Water has had a deep association with humans and the cities that they build. Ancient civilizations developed along major rivers, and their cities were manifestations of the relationship of the people’s lives and the part that water played in it. Rivers, canals, waterways were the dynamic components of the cities. The Tigris, Euphrates and Niles are among a few rivers that have earned legendary status, not simply for their size and power, but because their waters link our present with ancient cities and cultures that originated on their banks. (Moore, 1995).
In Hindu religious texts and mythologies, water has been revered as the sacred element, the giver of life. The cult of water has been written about in Vedic as well as Puranic literature. …show more content…
Ancient civilizations developed along major rivers, and their cities were manifestations of the relationship of the people’s lives and the part that water played in it. Rivers, canals, waterways were the dynamic components of the cities. The Tigris, Euphrates and Niles are among a few rivers that have earned legendary status, not simply for their size and power, but because their waters link our present with ancient cities and cultures that originated on their banks. (Moore, 1995).
In Hindu religious texts and mythologies, water has been revered as the sacred element, the giver of life. The cult of water has been written about in Vedic as well as Puranic literature. The following is an excerpt from the Rig Veda :
Ya Apaodivya Ut Va Sravanti Khanitrima ut va yah swayamjah |
Samudrartha Yah Shuchayah pavakasta Apao Devirih Mamvantu ||
VII.49.2
The water which is created in the universe, the water which flows in the form of river etc, the water which comes from the digging of the wells, canals etc., the water which is self created in the form of waterfalls etc, who enters into the ocean and who is pure and …show more content…
James Ferguson ( (1876) wrote, “another object of architectural magnificence peculiar to northern Hindustan, is the construction of the Ghats that everywhere line the river-banks in most of the great cities, more especially those which are situated on the Ganges. Their object being to afford easy access to bathers, the flight of steps in front is in reality the Ghat, and the main object of erection.” He further talked about the architecture of the ghats, describing how the monotony of linear steps is broken by the presence of small projections crowned by kiosks, and the ghat acts like a basement to an ornamental upper storey that constitutes of a series of temples or other prominent buildings. Ferguson’s observation about the Indian association with the water edge was extremely apt, “Indeed there is scarcely a tank or a stream in all of India that is without its flight of steps, and it is seldom indeed that these are left without some adornment or an attempt at architectural display, water being always grateful in so hot a climate, and an especially favourite resort with a people so fond of washing and so cleanly in their habits as the
In Hindu religious texts and mythologies, water has been revered as the sacred element, the giver of life. The cult of water has been written about in Vedic as well as Puranic literature. …show more content…
Ancient civilizations developed along major rivers, and their cities were manifestations of the relationship of the people’s lives and the part that water played in it. Rivers, canals, waterways were the dynamic components of the cities. The Tigris, Euphrates and Niles are among a few rivers that have earned legendary status, not simply for their size and power, but because their waters link our present with ancient cities and cultures that originated on their banks. (Moore, 1995).
In Hindu religious texts and mythologies, water has been revered as the sacred element, the giver of life. The cult of water has been written about in Vedic as well as Puranic literature. The following is an excerpt from the Rig Veda :
Ya Apaodivya Ut Va Sravanti Khanitrima ut va yah swayamjah |
Samudrartha Yah Shuchayah pavakasta Apao Devirih Mamvantu ||
VII.49.2
The water which is created in the universe, the water which flows in the form of river etc, the water which comes from the digging of the wells, canals etc., the water which is self created in the form of waterfalls etc, who enters into the ocean and who is pure and …show more content…
James Ferguson ( (1876) wrote, “another object of architectural magnificence peculiar to northern Hindustan, is the construction of the Ghats that everywhere line the river-banks in most of the great cities, more especially those which are situated on the Ganges. Their object being to afford easy access to bathers, the flight of steps in front is in reality the Ghat, and the main object of erection.” He further talked about the architecture of the ghats, describing how the monotony of linear steps is broken by the presence of small projections crowned by kiosks, and the ghat acts like a basement to an ornamental upper storey that constitutes of a series of temples or other prominent buildings. Ferguson’s observation about the Indian association with the water edge was extremely apt, “Indeed there is scarcely a tank or a stream in all of India that is without its flight of steps, and it is seldom indeed that these are left without some adornment or an attempt at architectural display, water being always grateful in so hot a climate, and an especially favourite resort with a people so fond of washing and so cleanly in their habits as the