Architecture as a Manifest of the Culture of a Region

Dr. Aruna Ramani Grover

Professor, Department of Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India

Abstract
This paper attempts to show a connection between Culture and its impact in
shaping the Architecture of a region. Using examples both well known and
obscure, it demonstrates that architecture is a unique manifest of culture and
this truism is valid since ancient times to the present. It demonstrates how
religious practice and beliefs, politics and political will, war and defense,
technology of a civilization, perception of privacy and personal need,
institutions like family, marriage, caste system and forms of recreations cause
buildings to be created and imprint it in unique ways.

1.0 Introduction
Man interacts with nature for his basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. How
intelligently he does it, is a measure of his culture. Architecture is created, when man
interacts with nature, to produce shelter for a specific activity relevant to his existence,
within the framework of his culture. So, when he builds, he is restricted by the social
codes of his culture, helped by the level of technology and curtailed by the pressures
of the climatic zone he lives in. Thus, architecture is not a process of assembling
material in response to some specific functional need, but doing so within the cultural
context of that time. Culture, has been defined, as the total equipment of ideas and
institutions and conventionalized activities of a people implying that the way we
perceive our world, directly influences the way we build. (Redfield, 1953: 33)

Yet, the houses we live in are not similar to our palaces. Not only does this apply to
shelter, but to clothing and food as well; for the cuisine served on Easter, is not eaten
daily and what women wear to work, is not what they get married in. This underlying
difference has been understood as the classical and the vernacular, the grand design
and the folk tradition. Rapaport states that … buildings of the grand design
tradition are built to impress the populace with the power of the patron. The
folk tradition (on the other hand) is the direct and unselfconscious translation
into physical form of a culture, its needs and values as well as the desires,
dreams and passions of a people. (Rapaport,1969:21). It suggests therefore, that
the yardsticks for the two are different, and what is an acceptable standard for one
may not be adequate for the other. The classical built form is set aside for the special,
higher, superior requirements of the culture, whereas the vernacular represents the


Published in SPACE – The SPA Journal of Planning and Architecture 16:01 68-81, June; ISNN 0970-0706
major built environment. But, the underlying fact to be observed is that the two
complement each other and are within the cultural framework of that civilization.

The Egyptians, who belonged to one of the oldest civilizations of the world, built many
permanent funerary buildings in stone for their dead Pharaohs. Yet, the same Pharaoh
who was responsible for them lived in buildings made out of mud bricks, timber and
reed matting. To-date, archaeologists have discovered no significant Pharonic palace
to dispute this view. What prevented him from building palaces using the same
materials he used for the funerary buildings? The answer lies in the cultural perception
of the civilization. Life after death and preparation for it was the central theme around
which the entire Pharonic civilization evolved. The Western bank of the Nile in ancient
Thebes, only comprised monuments for the dead, and all agricultural income accruing
from it went towards the maintenance of the tombs and rituals for the dead. It has been
aptly said-live on the east bank, die on the west (T G S James, 1980)

What then are the various aspects of culture which cause buildings to be created?
What influences the way they are built? Some aspects dealt with in this paper are:
 Religious practice and beliefs.
 Politics and political will.
 War and defense.
 Level of technology of a civilization.
 Perception of privacy and personal need.
 Institutions like family, marriage, caste system etc.
 Notions of recreation and leisure

2.0 Religious practice and beliefs

Between AD 800-1200, the area around present day Bhubhaneshwar, saw
tremendous building activity. Over a span of four centuries as many as a hundred
temples were built,... when the builders, the rulers, the priests and the people
were over-powered by their faith which found expression in the production of
the monuments (Brown, 1956: 89) When highlighted against the fact, that there is,
as of today, not one palace complex of the rulers who made it possible, the key role of
religion in their lives is underlined. Even today, some of the temples in this region like
the Lingaraj temple in Bhubhaneshwar and Lord Jagannath temple in Puri draw
thousands of pilgrims. Food, made as daily offering to the deity, is eaten as prashad
by the devotees as it is considered as a path to salvation. This prashad is dried and
sold in shops outside the temple, so that it can be carried home. In response, the
temple boasts of the largest kitchen in the world, where fires are never put out even at
night. Everyday fifty-six dishes are offered to the deity and it is said, that one hundred
thousand people can be fed at a time.
Visual 1: Kedar Ghat as Varanasi
Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Kedar_Ghat_in_Varanasi.jpg/127
3px-Kedar_Ghat_in_Varanasi.jpg

