Ancient Indian architecture is the architecture of the Indian subcontinent from the Bronze Age of India to around 800 AD. By then, Buddhism in India had declined a lot, Hinduism was dominant, religious and secular architectural styles appeared, and there were great regional differences, which were largely preserved until the arrival of the first Islam, after the great changes, then the Europeans.
Many ancient Indian buildings were built with wood. Wood is almost always spoiled or burned, or bricks are often demolished for reuse. Therefore, a large number of rock constructions in India basically started around 250 BC. C., is especially important, because most of it is obviously adapted to the form of contemporary architecture, leaving no examples. There are also some important sites where the plane survived and was excavated, but the upper part of the structure has disappeared.
In the Bronze Age the first cities emerged in the Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeology has unearthed urbanization phase from early Harappan in Kalibangan to the late Harappan phase when urbanization declined but was preserved in few pockets. The urbanization in the Gangetic plains began as early as 1200 BC with the emergence of fortified cities and appearance of Northern Black polished ware."[2][a][4] The Mahajanapada period was characterized by Indian coins and use of stone in the Indian architecture. The Mauryan period is considered as the beginning of the classical period of Indian architecture. Nagara and Dravidian architectural styles developed in the early medieval period with the rise of Hindu revivalism and predominant role of Hindu temple architecture in the Indian Subcontinent.