Indian Culture: Art Forms, Literature and Architecture

What the official syllabus says

General Studies-I (Paper III), Main Written Examination:

• Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Topics in detail

The line asks for the salient aspects of three things, art forms, literature and architecture, across the whole span from ancient to modern times. Religion and philosophy come in where they shaped the art and the writing.

Architecture

• Harappan town planning: grid streets, covered drains, citadel and lower town, the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, granaries, the dockyard at Lothal
• Mauryan art: Ashokan pillars and their animal capitals (the Sarnath lion capital), the polished rock-cut caves of the Barabar hills
• Buddhist architecture: stupas (Sanchi, Bharhut, Amaravati), chaityas and viharas (Karle, Bhaja, Ajanta)
• Rock-cut traditions: Ajanta, Ellora (the Kailasa temple), Elephanta, the rathas of Mahabalipuram
• Temple architecture: the Nagara, Dravida and Vesara styles; the parts of a temple (garbhagriha, mandapa, shikhara or vimana, gopuram)
• Regional temple schools: Odisha (Lingaraja, Konark), the Chandelas (Khajuraho), the Cholas (Brihadeeswara, Thanjavur), the Hoysalas (Belur, Halebidu), Vijayanagara (Hampi), the Solankis (Modhera) and the Dilwara temples
• Indo-Islamic architecture: the true arch and dome, minarets, calligraphy and geometric ornament; the Qutb Minar and Alai Darwaza; Tughlaq sloping walls; provincial styles (Bijapur, Jaunpur, Mandu, Bengal)
• Mughal architecture: Humayun’s tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, the Red Fort, the Taj Mahal; the charbagh garden
• Colonial and modern architecture: Gothic and Indo-Saracenic public buildings, Lutyens’ New Delhi, Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh

Sculpture

• Harappan figures (the bronze ‘dancing girl’, the stone ‘priest-king’) and seals
• Mauryan and post-Mauryan sculpture: yaksha and yakshi figures, Bharhut and Sanchi reliefs
• The Gandhara, Mathura and Amaravati schools and how they differ (material, style, influences)
• Gupta sculpture (the Sarnath Buddha) and the classical ideal
• Chola bronzes (Nataraja) and the lost-wax process

Painting

• Prehistoric rock paintings (Bhimbetka)
• Murals: Ajanta, Bagh, Sittanavasal, Lepakshi
• Manuscript and miniature painting: Pala, Western Indian (Jain), Mughal (the Hamzanama, Jahangir’s nature studies), Rajasthani (Mewar, Bundi, Kishangarh), Pahari (Basohli, Guler, Kangra), Deccani
• Folk and tribal painting: Madhubani, Warli, Pattachitra, Kalamkari, Gond, Phad, Kalighat, Pithora
• Modern Indian art: Raja Ravi Varma, the Bengal School (Abanindranath Tagore), Amrita Sher-Gil, the Progressive Artists’ Group

Performing arts

• The classical dances recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, Sattriya
• Folk dances by region, and their link to seasons, harvests and rituals
• Hindustani and Carnatic music: raga and tala; dhrupad, khayal and thumri; gharanas; the Carnatic trinity (Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama Sastri); Amir Khusrau’s contribution
• Theatre: Bharata’s Natyashastra and Sanskrit drama; folk theatre (Nautanki, Yakshagana, Tamasha, Jatra, Bhavai, and Haryana’s Saang); puppetry traditions

Literature

• Vedic literature: the four Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads; the epics and the Puranas
• Sangam literature in Tamil
• Buddhist (Pali Tripitaka, Jatakas) and Jain (Prakrit Agamas) texts
• Classical Sanskrit: Bhasa, Kalidasa, Shudraka, Banabhatta (Harshacharita), Kalhana (Rajatarangini)
• Medieval literature: Bhakti and Sufi poetry (Kabir, Surdas, Tulsidas, Mirabai, Guru Nanak), Persian writing (Amir Khusrau, Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari), the rise of regional languages
• Modern literature: Bharatendu Harishchandra, Premchand, Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize, 1913), Subramania Bharati; literature and nationalism

Preserving the heritage

• India’s World Heritage Sites (cultural, natural, mixed) and its elements on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage lists (for example Ramlila, Kumbh Mela, Yoga)
• Institutions: the Archaeological Survey of India, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi and Sahitya Akademi
• Geographical Indication tags for crafts, and the threats to crafts and monuments

Overlaps

• The Preliminary Examination’s General Studies paper also lists Indian Culture: HCS Prelims: General Studies.
• Haryana’s own arts, crafts, literature and monuments: Haryana: Art, Culture, Literature and Architecture.