The belief that a dip in the Ganges is a path to salvation has caused Hindus to go on
pilgrimage to the towns of Haridwar, Rishikesh and Benares which have been built
primarily around this belief. The ghat, a set of steps on the river bank which enables
the pilgrim to take a dip, is peculiar to Indian cities (visual 1 and 2). Nowhere in the
world, is this interface between land and water, so developed for the single purpose of
a holy bath. Furthermore, the area around the ghat has temples and dharmashalas,
evolving around the pilgrim and his personal needs. The role played by religion, did
not stop at evolution and shape of towns. The dhams of Gangotri, Yamunotri,
Badrinath and Kedarnath in the Himalayas, had to be reached on foot, till very
recently. All along the pilgrim route, small hamlets have developed. They were so
sited along the pilgrim route, that after walking for a couple of hours, the pilgrim was
able to rest or refresh himself. At night, travelers would be offered food, or facilities to
cook, and a place to sleep. The pilgrim was a major source of income for the people
living in these hamlets, so the morphology of the entire region evolved around his
needs.
Visual 2: Evening prayers on the Har ki Pauri ghat of the Ganges at Haridwar
Source:http://www.hindustantimes.com/images/httravel/multimedia/asset/a_haridwar19.jpg

In the west too, the Church played a key role in the lives of the medieval people. A
disproportionate amount of time and money was spent on the construction and
upkeep of these cathedrals. Man has forever been fascinated by the House of God.
Be they temple towns, temples or churches, they have been finely detailed at one end
and awe-inspiring on the other. The jewel-like stained glass of Gothic cathedrals, the
beautiful ceilings of renaissance churches, the fine sculpture work on temple
shikharas and the iridescent tile work on the mosque domes, demonstrate men's faith
and reflect the significant role religion plays in his culture.

3.0 Politics and political will

Venice, a set of islands on the Adriatic Sea, is a typical example of how political vision
can be the cause of a great civilization and as a consequence, of exquisite
architecture. The attack of the Huns on the Roman Empire caused its citizens to flee
to the islands of the Venetian lagoon and settle there. After years of struggle they
formed a united state with St. Marks as their patron. The Basilican church of St. Mark
was started in AD 810 and received the sepulcher containing the body of St. Marks
after a "pious theft". The apostle Marks had been chosen, as according to legend he
had taken refuge on these islands during a storm, when an angel appeared and said
"Peace be unto thee, Mark my apostle". After his death he was buried in Alexandria.
Using the legend as an excuse to rectify the final resting place of the saint, Venetian
traders stole his mortal remains, and smuggled it out of Alexandria. On the journey
back to Venice, a furious storm broke out and the ship was saved only after St. Mark
intervened. The body was then brought to Venice and placed in the Basilica after a
grand festival.

This Basilica was to become an important aspect of city life. Venice placed
strategically on the Mediterranean Sea could become an important link on the old silk
route, if it had enough trading rights. Their political leaders maneuvered for just this
when opportunity came their way. The Holy Crusades fought by the Muslims and the
Christians from 1095 were used by the Venetians to fill their coffers. From the First
Crusade, the cunning Venetians regularly alchemized religious enthusiasm into gold
and silver. Leasing their ships, officers, and crew for high rentals in the form of money
and trading rights; they gained a foothold on important Mediterranean ports. As a
consequence, there was a rapid and widespread expansion leading to an economic
boom. The coffers of the city were filled. This money was primarily spent in beautifying
the city and its greatest edifice, the Cathedral of San Marco, for it had been realized
that its role in Venetian life was to weld the people together under the protective
banner of St. Mark and to provide a focus for both religious and patriotic
feeling, a place where Venetians could become ... one. (Davis, 1973: 23)

As fire had destroyed the Basilican church, it was rebuilt and consecrated with great
pomp and piety. Over the next five hundred years, it was beautified and filled with
expensive and rare objects as the Republic became richer and richer. In the fifteenth
and sixteenth century, the plaza in front of the church was beautified, for the concept
of the city as a beautiful work of art had gained momentum in Europe. So the Piazza
San Marco with the church at its focus became one of the most beautiful urban
artifacts of Europe due to the political wisdom of their leaders.

