Celestial Impact: A Cultural Narrative of Lonar Crater through Architectural Forms

Abstract

This research considers the built environment primarily as material culture and situates it within the larger landscape of the Lonar tīrtha (literally, a point of crossing over, but commonly understood as a place of pilgrimage or a sacred centre). It is an archaeological study, considering the architectural forms as artefacts of the medieval period and employs art historical perspectives to the built environment for a nuanced study of its characteristics. A historical enquiry into a landscape like Lonar with architecture as the point of departure, can be effective in understanding the longue durée settlement of a site. Such a site study accentuates the continuum within the form and fabric of the architectural forms and highlights the development of a regional idiom in the built environment.