Architecture of the Age

Eastern India’s brick and terracotta traditions flourished under the Pal kings. Somapura offers the most visually commanding surviving ensemble, with a geometric arrangement of cells around a monumental central shrine.

Much royal architecture has not survived. Reconstructed court interiors or palaces used in contemporary illustrations should therefore be identified as interpretations rather than documentary views.

Although Somapura and Vikramashila were Buddhist institutions, their wider artistic environment included motifs and figures familiar to Hindu traditions. At the same time, Hindu temple sculpture and religious endowments form a vital part of the archaeological record.

The architecture is best studied through surviving fabric, archaeological plans and inscriptions. This site favours real locations over attractive but misleading invented maps or ruins.