Closer home, in our own past is the story of Chandigarh. When Punjab was divided
during the partition, and Lahore, its capital lost to Pakistan, India had to build a new
state capital for Punjab. Jawaharlal Nehru, a forward thinking leader and the then
Prime Minister of India felt that a capital for a new republic must be built without any
reference to the past. It must celebrate India's new status as a liberated, democratic
and forward looking nation. Le Corbusier, a French architect designed and executed
the capital city and its major buildings by using the International Style (visual 3).
Today, the city of Chandigarh is much criticized; for its lack of Indian-ness, for a
Visual 3: Secretariat Building at Chandigarh
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Secretariat_Chandigarh.jpg

universal language of form without any reference to context or culture. Some of the
housing has been criticized as inappropriate for Indian culture and family life (Brolin
1976), and the commercial areas have come under criticism because they lack the
intense and colorful life of the Indian market place. Notwithstanding all these issues it
has been universally acknowledges that the advent of the Indian Modern Movement
and its new attitude towards building design and construction was a direct
consequence of the creation of Chandigarh.

4.0 War and defense

Medieval Rajasthan was dotted with fortified towns, as warfare and strife was a way
of life with them. The town of Chittor was considered by the Rajputs as impregnable
because of its site. The fort built on top of a seven mile long hillock, covering 700
acres of land, has temples, towers, palaces and lakes and is surrounded by a flat
landscape of agricultural fields. The road up to the fort zigzags steeply for a mile
passing through seven gateways, each a strong point with a watchtower and an iron
spiked door. Despite its seeming impregnability, the fort was defeated and sacked
three times between the twelfth and sixteenth century. The fort's first defeat was in
1303, at the hands of Allaudin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi, the second in 1535, at the
hands of Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, when Udai Singh, the baby prince was saved by
the bravery of his nurse Panna. The last and final defeat was in 1567, at the hands of
the Mughal Emperor Akbar, when Rana Udai Singh supposedly fled like a coward
leaving the fort in the hands of his general. This, however, is not true.

Visual 4: Pleasure palace in Pichola Lake, Udaipur

Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Udaipur_Lake_India.JPG/1024px
-Udaipur_Lake_India.JPG

With the success of the siege of 1535, it had become clear to the Rana that this
important fort could no longer be maintained as the capital of Mewar, when all the
neighbouring states had become vassals of the Mughal court. On hearing of Akbar's
plan to attack Chittor, Udai Singh left the fort in the able hands of his general Jaimal,
and as per plan withdrew to the safety offered by the site of the new capital in the
Aravalli hills. In 1559, Udai Singh had already created an artificial lake by damming
the course of a perennial stream, some seventy miles south-west of Chit tor, in a
fertile valley surrounded by a ring of high hills, a natural fort many miles in diameter.
Built around a series of lakes at various levels, the town of Udaipur nestles like a gem
in a valley surrounded by the green hills. The fortified city built on a series of hillocks
has five entrance gates. The major palaces are around the Pichola Lake. At strategic
points on the hill tops, visible from the shores of the lake, are sentry points from where
constant watch could be kept on the valley beyond the hills. This would give the Rana
and his select band of warriors, ample time to escape into the hills or prepare for an
attack without any warning to the enemy. Even after a token defeat in 1614, at the
hands of the Mughals, the Rana did not have to surrender any territory or present
himself at the royal court at Delhi. Jehangir the Mughal Emperor was satisfied enough
to greet the crown prince Karan Singh, with a shower of presents and hospitality.

This city, often called the Venice of the east has a series of pleasure palaces, built on
the islands of the Pichola lake (visual 4). No other Rajput city can boast of similar
pleasures, as their rulers were too preoccupied serving as military commanders or
regional governors to the Mughal court, to have time to indulge in pleasure. According
to Gascognie (2002), in 1623, Prince Khurram who was fleeing from Akbar’s armies
after an unsuccessful rebellion, asked Rana Karan Singh's refuge for himself and his
family, as he was sure of his safety here. Karan Singh lodged him in one of the
pleasure palaces, the Jag Mandir for four months. Surely, no better example of
appropriate architecture for defense could be found in the annals of civilization.

