CHAPTER
CHAPTER
RULERS AND BUILDINGS
Between the eighth and the eighteenth centuries, kings and their officers built two kinds of structures: the first were forts, palaces and tombs - safe, protected and grandiose places of rest and the second were structures meant for public activity including temples, mosques, tanks, wells, caravan serais and bazaars. Kings were expected to look after their subjects, and by making structures for their use and comfort, rulers hoped to win their praise. Construction activity was also carried out by others including merchants. They built temples, mosques and wells. However, domestic architecture - large mansions (havelis) of merchants - has survived only from the eighteenth century.
Twenty-two point one. Engineering Skills and Construction
Twenty-two point one. Engineering Skills and Construction
Monuments provide an insight into the technologies used for construction. Take something like a roof for example. We can make it by placing wooden beams or a slab of stone across four walls. But the task becomes difficult if we want to make a large room with an elaborate superstructure. This requires more sophisticated skills.
Between the seventh and tenth centuries, architects started adding more rooms, doors and windows to buildings. Roofs, doors and windows were still made by placing a horizontal beam across two vertical columns, a style of architecture called "trabeate" or "corbelled". Between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, the trabeate style was used in the construction of temples, mosques, tombs and buildings attached to large stepped-wells.
Visit some old temples or Masjids near your place and look for examples of trabeate style (style in which the roof is supported by beams placed on pillars).
This style of supporting the roofs required placing pillars near each other and large open halls could not be built. Can you figure out why?