Architecture probably is the best form of art that perfectly captures the progress and decadence of human civilization with the course of time. In all countries and all ages, every civilization has done its best to express its socio-religious environment and men's ideas and attitude to life through architecture. Study of architecture lends charming insights to the understanding of a civilization.

India, with a civilization older than some 5000 years, is no exception to this. More accurately saying, India is the land of wonderful architecture - samples of which dot over its landscape from Jammu & Kashmir to Kanya Kumari in Tamil Nadu, from Gujarat to Arunachal.

The Indian kings were great patrons of architecture. They spent lot of energy and time to construct forts, palaces, temples, memorials, pillars, gateways and many more things and adorned them with exquisite sculpture and architecture. They left no stone unturned to hire the best architects from any part of the world and poured in huge fortune into the construction.

The architectural wonders in India serve as great examples of how different culture and civilizations made an inroad to India in ages and merged with the indigenous tradition influencing it to a large extent.

In this vast landscape you would find distinctly varying architectural traditions from region to region. Even in a single state, architectures of different period display different styles.

But however much diverse the range be, an aesthetic sense reigns supreme over the architectural marvels all over India. Although time has become ruthless upon many of them, still a lot more of Indian civilization can be traced in the architectural patterns in India.