India has a new Parliament in the form of a swanky engineering marvel. With the historic shift on September 19, the curtain came down on the glorious past of the old Parliament building. While there is so much conversation around the new Parliament building and all the snazzy amenities, the look, the architecture and the history of the old Parliament building can’t be forgotten.
So what exactly inspired Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker for design the building Parliament? Is there an Indian connection? It is well-documented that Lutyens and Baker were designated for the Imperial Legislative Council for British Raj on January 18, 1927. The building was in circular shape and pillared. Many believe that they took inspiration from ‘Chausath Yogini Temple’ located in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena.
Then Viceroy Lord Hardinge wanted Indian hints in every structure that was being created during British rule. Therefore, he made both architects travel across India for traditional inspiration like Mandu, Lahore, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Indore. It is said that this is the reason behind Parliament, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and other buildings that look like a mix of Indian and Western ideas.
The Chausath Yogini temple, inspiration behind the old Parliament building, was built by King Devapala of the Kachchhapaghata dynasty during the year 1323. According to few mythological sources, the temple is dedicated to Goddess Durga and her 64 powerful warriors who fought against a demon – Raktabija. As the story goes, the demon was born with a boon that each drop of his blood that dropped on the floor will result in the birth of several thousand Raktabijas. Therefore, Goddess Durga assembled an army of 64 yoginis to drink all of his blood.
That is how the 64 pillared temple came into existence. However, there is no evidence of Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker visiting the Chausath Yogini temple in records but historians have always questioned the inspiration behind a distinctive shape of Indian Parliament. Interestingly, one article on Madhya Pradesh tourism official website states, “The Chausath Yogini Temple is in a Seismic Zone 3 area. Since its construction in the 1300s, the temple has withstood many earthquakes with almost no visible damage. One theory suggests that this could be the reason why Lutyens may have sought reference or inspiration from a building of such an unusual shape.”
According to an Indian Express report with historian Swapna Liddle speculated on the relation between Indian Parliament building and the Chausath Yogini temple in MP. She said, “Lutyens and Baker were sent off on this tour to look at examples of Indian architecture. They also might have seen photographs collected by the Archeological Survey of India. So even though there is no proof of them emulating Indian monuments, it is not inconceivable that they might have done so.”