The History of Architecture in India by Christopher Tadgell Phaidon/Chronicle 336 pp. $49.95 Review by David M. Owens Featured in BBR August Often, a book that aims to be a definitive history of world architecture ends up describing western culture primarily, with only a cursory attention paid to Asia, Africa and ancient America. Such books, Banister Fletcher's Comparative History of Architecture for one, cover Europe in great depth and leave the rest of the world to a few thin pages in the back. This may be just another case of Eurocentric arrogance, or it may simply stem from the realization that to do justice to those areas outside Europe or America would require more than these western historians can provide. The History of Architecture in India by Christopher Tadgell is a grand and colorful work that more than fills this gap of knowledge. Tadgell is currently a Senior Lecturer in Architectural History at the Canterbury School of Architecture, Kent Institute of Art and Design, as well as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He provides us with an unmatched, single source reference on Indian architecture. While Tadgell's work is exhaustive it is also written in a language that is arduous to wade through. Yet its strengths are greater than any weakness. Its organization is clear. Each chapter recounts the social and religious influences of an important era, giving the reader a comprehensive view of the designs and the circumstances that helped create them. The buildings are richly documented through color photographs, along with clear building sections and plans. An extensive glossary is provided, and since the terms and names of building types could easily be unfamiliar to most of us, this reference tool is invaluable. The book is a large work, spanning from the earliest days of the Indus River Valley civilizations at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, around 2700 B.C., to the works of the British architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens. Tadgell follows the Vedic and native transitions of the Indus Valley Region after the Aryan invasions, describing its rich religious culture with innumerable deities, vivid mythologies and elaborate rituals. In addition to the caste system, the Vedas, established between 1000 and 500 B.C., remain central to the Indian culture and institutions. They inform the shapes and purposes of Buddhist as well as Hindu architecture. Tadgell gives a good general overview of how this tradition developed. The Buddhist tradition, which flourished in northeast India where Aryan influence was weakest, found its support in the merchant and land-owning aristocracies and was viewed in part as a revolt against the Brahmins. The influence of Buddhism grew with the development of the Maurya dynasty, 321 B.C., and reached its golden age during the Gupta dynasty, between 320 and 540 A.D. The structures from this period are often imposing, heavy, dripping with ornament. They are at times so massive that they seem to be sculpted out of living rock. Indeed some of the great monasteries of the Buddhist Maurya dynasty are actually cave dwellings cut into the edges of clefts. In this same period, great, elaborately carved reliquary mounds were built to hold the ashes of the Buddha. Viharas, Buddhist monasteries that were cut from the plateaus of eastern India, also arose at this time. Later Hindu, Islamic and colonial periods further developed this rich culture. All these later buildings are of stone construction. Forms are almost always symmetrical, ornate and very sensual. The separation between the natural realm and the man-made is not so apparent as it is in western architecture. Influences from Hellenic, Persian and Chinese cultures fold into the Indian culture and are modified to the point where the Indian origin is hard to recognize. The sweep of India's history, its vast territory, the complexity and richness of its culture make any attempt to describe it an intimidating undertaking, to say the least. Christopher Tadgell's effort indicates the vastness and complexity of the subject. He has given us a valuable work. David M. Owens is an architect who lives and works in Cambridge, MA. &copy1995. Boston Book Review. All rights reserved.

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