印度建筑(Indian architecture)

印度次大陆过去和现在的建筑传统。印度建筑的历史至少始於西元前第2千纪，主要具宗教的功能。印度最早的建筑物是佛教和印度教的庙宇，初为木造，後用砖造。到了西元前4世纪，石头成为一般通用的建筑材料；此後一系列的印度文化在刻凿和营造石材建筑物方面获得了高度的技巧。建造了大型窣堵波，在硬质山岩中刻凿出庙宇和寺院。笈多王朝时期（西元4～6世纪）寺庙建筑发展迅速，常有雕刻精美的带形装饰。北印度建筑的特色在於，庙宇都有一座装饰丰富的塔（参阅sikhara），7～11世纪这种风格达到了顶峰。11和12世纪，伊斯兰教传入印度，从而引进典型的穆斯林建筑形式（圆顶、尖拱）和装饰。「泰姬.玛哈陵」便是16～18世纪穆斯林蒙兀儿王朝统治的结果（参阅Mughal architecture）。欧洲殖民以及後来英国统治印度引进了欧洲风格的建筑艺术。

English version：

Indian architecture

Building traditions of the Indian subcontinent, dating back to at least the 2nd millennium BC. Indian architecture has traditionally been primarily religious. The earliest Indian buildings were Buddhist and Hindu temples made of wood and then brick. By the 4th century BC, stone had become popular, and successive cultures acquired great skill in carving and construction. Large stupas were built, along with cave temples and monasteries carved out of solid rock. The Gupta period (4th-6th century AD) saw the rapid development of temple architecture, often decorated with bands of elaborate carving. northern India's most characteristic structure, a temple with a heavily decorated tower (see sikhara), reached its stylistic height in the 7th-11th century. The extension of Islam into India in the 11th-12th century introduced typical Muslim architectural forms (e.g., the dome and pointed arch) and decoration. Such masterworks as the Taj Mahal resulted from the rule of the Muslim Mughal dynasty in the 16th-18th century (see Mughal architecture). European colonization and British rule introduced European building styles.