-
Mandala and Landscap...
Mandala and Landscape
by: Alexander William MacDonaldThis volume highlights, perhaps for the first time, the techniques whereby mandala-schemes are projected in thought, belief and action, on to widely differing natural landscapes. The emphasis is on geographical contexts and socio-cultural traditions.
₹1,440.00
ISBN: 9788124600603
Year Of Publication: 2007
Edition: 2nd
Pages : xiv, 460
Bibliographic Details : Maps; Colour & b/w photographs; Index
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 29 cm.
Weight: 1600
Since the publication in English of the Theory and Practice of Mandala by Giuseppe Tucci in 1961, our knowledge of the subject has increased considerably. Two-dimensional paintings (Tibetan: thanka, Skt.: paubha) have been displayed in many art exhibitions, reproduced photographically, and analysed in readable books as well as in articles in specialised journals. Three-dimensional mandalas like, for instance, the Barabadur in Java recently renovated by UNESCO, have been visited by many thousands of tourists as well as pilgrims. In America, Europe and Asia, monks have made and unmade numerous sand-mandalas openly, in public. Mandalas are, indeed, much less secret than they used to be. Yet, up to now, mandalas have largely been studied outside the context of their use: in museums, in exhibitions and in libraries This volume highlights, perhaps for the first time, the techniques whereby mandala-schemes are projected in thought, belief and action, on to widely differing natural landscapes. Putting together the research findings of a group of Buddhist scholars from America, Austria, England, France, Germany and New Zealand, Professor Macdonald tries to underscore the linkages between mandalas and landscapes in varying eco-systems between Afghanistan and Japan with special focus on their geographical contexts and socio-cultural traditions. Each of the ten studies, included here, is supported by relevant illustrative material and extensive bibliographical references. Embodied in Mandala and Landscape are the research results from field-work carried out in China, Nepal, Pakistan, Japan and Tibet. It is, as such, invaluable to scholars of Buddhist Studies, specially the researchers involved with the mandalas in South Asia and elsewhere.
Foreword
1. Mandala and Landscape in Japan
— Ulrich Mammitzsch
2. A Journey to the Depths of A Labyrinth-Landscape: The Mount Fengdu, Taoist Holy Site and Infernal Abyss
— Sandrine Chenivesse
3. The Great Pilgrimage of A-myes rma-chen: Written Tradition, Living Realities
— Katia Buffetrille
4. The Creation of the Bon Mountain of Kongpo
— Charles Ramble
5. A Guide to the La-Phyi Mandala : History, Landscape and Ritual in South-Western Tibet
— Toni Huber
6. Beyul Khenbalung, the Hidden Valley of the Artemisia : On Himalayan Communities and their Sacred Landscape
— Hildegard Diemberger
7. A Hidden Land in the Tibetan-Nepalese Borderlands
— Franz-Karl Ehrhard
8. The Ritual Preparation of a Tibetan Sand Mandala
— R. Kohn
9. Men Between Fairies and Women : The Bipolarity of the Environment of the Kalash Mountaineers of the Hindu Kush
— Jean-Yves Loude
— Viviane Lievre
10. And The Lake Drained Away : An Essay in Himalayan Comparative Mythology
— N. J. Allen
List of Contributors
Index
-
Sale!Ramayana Culture ₹720.00
These essays, originally presented at an international conference, are in the forefront of the modern response to an ancient work that has gained a new critical and social relevance in contemporary scholarship. Approaching the Ramayana from several angles in an attempt to understand its aesthetic and ideological meaning, they examine the epic through the perspectives of textual criticism, art, architecture and film. Thereby they address critical issues such as the seminal status of Valmiki, the underlying problem of canonicity itself, the importance of other — so-called derivative — Ramayanas, the implications of gender representation, and the cultural manipulation of social ideals relating to the position of women and the idealisation of love that achieves its highest value in marriage. Using the methods of rigorous textual and historical investigation, each essay seeks not only to uncover the layers of meaning in the complex structure of the epic in its varied forms but also to situate it critically in the cultures of South and Southeast Asia.
