INDIAN ARCHITECTURE: SCENARIO AT THE DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE

At the time of Independence of India, the challenge was to create an image of a progressive nation through the mode of architectural expression to celebrate nation's independence. Though it couldn't happen right away as the majority of Indian architects at the time of independence were under the influence of architecture of the Britishers or were working in the architectural firms established by British architects. So, the change was gradual with its inception in pre- independence era of 1930s and 1940s, when some of the foreign architects designed and executed their projects with European expressionism and Bauhaus thinking in the country. But these were isolated efforts and could not take the shape of an architectural movement. These waves of rationalist thoughts kept on smoldering with war between the Revivalist and the Rationalists thoughts propagators throughout 1940s as well as at the time of independence and immediately after it. The journey progressed further with the arrival of foreign trained Indian architects. They brought with them ideas of modernism and thinking of Bauhaus rationalism. This movement further got expedited when the political patronage threw its weight behind rationalist thoughts over the Revivalist by inviting international Master ofModern Architecture to design on the Indian soil. Thus, this study is an effort to throw the light on the journey of Indian architecture from Swadeshi movement of 1930's to Rationalist Modern architecture immediately after independence