the boundaries of a region have expanded and it cannot be thought of as an
insular entity. As Robert Adam says in his article on globalisation and tradition the nationstate has become too small to solve global problems and too large to deal with local ones.
He asserts that nation-states and national identity are largely nineteenth and twentiethcentury inventions that themselves attempted to homogenise varied communities within their
borders. In diminishing the role of the nation-state, globalisation has lifted the lid on local
culture and identities.
17
Chapter 5 Bibliography
5.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
5. Gast K.P., Modern traditions contemporary architecture in India, Birkhauser Verlag AG,
Berlin (2003)
6. Herrle P., and Wagerhoff E., Architecture and identity, LIT Verlag.(2009)
7. Herrle P.and Schmitz S., Constructed identities: Contemporary Architecture in the south,
Habitat International. (2009)
8. Menon A.G.K (1999), Rethinking Architecture
9. Momin A.R, interface of cultural identity development - Cultural Pluralism, National Identity
and Development -The Indian Case
10. Nalbantolu G.B. and Wong C.T., Postcolonial space(s), Princeton Architectural Press,
New York.(1997)
11. New Architecture and Urbanism: Development of Indian Traditions, Nabha Foundation
(2007)
12. Varkey K., The essence of the Indian tradition: An interpretation, Architecture + Design
(2000)
18