Editing Architecture of India (section)

=== Corbel arches ===
Corbel arches in India date from [[Indus Valley civilisation]] which used corbel arch to construct drains and have been evidenced at Mohenjo daro, Harappa, and Dholavira.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdeSBQAAQBAJ&q=corbel+arch+mohenjo+daro&pg=PA28|title=Across the Pacific: From Ancient Asia to Precolombian America|last=Lemoy|first=Christian|date=2011|publisher=Christian Lemoy|isbn=9781599425825|language=en}}</ref>

The oldest arches surviving in Indian architecture are the [[gavaksha]] or "[[chaitya]] arches" found in ancient rock-cut architecture, and agreed to be copied from versions in wood which have all perished. These often terminate a whole ceiling with a semi-circular top; wooden roofs made in this way can be seen in carved depictions of cities and palaces. A number of small early constructed temples have such roofs, using [[corbel]]led construction, as well as an [[apse|apsidal]] plan; the [[Trivikrama Temple]] at [[Ter, Maharashtra]] is an example. The arch shape survived into constructed Indian architecture, not as an opening in a wall but as a [[blind niche]] projection from a wall, that bears only its own weight. In this form it became a very common and important decorative motif on Hindu temples.<ref>Rowland, 44–45, 64–65, 113, 218–219; Harle, 48, 175</ref>

The "fundamental architectural principle of the constructed Hindu temple is always formulated in the trabeate order", that is to say using [[post and lintel]] systems with vertical and horizontal members.<ref>Michell, 82</ref>  According to George Michell: "Never was the principle of the arch with radiating components, such as voussoirs and keystones, employed in Hindu structures, either in India or in other parts of Asia. It was not so much that Hindu architects were ignorant of these techniques, but rather that conformance to tradition and adherence to precedents were firm cultural attitudes".<ref>Michell, 84</ref> Harle describes the true arch as "not unknown, but almost never employed by Hindu builders",<ref>Harle, 530, note 3 to chapter 30. See also 489, note 10</ref> and its use as "rare, but widely dispersed".<ref>Harle, 493, note 5</ref>
[[File:KITLV 88083 - Unknown - Mahabodhi stupa in the temple complex at the Buddhagaya Lilajan River in British India - 1897.tif|left|thumb|Pointed arch, Mahabodhi temple, 6th–7th century CE, Late-Gupta period. Photo 1897.]]