constructed in a similar way. It, too, has largely disappeared.
Th e Great Wall that remains a tourist attraction in China was
built under the Ming Dynasty over a 300-year period begin-
ning in the 14th century.
ARCHITECTURE OF INDIA
Historians and archaeologists use the phrase Indian architec-
ture to refer to the architecture not just of the nation of India
but of the entire Asian subcontinent as well, including the
modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
In ancient times, and even in modern life, these nations shared
a culture and religion that gave rise to a common architecture.
Th e history of Indian architecture begins in the Indus
Valley (roughly corresponding to the modern Indian state of
Punjab) when, some 5,000 years ago, people migrated into
the area and found a fertile, hospitable land. Archaeologists
have discovered the remains of cities that were laid out with
a degree of planning that would put to shame many modern
cities, with defensive walls and streets arranged in a regular
octagonal pattern, making it easier for carts laden with food
and other materials to make turns. Th e remains of numerous
houses have been found. Th ese houses were built around a
central courtyard that aff orded privacy while also allowing
light to enter the rooms constructed around it. Th e courtyard
also provided a cool place for the family to gather during hot
spells, yet it held warmth during colder weather. Long before
the ancient Romans developed plumbing systems, the cities
of the Indus Valley had sewage and drainage systems.
Roughly 3,500 years ago the cities of the Indus Valley, most
prominently Mohenjo Daro, fell to nomadic Aryan invaders
from the northwest. Th ese invaders drove out the indigenous
people, but rather than occupying their cities, the invaders pre-
ferred to live in forest hamlets. Although little of their architec-
ture survives intact, archaeologists have studied ruins and have
determined that the simple architecture of the Aryans infl u-
enced Indian architecture for many generations. Much of what
is known about the architecture of this age, called the Vedic
Age (ca. 1500–ca. 600 b.c.e.), is preserved in the ancient texts,
the Vedas, that later formed the basis of Hinduism. It is known
that the Aryans built homes with the abundant materials that
lay at hand, including lumber and bamboo thatch. Th eir homes
were circular and domelike, though later the homes expanded
into a more rectangular shape. In time Aryan villages devel-
oped into small cities divided into quadrants and intersected
by two main streets at right angles to each other. One quad-
rant was for the city’s citadel, which guarded it from outsiders.
A second was residential, a third was for merchants, and the
fourth was for tradesmen.
A third phase of Indian architecture is associated with
the rise of Buddhism. Th e connections between Buddhism
and architecture, though, provide an interesting case study
in the links between religion and other elements of a culture.
During the Vedic period and up to about 500 b.c.e. the teach-
ings of the Vedas had an impact on virtually every aspect of
people’s lives. Th e rigid caste system separating the social
classes of India emerged, and religion consisted primarily of
pure ritual. At about this time two major religious reform-
ers rose. One was the Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama, who
was born in 563 b.c.e. and founded the Buddhist religion. Th e
other was Mahavira, the date of whose birth is uncertain but
whose life probably overlapped that of the Buddha. Mahavira
was the founder of Jainism, another major Indian religion
and one that has many features in common with Buddhism.
In both instances, the new emphasis was on the nature of the
soul rather than on ritual observances.
Both of these key religious fi gures attempted to reform
Vedic culture by lessening some of the emphasis on ritual.
Buddhism turned out to be the religion that had the wider
appeal, and it won the support not only of the region’s mer-
cantile classes but also of the king, Asoka the Great (r. ca.
273–232 b.c.e.), who declared Buddhism the state religion.
Under Asoka, funds were provided to build monasteries
throughout the region. Further, because the Buddha himself
was the closest thing to a god among Buddhists, his relics
became scattered throughout the land. Th e key point is that
these religious developments gave rise to much of the archi-
tecture that developed in the Buddha’s wake.
Accordingly, throughout India a large number of shrines
were built in honor of the Buddha, many of them little more
than piles of rocks purporting to contain a relic of the Buddha.
In time, however, the people began to believe that these shrines
needed to be improved, which gave rise to more elaborate stu-
pas, or spherical confi gurations of stone, that refl ected the
growing infl uence of Buddhism. Th ese stupas could be found
throughout the country, and people visited them as shrines.
By about the second century b.c.e., though, the infl uence
of Buddhism began to wane. India’s rulers were returning to
the teachings of the Vedas, and they found the Vedic caste
system more congenial to their notions of power. Aft er the
reign of Asoka the Great and the decline of two major Indian
ruling dynasties (the Kushans in the north and the Andhras
in the south), Indian art and architecture underwent a severe
decline. Buddhism, however, by no means disappeared. Mer-
chants continued to support Buddhism, and they supplied
most of the funds that allowed Buddhist monks to establish
monasteries and centers of learning.
One of the most important of these centers was Sanchi,
located near the modern-day city of Bhopal in India. Sanchi
survives as a major pilgrimage site for modern Buddhists and
as a tourist attraction for people the world over. Th e stupa at
Sanchi is a domelike structure with a surrounding path and
topped with a fi nial called a harmika. (A fi nial in this con-
text is an ornamental projection from the top of a wall or col-
umn.) Th e domed shape of the stupa refl ects the shape of the
universe, and the harmika represented the Bodhi tree where
the Buddha achieved enlightenment.
In addition to the main stupa are a number of other build-
ings that serve the needs of visitors and the monks who travel
to the site to meditate and do penance. One, ca lled the vihara,
consists of cubicles, or cells, arranged around a central court-68 architecture: Asia and the Pacific