BUILDING PRACTICES

The Urn Tomb is one of the Royal Tombs of Petra, Jordan. It is considered to be the tomb of the Nabataean king ‘Malchus the Second’. It was later captured by the Byzantine empire and converted into a church.

The Urn Tomb derived its name from the ‘Jar that Crowns the Pediment’. It is also called by the Bedouin (local animal herders) Al-Mahkamah (court of justice).

The tomb is built on a high mountain side and requires climbing up a flight of stairs.

Nabataeans appear to have placed much more importance on the housing, protection and commemoration the deceased. Furthermore, the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead seemed to be fluid at those times which gave rise to such elaborate building practices of homes for the dead.

The Façade

1. The façade bears Nabataean capitals and have frieze figures on panels above it. These were to represent the Nabataean deities. These are false capitals for the purpose of elaborate ornamentation.

2. They were once plastered and painted which made them dynamic but today all of it seems to have withered off and only the sandstone remains with mere existence of the sculpted deities as well.

3. The tomb becomes the place where all the dead members of the same family are buried.

4. The niches in the façade between the columns were used as burial niches for less important family members.

5. The number of niches would depend on the number of members in the family. These became the integral part of the design.

6. The idea of ornamenting the facades was done by royal and rich families to commemorate their deceased members. The more is the ornamentation, the more important is the deceased person in the Nabataean society.

The Solstice Plan

1. With respect to the current plan of the Tomb, after climbing the stairs one reaches the top of the vaulted structure.

2. From there one can find himself in a deep courtyard with colonnades on both north and south sides of the main tomb.

3. In front is the large ornamented façade with the entrance to the tomb. Inside is a room which is considered to be the room of the deceased and is filled with his belongings.

4. The position of entrance opening has been calculated by studying the position of the sun and its rays such that it experiences the rays of the summer solstice sunset from the north-west, the winter solstice sunset from the south-west and the equinox sunset from the west to enter into the tomb.

5. The belief behind this is that the winter solstice setting sun brings with it the ‘rays of rebirth’ for the deceased.

6. All the niches inside the tomb, the openings and the position of the ornamentations of the façade are thus calculated according to the positions of the setting sun specifically.

The Colonnades

1. The Nabataeans would visit the tombs frequently and hold communal ceremonies outside the tomb thinking to entertain the dead.

2. Along with the ritualistic beliefs of including the dead in the celebrations, the colonnades were carved out seating spaces on the adjacent rocks which became large gathering spaces that allowed all sorts of people to come together for recreation, entertainment and discussions.

3. The tomb no longer remained a place of grief of the deceased but instead was converted into a lively celebratory space due to the affordance of the colonnades created in the main courtyard

Bhaja Caves are a group of 22 rock-cut dating back to the 2nd century BC located in the city of Lonavala, Maharashtra. The caves are 400 feet above the village of Bhaja, on an important ancient trade route running from the Arabian Sea eastward into the Deccan Plateau.

The caves have a number of stupas, one of their significant features. The most prominent excavation is its chaitya (or chaitya griha - Cave XII), a good example of the early development of this form from wooden architecture, with a vaulted horseshoe ceiling.

The columns here slope inward in the imitation of wooden architecture that would have been structurally necessary to keep a roof up.

Its vihara (Cave XVIII) has a pillared veranda in front and is adorned with unique reliefs. These caves are notable for their indications of the awareness of wooden architecture.

The Karla Caves, are a complex of ancient Buddhist Indian rock-cut caves at Karla near Lonavala, Maharashtra.

These caves have arisen near a major ancient trade route, running eastward from the Arabian Sea into the Deccan Plateau.

Many traders and Satavahana rulers made grants for construction of these caves. Karla's location in Maharashtra places it in a region that marks the division between North India and South India.

Buddhists, having become identified with commerce and manufacturing through their early association with traders, tended to locate their monastic establishments in natural geographic formations close to major trade routes so as to provide lodging houses for travelling traders.

Acoustics of the Hall

1. The idea of caves as homes and worship places for monks was because the caves provided splendid isolation for meditation, asceticism and frugal lifestyle.

2. The height of the Chaitya halls was usually 4- 5 times the height of humans.

3. This was mainly because the caves with semi-circular roofs provided excellent acoustics and allowed the chants to echo and create a calming experience for the meditator. At the same time the usage of wood extensively on the entrance absorbed the outside noise thereby allowing a quieter experience on the inside of the hall.

The Vihara

1. The viharas of the Caves consist of a veranda which further narrow down into individual cells for resting.

2. The veranda became an important communication node among the travellers, traders and monks for discussions and thus became a knowledge exchanging space as well as space for repose.

Rainwater harvesting

1. Since these caves were situated in mountains, they practised rain water harvesting due to the waterfalls. They built tanks on the ground at specific places where the waterfall was expected every year.

2. This enabled collection of water to an extent that it would suffice the monks for the rest of the years.

3. Also, they carved channels on the ground to let the excess water drain out and keep the area dry.

The Porch at Karla

1. The porch is one of the features which was made in the Karla caves. It is at the entrance of the Chaitya Hall. Since it was a 5.2m wide area, it acted as a place of repose as well as shelter for the travelers and traders.

2. It is heavily carved out with the stories assumed to be the Jataka tales which helped the travelers understand the meaning of the place and its morals.