5.0 Level of Technology of a Civilization

The level of technology of a civilization too, determines what is built and how. The
Mesopotamian civilization on the banks of Euphrates and Tigris, flourished between
5000-2000 BC. Building materials like timber and stone, and fuel for firing bricks were
not available. Sun-dried bricks were used for the construction of temples, palaces,
ziggurats and fortifications. Yet, two thousand years later, after the end of the
Mesopotamian civilization, Nebuchadnezzar built the city of Neo-Babylon on the
banks of the Tigris. Here, the king of Biblical fame, created a big city where all the
major buildings were made of fired bricks by importing fuel, for he had the resource of
a vast empire. This famous city, one of the wonders of the world, had palaces,
temples, city gates, and hanging gardens made of bricks and decorated with glazed
bricks in brilliant colours and textures. Against the monotonous geometry of
otherwise undecorated clay buildings and the monochrome of an alluvial
landscape, the glittering wall-faces must have acquired an exaggerated
brilliance. (Seton Llyod, 1963: 25)

Till before the Industrial Revolution, cities were restricted to a particular size with the
work place being integral to the house. With the coming of the automobile, cities have
grown in size as it is possible to live at the fringe of the city and move 'towards its core
to the now separate work place. The nature of the work place too, has changed
dramatically. In response to the complex economic scenario of modem times,
factories, commercial centers, banks and other such institutions have become
essential to the city. The car, the airplane and the railway, while shrinking distances,
have altered the face of the city by requiring a system of roads and rails, and specific
building-types like the airport and the railway station. Industrial townships, ports,
warehouses and such buildings became essential for a world which relies so heavily
on the products of industry. At the level of architecture too, this era of technology has
brought many changes. The use of steel as building material and the bulk
manufacture of glass as a factory made product has given rise to the skyscraper for
living and working. Reinforced concrete, a versatile material, both in terms of its
plasticity and strength had enabled the building of domes and shells, skyscrapers and
flyovers, underground tunnels and dams.

Visual 5: Baha'i House of Worship in New Delhi

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/LotusDelhi.jpg

One such technological marvel is the Baha'i House of Worship in New Delhi (visual
5). Designed as a lotus, with three rings of petals of varying size, made out of
concrete shells and clad with white marble, the temple can seat about two thousand
people. Light filters in and out through a series of skylights cleverly built between the
petal rings. The cladding of the shell with marble was one of the major precision works
undertaken in this building. Each piece of marble was cut and shaped to fit on the
double parabolic curved surface of the shell. As no two marble pieces had the same
geometry, each of them was assigned a code number corresponding to its exact
location on the shell! And this was done for each of the twenty-seven shells of the
roof! The entire program of construction took six years and was possible because of
modern technology and management techniques. Surely such a building was
impossible to contemplate a hundred years ago.

6.0 Institutions like family, marriage and caste system.

Perceptions of privacy and personal needs are factors that affect architecture. Every
culture has its own perceptions of acceptable level of privacy and it varies with place
and time. As mentioned earlier, rivers considered holy in India have ghats where
people bathe throughout the year. It is a normal practice even today, for both men and
women to bathe, change and wash clothes on the ghats without it being considered
immodest. The same cannot be said for the area around the swimming pool in the
urban context. Change rooms, baths and dressing areas are provided to ensure a
great level of privacy for similar functions.

In the villages of north India, even today the courtyard of the house plays a key role
for the family. The rooms are arranged around it and a blank wall or the baithak or
living room faces the street. The baithak is used to entertain men folk. The joint family
operates as a cohesive unit and the use of space within the house is
multivalent-changing from day to night and season to season. This is true irrespective
of economic status of the family in question. In Indian cities however, due to a
changed perception of the term 'privacy', it is common to find individuals having a
room or space for himself. More than one toilet is provided, spaces are univalent with
a specific place to study, sleep, eat, entertain and watch television. In medieval
Europe royalty had an elaborate morning ritual. The French king, Louis XV was
woken up in the morning by privileged members of his court. Each of them would
hand over a specific item of clothing so that the king could dress. According to Hibbert
(1972), to be given this privilege was considered the highest form of honour conferred
by the king. Today however, it would be an unheard of practice for any head of state!

Institutions like purdah, caste and marriage also impact the form of the house. In the
polygamous tribal house compound of Africa, the man had no hut for himself. Each
wife had her hut where she lived with her children and the husband visited her on
specific days. On the contrary, in monogamous situations, the most prominent hut
belonged to the head of the family. In Islamic societies, as polygamy was permitted,
there were distinct male and female areas in the house to ensure privacy to the
women of the joint family. The case of Royal Complex at Fatehpur Sikri is typical in
this regard. In the Diwani-Khas, Akbar's palace forms one boundary to the court. His
palace consists of a bedroom and a library overlooking the water pavilion. The
women's quarter known as Jodhabhai's palace today is in the interior. The king's
chamber is connected with the palace by means of a covered first floor gallery
approached by a staircase in the intermediate court. This gallery also connects to the
Panch Mahal or the five storied pleasure pavilion overlooking the Diwan-i-Khas. No
courtier could thus meet any of the ladies of the harem.