-
Sale!India and South-East Asia ₹3,240.00
The South-East is a cultural perspective aptly named agneyi the direction of the God Agni. It is reflected even in the Sino-Japanese Mahakarunagarbha mandala of the 8th century where Agni is surrounded by sages: Angiras with his consort Gautami and Atreya with his consort Bhrgvi. In the Pao-hsiang Lou pantheon Agni is surrounded by eight rsi’s Angiras, Vasistha, Garga, Markandeya, Gautama, Kasyapa, Shan-ch’eng-ming-yang and Su-chi-i (the Sanskrit names of the last two have to yet to be found). In Indic terms, the conceptual space of SE Asia endows it with the serenity of the mind, the grandeur of structures, the profundity of expression derived from Sanskrit. The SE is the mind ground of the sages, the rishis, and as such the marvellous manifestation of the Hindu-Buddhist genius. This book chronicles the dynamism, the fire, the Agni of the Agneya (SE) direction across the past that shades into the present with tomorrows inside.
-
Sale!Ancient Gods and Heroes of East and West ₹810.00
This book is a study of the people of nomadic groups or clans of Central Asia from about 6000 bce to the last millennium bce to explore why cultures and history developed the way they did in Central Asia by taking up the Indo-European and other settlements notably, the Greeks, the ancient Iranians and Indo-aryans of the Indian subcontinent for in-depth study. It deals with the quest for knowledge which led to evolution of cultures from simple primitive life to a society complex in structure, from philosophy to religion. The study of gods and heroes examines stories relating to migration and settlements and the geography of ancient civilizations. It is in this setting that their unique philosophies and religious beliefs flourished, giving rise to belief in numerous gods and heroes. It discusses the myths and legends of the ancient cultures, highlighting names, deeds and events relating to honoured gods and much-praised heroes. Dr Marta Vannucci significantly concludes that both Indo-aryan and Indo-Iranian people had been able to maintain their traditional customs and habits backed by technical developments up to the last centuries bce. Throughout, she bases her observations on reliable information provided by archaeology substantiated by oral and written traditions of Central Asia, Greece and Rome. The volume will be invaluable to scholars of history, anthropology and archaeology who are keen to systematically unravel the obscure origins of the great human civilizational march.
-
Sale!Vedanta for the Western World ₹1,530.00
Vedanta for the Western World is a collection of sixty-eight articles appeared in a magazine having the same title during 1938-45 by eminent scholars of international repute such as Aldous Huxley, Allan Hunter, Gerald Heard and Swami Prabhavananda reflecting on the varied aspects and universal reflections of Vedanta, with an Introduction by Christopher Isherwood. Vedanta, the Vedic philosophy per se, and not time-specific, focuses on three fundamental propositions that man’s real nature is divine; aim of human life is to realize this divine nature; and all religions are essentially in agreement as far as this divine concept is concerned. The essays featured in this volume imbibe and exude the same philosophy being best suited to the understanding of new generation audience, especially the one that belongs to the Western world. This unique volume stands out in its genera of works due to a wide gamut of topics featured in it under the umbrella banner Vedanta. It enables every student of Vedanta know the essence of the Vedic philosophies from the perspectives of both Indian and Western scholars and men of merit.
-
Sale!Brahman and the World ₹450.00
“The Vedānta has been rightly called the Finest Fruit of Indian Thought and the Upaniṣads as the Finer Flowers. Vedānta grows out of the teachings of the Upaniṣads and passes into the various systems in the writings of Śaṅkara, Bhāskara, Rāmānuja, Madhva and Vallabha, the great founders of Advaita, Bhedābheda, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaitādvaita and Śuddhādvaita, respectively. However, there is a perception among Orientalists that while the Upaniṣads favour the Monistic doctrine, Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahmasūtra fundamentally opposes it on some of the most crucial points.
The book thus delves deep into the philosophies of both Bādarāyaṇa and Śaṅkara in enunciating the essential features of Brahman and Its association with the world. It thus discusses topics such as what sort of cause Brahman is?, and what sort of material causality is to be ascribed to It? It also addresses the conflicting views on the nature of Brahman like that of Vivarttavāda and of Rāmānuja’s Saguṇa-Brahman.
This book proposes to take up the question of Universal Causation to examine thoroughly as how far it is right to regard Brahman as the Universal Cause and how far sūtrakāra himself lent his support to each of the inter-conflicting schools of Vedānta. This book should, therefore, benefit all who are devoted to the philosophic teachings of Advaita Vedānta and its preceptors.”
