Universalism to Contextualism: Metamorphosis of Post-Independence Indian Architecture

India has an exceptionally rich architectural history. It has undergone various phases of architectural development with majority of them dictated by political influences rather than societal needs. It was only in the middle of 20th century, more precisely after independence that the architecture of India started its journey in the search of its own identity. That too led to the implantation of foreign ideas of Universalism in the shape of Modern Architecture under the political patronage of the then Prime minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. It was an attempt to do away with historicism and revivalism in favour of rationalism with the idea of progress to project India as a progressive nation in front of the world. But, in search for this identity, the context and cultural continuity was lost to a greater extent. This paper delves into the architectural journey of Indian architecture in the Post-independence period