History of Indian Culture: Art Forms, Literature and Architecture

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies I.

History of 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 fields (art forms, literature and architecture) over the whole span of Indian history. For each monument, school, text or form, note the period, the region, the patron or author, and the features that identify it.

Architecture: ancient and early medieval

• Harappan town planning: grid streets, covered drains, citadel and lower town; the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, the dockyard at Lothal, the reservoirs of Dholavira
• Mauryan architecture: polished monolithic pillars and their capitals (the Sarnath lion capital), the Barabar rock-cut caves
• The stupa and its parts (anda, harmika, chhatra, vedika, torana): Sanchi, Bharhut, Amaravati
• Rock-cut architecture: chaityas and viharas (Karla, Bhaja, Ajanta), Ellora's Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves and the Kailasa temple, Elephanta
• Temple architecture: the Nagara, Dravida and Vesara styles; the garbhagriha, mandapa, shikhara or vimana and gopuram
• Early temples of the Gupta age: the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh (in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh), the brick temple at Bhitargaon (near Kanpur)
• Regional schools: Pallava (Mamallapuram), Chalukya (Aihole, Badami, Pattadakal), Chola (Brihadeeswara, Thanjavur), Hoysala (Belur, Halebidu), Odisha (Lingaraja, Konark), Chandela (Khajuraho), Solanki (Modhera), Vijayanagara (Hampi)

Architecture: medieval and modern

• Indo-Islamic features: the true arch and dome, minarets, calligraphy and geometric ornament
• Delhi Sultanate buildings: Qutub Minar, Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, Alai Darwaza, Tughlaq fortifications
• Provincial styles: the Sharqi mosques of Jaunpur, Bengal, Malwa (Mandu), Gujarat, Bijapur (Gol Gumbaz)
• Mughal architecture: Humayun's Tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort, Akbar's tomb at Sikandra, the Taj Mahal, Red Fort and Jama Masjid of Delhi; the charbagh garden
• Rajput forts and palaces; Sikh architecture (Harmandir Sahib)
• Colonial buildings: Gothic revival, the Indo-Saracenic style, the planning of New Delhi by Lutyens and Baker
• Post-independence architecture: the planning of Chandigarh by Le Corbusier

Sculpture

• Harappan seals, the bronze 'dancing girl' and the stone 'priest-king'
• Mauryan and Shunga sculpture: yaksha and yakshi figures, the narrative reliefs of Bharhut and Sanchi
• The three schools of the early centuries CE: Gandhara (Kushana patronage, Greco-Roman influence, grey schist), Mathura (Kushana patronage, red sandstone, indigenous style), Amaravati (Satavahana patronage, white limestone often called marble, narrative panels)
• Gupta sculpture: the seated Buddha of Sarnath, Vishnu images, terracotta panels
• Chola bronzes cast by the lost-wax method; the Nataraja image

Painting

• Prehistoric rock painting: Bhimbetka
• Mural painting: Ajanta, Bagh, Sittanavasal, Lepakshi
• Miniature painting: Pala palm-leaf manuscripts, Jain manuscripts, the Mughal school (Akbar's atelier, Jahangir's natural studies), Rajasthani schools (Mewar, Bundi, Kishangarh), Pahari schools (Basohli, Kangra), Deccani painting
• Company painting; Raja Ravi Varma; the Bengal School (Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose); Amrita Sher-Gil
• Folk and tribal painting: Madhubani, Warli, Pattachitra, Kalamkari, Gond, Phad

Performing arts

• Bharata's Natyashastra and the theory of rasa
• The eight classical dance forms recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (see the table below)
• Hindustani and Carnatic music; ragas and talas; dhrupad, khayal, thumri; the gharana system; Tansen, Amir Khusrau, Tyagaraja
• Folk dance, folk theatre and puppetry: Nautanki, Ramlila, Raslila, Jatra, Tamasha, Yakshagana

Literature

• Vedic literature: the four Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads
• The epics and Puranas; Buddhist (Tripitaka in Pali) and Jain (Agamas) canons
• Sangam literature in Tamil
• Classical Sanskrit: Kalidasa, Bhasa, Banabhatta; Kautilya's Arthashastra; scientific works (Aryabhata, Charaka, Sushruta)
• Medieval literature: Bhakti and Sufi poetry (Kabir, Surdas in Braj, Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi, Mirabai), Amir Khusrau, Persian histories (Ain-i-Akbari, Akbarnama)
• Modern literature: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore (Gitanjali; Nobel Prize 1913), Premchand, Ghalib, Muhammad Iqbal, Subramania Bharati

Heritage and its protection

• Archaeological Survey of India (1861) and the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India and the Intangible Cultural Heritage list (Kumbh Mela was inscribed in 2017)
• Bodies that promote the arts: Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi

Overlaps

Uttar Pradesh's own art, architecture, museums and archaeology are in General Studies V, and the Prelims General Studies Paper I asks objective questions on the same heritage.