The book is about vastuvidya or architectural theory, the creation of temples, and the role of drawings as an indispensible bridge between the two. It focuses on two worlds attributed to Bhoja, the legendary Paramara rule of Malwa in the first half of the eleventh century. The first of these is his vastly ambitious, but unfinished, royal temple at Bhojpur with its unique set of architectural drawings engraved in the surrounding rocks. These beautiful drawings, documented here for the first time, provide insights into construction processes and glimpses of hitherto unknown temple forms. They also hold the key to the intended design of the Bhojpur temple itself, which would have been by far the biggest Hindu temple in the world.
Through lucid visual analysis, accompanied by drawings, this book will allow readers to appreciate the concepts underlying designs that at first sight often seem bewilderingly intricate. The book will be divided into six parts that cover the history and development of the design and architecture of Indian temples.
This handbook is a comprehensive study of the archaeology, social history and the cultural landscape of the Hindu temple. Perhaps the most recognizable of the material forms of Hinduism, temples are lived, dynamic spaces. They are significant sites for the creation of cultural heritage, both in the past and in the present. Drawing on historiographical surveys and in-depth case studies, the volume centres the material form of the Hindu temple as an entry point to study its many adaptations and transformations from the early centuries CE to the 20th century. It highlights the vibrancy and dynamism of the shrine in different locales and studies the active participation of the community for its establishment, maintenance and survival. The illustrated handbook takes a unique approach by focusing on the social base of the temple rather than its aesthetics or chronological linear development. It fills a significant gap in the study of Hinduism and will be an indispensable resource for scholars of archaeology, Hinduism, Indian history, religious studies, museum studies, South Asian history and Southeast Asian history. Chapters 1, 4 and 5 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
The Samaranganasutradhara, composed in the 11th century and commonly attributed to King Bhoja of Dhara, is one of the most remarkable silpasastras of northern India. Consisting of more than seven thousand slokas, it contains not only detailed descriptions of temples, but also a comprehensive exposition of residential architecture. This book is an annotated translation of the central passages on residential architecture accompanied by a study of the Samaranganasutradharaês sources, the problem of authorship, and related matters. It is rounded off by a comprehensive glossary of technical terms and illustrations.
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING, BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND CO-HOST OF THE CHART-TOPPING EMPIRE PODCAST – A REVOLUTIONARY NEW HISTORY OF THE DIFFUSION OF INDIAN IDEAS 'A master storyteller' Sunday Times 'Richly woven, highly readable ... Written with passion and verve' Spectator 'A more masterful and accessible survey ... would be hard to find ... Enthralling' Literary Review India is the forgotten heart of the ancient world For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilisation, creating around it a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world, along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific. William Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India's oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia. For the first time, he gives a name to this spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world. From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire to the creation of the numerals we use today (including zero), India transformed the culture and technology of its ancient world – and our world today as we know it. Praise for William Dalrymple and The Anarchy 'A superb historian with a visceral understanding of India' The Times 'Magnificently readable, deeply researched and richly atmospheric' Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday
Stone figures hardened by ascetic discipline and heroic effort face north in deep shadow. There they meet the gazes of the same gods and goddesses but with gentler bodies enacting grace, warmth, seduction, and marriage, drenched in sunlight, facing south. These figures adorn the eighth-century Kailasanatha temple complex in southeastern India, built by rulers who were both warriors and ascetics, engaged in the work of this world and in spiritual quests. They designed their temple as an exuberant visual feast to sustain both modes of being. In Opening Kailasanatha, Padma Kaimal deciphers the intentions of the monument’s makers, reaching back across centuries to illuminate worldviews of the ancient Indic south. She reveals how circling the complex in a clockwise direction focuses the mind and spirit on worldly engagement; in a counterclockwise direction, on renunciation and ascetic practice. This pairing of highly charged, complementary pathways enabled devotees to grasp these counterpoised opportunities in their own listening, gazing, moving bodies. By focusing on the material form of the complex—the architecture, inscriptions, and sculptures, along with the spaces they carve out that guide light, shadow, sound, and footsteps—Kaimal offers insights that complement what surviving texts tell us about Shaiva Siddhanta ideas and practices, providing a rare opportunity to walk in the distant past.
From approximately the third century BCE through the thirteenth century CE, the remote mountainous landscape around the glacial sources of the Ganga (Ganges) River in the Central Himalayas in northern India was transformed into a region encoded with deep meaning, one approached by millions of Hindus as a primary locus of pilgrimage. Nachiket Chanchani?s innovative study explores scores of stone edifices and steles that were erected in this landscape. Through their forms, locations, interactions with the natural environment, and sociopolitical context, these lithic ensembles evoked legendary worlds, embedded historical memories in the topography, changed the mountain range?s appearance, and shifted its semiotic effect. Mountain Temples and Temple Mountains also alters our understanding of the transmission of architectural knowledge and provides new evidence of how an enduring idea of India emerged in the subcontinent. Art History Publication Initiative. For more information, visit http://arthistorypi.org/books/mountain-temples-and-temple-mountains
The Northern Part Of Karnataka Is One Of The Richest Areas Of India In Monuments Of Great Artistic Value. It Was Subjected To The Rule Of Several Royal Families, Calukyas Of Kalyana, Kalacuris And Seunas In The 10Th, 11Th, 12Th And 13Th Centuries A.D. Which Has Been A Period Of Great Cultural Refinement. It Was The Time Of The Greatest Expansion Of The Kalamukha-Lakulasaiva Movements, And Of The Rise Of Virasaivism. The Temple Of Muktesvara At Caudadanapura (Dharwar District) Is A Beautiful Representative Of The Style And The High Culture Of That Time. Its History Is Known To Us Thanks To A Set Of Seven Long Inscriptions, Composed In Literary Medieval Kannada, Engraved With Great Care On Large Steles. They Provide Informations On The Local Rulers, Kings Of Guttala Who Claimed A Gupta Ascendancy, On Some Constructions In The Temple Complex, On Diverse Donations To The Deity, And Very Interesting Details On A Few Prominent Religious Leaders. It Introduces To Us Muktajiyar, A Lakulasaiva Saint, And Sivadeva, A Virasaiva Saint, Who Entered The Place On The 19 Th Of August 1225 And Led There A Long Life Of Renunciation, Asceticism And Spiritual Elevation. The Legacy Of This Age Of Intense Saivite Faith Is A Jewel Of Architecture And Sculpture. It Is A Single Cella Temple In What Is Popularly Known As Jakkanacari Style, Sometimes Called Kalyana-Calukyan Style, Which Is Not Appropriate, As Many Temples Of The Same Style Have Also Been Built Under The Patronage Of Kalacuri Or Seuna Dynasties. The Present Study Contains A Historical Introduction, The Complete Edition, Translation And Interpretation Of The Inscriptions, An Architectural Description, With A Graphic Survey, And An Iconographical Analysis.
