Impact of Context on Decorative Arrays in Religious Buildings in India Case Study: Decorative arrays; the Cattle

Specific context of any ancient civilization, from the physical aspects up to its cultural and historical sides, distinct it from other civilizations. The special location and context of the land of India, is the basis of this different culture and the effects of it are seen in its historical buildings. Certainly the most important buildings that remained in India, like other great civilizations, are religious monuments. The predominated hot and humid climate in India as a side of context, for the people of this land has obtained relatively abundant resources. Fertile and lush natural areas of India had had a great boon for its people which became one of the most important factors in a high fantasy and stopping them to struggle hard for continuing life. Even in these times, it is also seen that natural substrate for the formation and growth of the social and cultural context, is balanced and has strong dependence of kind of their life. Now the question is: How does the context infect on of creating decorative embellishment and arrays in sacred buildings, as most examples to introduce the special culture of this land? Often, at the first glance, the outside aspect of the decorative arrays and patterns, according to the field observations in the sacred monuments of different historical periods in different Indian cities, looks repetitive and resembling. The cow, as a painting or sculpture, is one of the formations which have been seen the most in religious monuments. And nowadays, it still exists in the same amount in cities live landscapes. With precise attention to this array, we realize that this is not merely a decorative aspect, but also each of its various effects has a specific meaning, which due to the social context- cultural, religious interpretations and levels of holiness, is changing. This article with assumes of the influence of context in creating decorative arrays in religious buildings of India and a the major role of natural elements as a symbol of upper power and repeating them as their original forms, is trying to reach this probable conclusion through the field observations and Library studies, which in general, there are many animals, plants and other natural elements in the context, that are repeated exactly in arrays and decorations of sacred buildings of different religions in India, but with different definitions. This repetition confirms their holiness, and that surely comes from a context that forms the specific culture of this land.