History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c29.s2.t1: Stone and Rock Architecture
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c29.s2.t1
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Stone and Rock Architecture
v1.c29.s2.t1.1
Choice of stone for large structures depends upon its hardness, toughness, porosity, strength and its internal structure (property on which depends the ease or difficulty in quarrying and dressing).
v1.c29.s2.t1.2
*Harappan:* Though man came in contact with stone in pre-historic times its earliest systematic use in India came around Harappan times when massive rough stone walls of unhewn stone were raised. Sometimes these are ten to fifteen feet high. These were built across the course of seasonal streams apparently as a crude effort intended to conserve an intermittently abundant flood water.
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Exclusive use of stone and rubble was made for raising fortification at Surkotda, an Harappan site in Kutch, dating to 2100-1600 B.C.
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Use of certain pieces of worked stone at Harappan sites suggest as if these were segments of pillars, but it is not clear whether these were employed structurally. However hammer dressed lime stone slabs were occasionally found covering brick drains. Probably such blocks were quarried with copper - bronze chisels and hammers of stone. Transport of such blocks would have required exacting team work.
v1.c29.s2.t1.5
Iron age megaliths (datable to c. 1000 B.C.) have a large expanse from the extreme south, throughout most part of peninsula. This culture worked with various rocks in which granite and gneiss predominate. In the Malabar coastal laterites, small rocks cut chambers are found. Some times these chambers are approached by an entrance from above and covered with a cap stone. Some of these chambers have vaulted roofs.
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Some megalithic graves show stone alignment, comprising carefully oriented rows of standing stones, set in a square or diagonal plan. The standing stones are generally 1.5 to 2.4 meter in height, but occasionally examples of over 6 meter height are recorded. Small alignments have been reported with as few as three rows of three stones, four rows of four stones, five rows of five stones etc. But sometimes large diagonal alignments with many hundreds of standing stones are reported from Gulbarga district. These monuments are mainly distributed in Central Deccan and in the districts South Hyderabad.
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*Rajgir :* On the top of the Vaibhara hill at Rajgir, there is a remarkable stone structure locally known as *masān* (watch tower) called *Jarāsandha-kī-Baithak*, a monument noticed by Huien-Tsang. It is usually identified as the residence of Pippala and Mahākṣapa of Buddhist tradition: this monument is the earliest structure of stone in India. These are watch towers - providing shelter for the guards. It is in the form of a large rectangular platform 85 ft.x81 ft at the base and 22 to 28 feet high.
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It is built of large unhewn blocks of stone set in the rock without any mortar and contains near the base several small irregularly shaped cells on all sides. Its walls, like those of rectangular bastions of the outer city walls of old Rajgir have a slight batter.
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*Śiśupālgarh*: There has been massive use of laterite blocks and pillars at Śiśupālgarh. Laterite blocks of an average size 6x2x1 feet have been recovered from Western Gateway (SP IV). Further towards the centre of the fort, there is group of sixteen pillars of laterite, some still intact. The average height of the pillars above the ground is 14-15 feet.