Embark on an enlightening exploration of Kashmir's architectural wonders with "History of the Architecture of Kashmir: A Question and Answer Guide." Authored by the esteemed Dr. Khalid Bashir, Head of the Department of History at Government Degree College Sopore, this unique book offers a comprehensive journey through the picturesque landscapes of the region. Delve into the rich history, cultural significance, and symbolic meanings behind grand palaces, enchanting gardens, iconic temples, and majestic mosques. With clear explanations and visual references, this invaluable resource caters to students, history enthusiasts, and curious travelers. Immerse yourself in the captivating beauty of Kashmir's architectural heritage and uncover the profound legacy that has shaped its identity through.
This book traces the historical identity of Kashmir within the context of Islamic religious architecture between early fourteenth and mid-eighteenth century. It presents a framework of syncretism within which the understanding of this architectural tradition acquires new dimensions and possibilities in the region. In a first, the volume provides a detailed overview of the origin and development of Islamic sacred architecture while contextualizing it within the history of Islam in Kashmir. Covering the entirety of Muslim rule in the region, the book throws light on Islamic religious architecture introduced with the establishment of the Muslim Sultanate in the early fourteenth century, and focuses on both monumental and vernacular architecture. It examines the establishment of new styles in architecture, including ideas, materials and crafts introduced by non-Kashmiri missionaries in the late-fourteenth to fifteenth century. Further, it discusses how the Mughals viewed Kashmir and embellished the land with their architectural undertakings, coupled with encounters between Kashmir’s native culture, with its identity and influences introduced by Sufis arriving from the medieval Persianate world. The book also highlights the transition of the traditional architecture to a pan-Islamic image in the post-Independence period. With its rich illustrations, photographs and drawings, this book will interest students, researchers, and professionals in architecture studies, cultural and heritage studies, visual and art history, religion, Islamic studies and South Asian studies. It will also be useful to professional architecture institutes, public libraries, museums, cultural and heritage bodies as well as the general reader interested in the architectural and cultural history of South Asia.
International heritage preservation consultant Langenbach makes the case for the preservation of the traditional domestic architecture that makes up the urban landscape of Srinagar and other cities in Kashmir.
Kashmir is a land of fabled beauty and eternal romance. It is blessed by nature with beauteous scenery, wondrous fertility and salubrious climate. Writers describe it as "One of the finest countries upon which the sun shines" and "The Sub-Alpine region of Asia's Italy" and the "The unsurpassed land for its scenery." Kashmir is verily "the terrestrial Paradise of the indies", a fairy-land, where each curve presents a grand picture, and every horizon a new scene, each leaf a distinct lesson and each flower a new look. The poets have described Kashmir as a garden land of picturesque scenery, lovely landscapes, unrivalled vistas, majestic forests, green pastures, shimmering waters of vast, silent and transparent lakes and rivers, perennial snows, mighty chains of snow-clad mountains, rumbling cataracts and roaring waterfalls.
"The volume thoroughly examines the origins and principal types of Buddhist architecture in Asia primarily between the third century BCE-twelfth century CE with an emphasis on India. It aims to construct shared architectural traits and patterns alongwith the derivative relationships between Indian and Asian Buddhist monuments. It also discusses the historical antecedents in the Indus Civilization and the religious and philosophical foundations of the three schools of Buddhism and its founder, Buddha. Previously obscure topics such as Aniconic and Vajrayana (Tantric) architecture and the four holiest sites of Buddhism will also be covered in this comprehensive volume. The author further investigates the influences of Buddhist architecture upon Islamic, Christian, and Hindu architecture that have been overlooked by past scholars."
