The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent

The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent

Author: James C. Harle

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1994-01-01

Total Pages: 616

ISBN-13: 9780300062175

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Thirty years' research and first-hand knowledge of the area have enabled the author to trace the cultural contacts which have contributed to the rich mosaic of sculpture, temples, mosques, and painting that have gone towards the creation of one of the great civilizations of the world.


The Vākāṭakas

The Vākāṭakas

Author: Hans Bakker

Publisher: Gonda Indological Studies

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13:

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Illustrations: 48 b/w and 1 colour plate and 3 maps Description: For now more than half a century, scholars of the history of Western art have become familiar with the idea that art is embedded in a social and cultural context which imbues it with meaning and as such may be viewed as a source which generates knowledge concerning this context; this again may result in a better understanding of the artefact itself. This synthetic method of investigation, known under the name of 'iconology,' has proved to be of great value in the research of the history of culture. The present book is an essay in which the 'classical age' of India is studied by exploring textual as well as archaeological sources that relate to the kingdom of the Vakatakas, the southern neighbours of the Guptas in the fourth and fifth centuries AD. A great number of inscriptions and Hindu sculptures have been discovered and published during the last two decades, giving a new dimension to our appreciation of the culture of the Vakatakas, who formerly were mainly renowned for the artistic achievements of the Buddhist monuments in Ajanta. Among these inscriptions the one found in the Kevala-Narasimha Temple on Ramtek Hill (Ramagiri) deserves special mention as it throws a flood of light on the political history of the Vakatakas and their relationship with the Guptas. This book draws on the new sculptural and epigraphical evidence in presenting a history of the Vakataka kingdom. The (Hindu) sculptures found in the eastern Vakataka realm are brought together for the first time in an illustrated catalogue, their findspots are surveyed, their iconography is studied and their link with Ajanta is pointed out. A scrutiny of contemporaneous Sanskrit texts underpins the sometimes extraordinary iconography of the images; in combination with the political history of the Vakatakas this results in a fascinating picture of the (religious) culture of a fourth- and fifth-century elite of Central India.


Indian Temple Sculpture

Indian Temple Sculpture

Author: John Guy

Publisher: Victoria & Albert Museum

Published: 2007-06

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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This innovative book, illustrated with the V&A's unrivalled collection of South-Asian sculpture, looks at Indian temple sculpture in context, as an instrument of worship which embodies powerful religious experience. John Guy considers its cosmological meaning, its origins, the temple setting and the role of sculpture within it and reveals the vivid rituals and traditions still in practice today. It is also an absorbing introduction to the principal iconographic forms in the three traditional religions of the Indian subcontinent, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, with the principal deities presented through their myths and manifestations.