1/n Dear intelligent RW. First let me congratulate you - except for a few quacks & frauds claiming to be knowledgable. None of you fell for
2/n the bait. That said, it’s time we celebrate our architectural heritage, in its truest sense - not parochial chest thumping, but loving
3/n it for what it is. Sometimes the most humble things are the most beautiful that bring tears to my eyes. The sewage system of Mohenjo
4/n tells us that 4500 years back we cared more about human dignity & equity than we do today despite all our technology. The fact that IVC
5/n was such a beautifully egalitarian society, despite being the resource Saudi Arabia of its times. It was the only source of Tin till
6/n Cypriot reserves were discovered. Yet the wealth was spread evenly, despite rigid standardisation of weights and measures across an area
7/n larger than either Egypt or Sumer. In that sense IVC was the “Scandinavia” of its days, rich & socialistic, that seemed to survive w/out
8/n any major change of government or serious numismatic variation indicating incredible stability over thousands of years. Unlike Sumer
9/n or Egypt there are no signs of vainglorious human sacrifice (unlike medieval india) & our seafaring was world class. At any rate
10/n the Cypriot Tin discovery & climate change doomed it & we move onto a semi urban phase. Depending on where you place the vedas
11/n this would be the time, we created an empire of the spirit, recognising all paths & reconciling atheism, polytheism & agnosticism
12/n remember buildings may perish but ideas if they are strong will go on. And so we come to our second golden age, the mahajanapadas
13/n imagine way before Athens we come up with republics. They are not perfect - but we had adult suffrage - unlike Athens were only 1 in 7
14/n could vote. Thai is when ideas explode. The glory of india isn’t that “heresies” like Jainism or Buddhism were born, but that they had
15/n absolute freedom to say what they wished w/out consequence. They could shame today’s free speech advocates. That principle had already
16/n been established in the vedas. Like the IVC kings didn’t live in palaces - simply in larger houses. Mostly because this was egalitarian
17/n and wooden, much doesnt survive. But ours was never a culture to value vainglory. We invested in art & public works like the individual
18/n contributions to Sanchi (later era) for example. Again India was Scandinavia - high human value addition, as egalitarian as allowed
18/n there was however a dark kernel - how democracies destroy themselves as seen from the story of amarapali & the licchavi confederacy
19/n which is when you hate your neighbour more than an outsider you are doomed (rohingyas anyone). At any rate the architecture continued.
20/n as small exquisite pieces. These were never about size - they were about conveying no single point of view - no finality. In that sense
21/n they were essentially sculptures, with the architectural element being secondary. Because they minimised wastage on unskilled labour
22/n and prioritised highly skilled labour. In effect what you see is a duplication of high value economies with a large services footprint
23/n this continues through the monarchies defeating & absorbing the republics. Megasthenes for eg sees a society that remains egalitarian
24/n to follow tomorrow w
24/n but after this till & following the Gupta period something starts to change. This is when true “monumental” architecture begins but it
25/n is also when the stratification of society begins in earnest. The clearest view of this is from the Chinese. Faxian for example in the
26/n early Gupta phase sees caste mobility, yet after the Gupta collapse & vacuum 300 yrs later under Harsha, when Xuanzong visits caste has
27/n ossified into full on oppression. This is also the period when stone is diverted to palaces - the sites sign of resource capture by the
28/n elite & megalomania. But the Chinese still consider us the ONLY other civilised country, other than themselves. That ends by the 10th
29/n century when we are formally described as barbarians (though much is happening in China as a xenophobic backlash against Buddhism)
30/n this period sees 2 phases - accelerated temple and palace building, but internecine war among fragmented states followed by invasion
31/n & wanton destruction. The caste system already suffocating and unbearable when xuanzong wrote now becomes unbearable. Yet the size &
32/n sophistication of monument building grows. Curiously the biggest temple Tanjore is built when Ghazni invades from the North. Tanjore is
33/n built with slave labour after a horrifically destructive campaign the cholas carry out in Sri Lanka. By the time Ghazni has sacked
34/n Somnath, Rajendra Chola has pillaged the eastern coast upto Bengal, brought the Sri Lankan king a prisoner in chains, & in India’s
35/n (and the worlds) first long range power projection destroys the Sri Vijaya kingdom in a brutal but short campaign & built Gangaikonda
36/n notice - even when he is fighting the western chalukyas - neither of them pay attention to Ghazni & weaken each other further. The late
37/n Chola kings infinitely more megalomaniacal than Karaikala Chola who built Kallanai Dam in 200 AD. This pattern repeats across the subco
38/n notice the pattern here? More egalitarian LESS BIG monuments, more megalomania and resource capture MORE BIG monuments incl. temples
39/n I’m not getting into the Islamic period simply because its a sordid tale of destruction before the Mughals & creative destruction aftr
40/n so what lessons do we draw? 1) this thread hasn’t contradicted a single thing the #WhyIndianArchitectureWillNeverWin thread started.
41/n yet 2) it gives you an alternate explanation - which of course is the core of Hinduism - multiple truths. 3) egalitarianism leads to
42/n great civic architecture BUT & THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT BUT 4) Megalomania through resource capture produces better civic monuments in
43/n in the long run, earlier & more efficient, because resource capture has a powerful psychological-economic rationale all of its own.
44/n egalitarianism through its persistent refusal to reward high achievers enough will always lead decline till equilibrium is reached.
45/n so the answer to the 1st thread is NO india did NOT have the VOLUME, SPAN, HEIGHT etc that west got- BECAUSE our economic fundamentals
46/n were different. When we switched to a western resource capture model & moved TOWARDS VOLUME, SPAN, HEIGHT the caste system ossified &
47/n to the point that the social rewards afforded by a resource capture system were completely negated, thereby stunting progress. Surprise
48/n is, that it is Mughal society, PRECISELY BECAUSE of its extreme resource capture & social mobility, reinvigorates Indian architecture
49/n this is where the “Dome obsession” pointed out comes in. The dome has 2 features - a useful one and a useless one. But both linked
50/n A Dome is an arch spun 360 degrees. The SPAN function is critical for bridges etc. The SPIN function is pure megalomania/aesthetic
51/n but it also tells you how megalomania produces a public good - the more megalomaniacs drive the size of the dome for vainglory, the
52/n the more construction techniques improve in shorter periods. But these techniques transfer rapidly to bridge construction - span -
53/n public good. That’s why VOLUME is an important gauge of egalitarianism BEFORE domes & domes then assume the gauge role. This is where
54/n Mughal architecture comes in - the rapidity with which we go from the relatively crude Humayuns Dome to the horrendously difficult Taj
55/n Dome, also mirrors increasing stability after a 500 year period of exceptional violence & turmoil & corresponding resource capture
56/n but equally understand- THIS is what puts us ON PAR with western architecture, because the ECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS switch to a western
57/n model. In our system, even during peak resource capture of the early Rajputs, Chalukyas, Etc there were hard social limits to resource
58/n so whats the point of these two threads? 1) to show you the kind of quacks we celebrate as “indologists” in the RW who try to prove the
59/n unprovable & like GB Road and that other idiot shift the argument. Which is why they will NEVER be taken seriously academically.
60/n 2) Stop with this fucking inferiority complex that your parochialism betrays. We didn’t have volume, span, or height & it doesn’t make
61/n us any less of a civilisation. Our buildings were no match for Zarathustri Persia but they still considered us a great civilisation
62/62 & the Chinese considered us the ONLY OTHER civilisation. So stop acting like petulant children & grow the fuck up
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