NCERT Solutions for Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 10 A Journey Through Indian Architecture
Updated on 2026-09-05
About this chapter
Indian architecture begins with the Harappan cities — planned streets, standardised bricks, bathing areas in almost every house, and a drain network that carried used water out of the city. Builders used what the land gave them: brick in the alluvial plains, stone at Dholavira where stone was local. New forms followed new faiths. The stupa (aṇḍa, vedikā, toraṇa, pradakṣhiṇa) appeared with Buddhism from the 4th–3rd century BCE; rock-cut caves were carved into hillsides for worship, residence and assembly; and from the Gupta era the classical temple emerged, with its garbhagṛiha, maṇḍapas and śhikhara or vimāna. A temple is not only a building: it is planned on the body of Puruṣha , the cosmic being — tower for the head, platform for the feet — and worship is a journey from the outer world a
- Chapter opener
- Rock-Cut Architecture
- Classical Temple Architecture
- Forts and Palaces
- Tombs and Mausoleums
- Traditional Houses
- Colonial Architecture / end of chapter
- End of chapter
Exercises
- Chapter opener — The Big Questions Page 85
- Rock-Cut Architecture — LET’S EXPLORE Page 95
- Classical Temple Architecture — LET’S EXPLORE Page 100
- Classical Temple Architecture — LET’S EXPLORE Page 103
- Classical Temple Architecture — LET’S EXPLORE Page 104
- Forts and Palaces — LET’S REMEMBER Page 109
- Tombs and Mausoleums — DON’T MISS OUT Page 115
- Traditional Houses — LET’S EXPLORE Page 118
- Colonial Architecture / end of chapter — Before we move on … Page 123
- End of chapter — Questions and activities Page 124