The Indian caste system has given rise to different quarters being assigned to various
castes in a village, with separate chaupals or meeting places and wells for each
caste. In traditional villages of the past in Tamil Nadu, the Brahmin quarter-called an
agraharam, comprised two rows of houses facing each other. Each end of the street
would terminate with a temple of Shiva and Vishnu respectively. No untouchable was
allowed into the agraharam. Each of the other three castes had a threshold point to
which they could enter the Brahmin house, with the kitchen being sacrosanct.
Preservation of purity was inviolable and during the first three days of their menstrual
cycle, women were not allowed beyond the first threshold as it was felt that they were
ritualistically impure. They entered the house on the fourth day, only after a holy bath.
The house was designed to accommodate these requirements.

7.0 Notions of recreation and leisure.

Buildings for sports and leisure are yet another significant aspect of every civilization.
The Olympiad and Asiad are international sports meets of today. The Olympic games
played once in four years and hosted by a different country every time calls for
tremendous building activity in the host country. The Asian games require the same at
a smaller scale. The Asiad of 1982 saw colossal building activity in the city of New
Delhi. Several hotels, stadia, flyovers and housing facilities for the athletes were put
up amidst a big building boom.

The citizens of Ancient Rome, the capital of the world's largest empire, were great
soldiers and sportsmen attributing their success to physical fitness. Sports in the form
of gladiator fights, animal combat and chariot races were considered as essential
training for a nation of soldiers. As a consequence, the city of Rome had a large
number of amphitheatres, circuses and stadia. Each emperor added new buildings to
gain fame. They were so popular, that citizens spent most afternoonswatching and
cheering their public heroes in the state organized events. The Romans who were the
richest citizens of the world had a working day which was over by noon (Toyenbee,
1967: 135). One such amphitheatre-the Colosseum, considered by historians as a
significant achievement in architecture, could seat fifty thousand spectators. In
addition to the normal arena sports, it was also used for naval exhibitions with the
arena filled with water. Another famous institution distinctive to the Roman civilization
was the thermae or the public bath, similar to the modern day health club. It was not
only used for bathing in luxury but was resorted to for news and gossip, and served as
a rendezvous of social life, besides being used for lectures, debates, and athletic
sports. The baths were available free of charge for all Roman citizens and two hours
of the day were specifically earmarked for women.

In over seven thousand years of existence of man on earth, each civilization has built
cities and buildings in response to its culture. What may be a crucial and relevant
building type for one culture may be irrelevant to another because buildings not only
offer shelter from the elements and the enemy but often perform the role of cultural
symbols of a civilization. The fact that culture is a living vibrant entity changing with
time and place is often ignored by the contemporary professional. As Fathy has aptly
said Every people... has evolved its own favorite (building) forms as peculiar as its
language, its dress, or its folklore... and the buildings are the beautiful children of a
happy marriage between the culture of the people and their countryside. (Fathy:
1973:19)

8.0 References
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Brolin, B.C. (1976),The Failure of Modern Architecture, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co,
London.

Brown, Percy (1956), Indian Architecture-Buddhist and Hindu, Taraporewala and

Sons Co. Pvt. Ltd., Bombay.

Curtis, William JR (1985), The Ancient in the Modem, in Architecture in India, Electra
France, Paris.

Davis, John H. (1973), Venice, Wonder of Man Series, Newsweek Publications, New
York.

Fathy, H (1973), Architecture for the Poor, The University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, USA.

Fletcher, Banister 18th edition, (1986), A History of Architecture, CBS Publishers

and Distributors, New Delhi.

Gascognie, B. (2002), Brief History of the Great Moghuls, Robinson Publishing,

London,

Hibbert, C. (1972), Versailles, Wonders of Man Series, Newsweek Publications,

New York.

James, T.G.H (1980) Ancient Egypt-The land and its Legacy, British Museum
Publication, London.

Llyod, S. (1963), Ancient and Classical Architecture, Hamlyn Publishing Group

Ltd., London.

Mishra, K.C. (1971), The Cult of Jagannatha, Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta.

Rapoport, A. (1969), House Form and Culture, Prentice-Hall International INC, New
Jersey.

Redfield, R. (1953), The Primitive World and its Transformations, Cornell

University Press, New York.

Toynbee, A. (editor) (1967), Cities of Destiny, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.
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