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This volume, based on the paintings at Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya, formerly Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, makes us travel through the bright and radiant world of the many splendours of Malwa painting and its silent pages are alive with the whispers of romantic love.
Amarushataka is considered to be one of the finest poetic creations in Sanskrit in ancient India and is a watershed development in the genre of Shringara Rasa. We do not know who the poet Amaru was, but a number of legends abound and it is believed that he lived in the seventh century. In Amarus poetic gems love is not measured but experienced, it is not evaluated socially but felt in the deepest recesses of the mind and heart. He paints the varied moods and nuances of love with words that evoke vivid colours and rhythms that are sonorous with music. Amarushataka basks in a sunlit space, fragrant with the aroma of love, brilliant with the hues of a throbbing heart and within the minute compass of the few lines of a verse we are privy to a whole universe of romance. Amarus lovers inhabit a non-descript space, so that our attention is entirely on them and not on the surroundings. Amarus lovers are driven by desire, devoid of guilt, finding their fulfilment in a passionate embrace or a loving gaze. Using traditional Prakrit romantic idioms Amaru prepares us for the feast both for the eyes and the ears that is to follow, for the muktakas of Amaru create an emotionally charged world, where every nuance of romantic love is explored, where the pangs and pleasures, pathos and poignancy, of amorous dalliances are sensitively portrayed, where neither the restraint of dharma nor the restriction of samsara is allowed to interfere with a glorious celebration of love. Whatever its origins, for 1,300 years this work has retained its reputation in India as one of the foundational collections of poetry. Poets and critics still use its verses as a template against which to consider other poems. Such was the impact of Amarushataka, especially in Malwa of the seventeenth century, that it was transformed into miniature paintings in the evocative Malwa style. The one room chamber with strong monochromatic colours and robust figures marks the painting. The book also traces the history of Malwa painting. An interesting side light of the book is an attempt to demonstrate that the verses of Amaru were also perhaps responsible for amorous sculptures in Khajuraho and other temples. The book is richly illustrated, has the verses of Amaru in Sanskrit and English and is a source book of Shringara Rasa for scholars and students alike.
The book documents Indias rich tradition of ornamentation as reflected in its numerous and varied collection of amulets and pendants recovered from archaeological excavations in Maharashtra. It examines the different types of amulets and pendants excavated, techniques used in making them, and their parallels in literary and sculptural representations.
The book documents Indias rich tradition of ornamentation as reflected in its numerous and varied collection of amulets and pendants recovered from archaeological excavations in Maharashtra. It studies the significance of these ornaments as a visible expression of the artistic excellence and cultural wealth of the ancient Indian civilisation particularly at the time of the great Mauryan and Satvahana dynasties. Discussing the evolution of these portable charms against their socio-economic and religious background, the authoress examines the different types of amulets and pendants excavated, the techniques used in making them, their parallels in literary and sculptural representations, and Buddhist influence on them. Giving insights into the sources of raw materials used in these charms, she takes up in detail the trade relations of a specific site with other contemporary sites. With a number of figures and maps, the work promises to be useful to both scholars and students of Indology focussing on facets of Indian culture.
The book aspires to do for Indian poetics what Hudson’s book, An Introduction to the Study of English Literature did for English literature, though in a totally different manner and style. It provides the student with the essential knowledge about almost all aspects of Indian poetics. Based on the original Sanskrit sources, it presents the necessary information lucidly in precise and clear terms. Each chapter is self-contained and complete in itself, with explanatory notes, and a bibliography of relevant works. The Sanskrit terms used in the text are invariably explained or provided with English equivalents.
For quick reference, “A Glossary of Sanskrit Literary Terms” is given in the Appendices, which contain also “A List of Noted Indian Poeticians (including commentators) and Their Works” and “Notes on Major Texts in Indian Poetics”.
This handy volume, with its unique features, will prove invaluable to those who are going to embark on the study of Indian poetics, especially the ones who have no Sanskrit background. To a devoted student, it will prove a useful companion during his/her further studies.
The scholarly work throws light on the artistic, aesthetic, literary and philosophical aspects of the Ardhanarisvara form of Siva. Providing a conceptual and historical background of the doctrines relating to Siva and Sakti worship it involves an iconographical study of the Ardhanarisvara image.
The scholarly work throws light on the artistic, aesthetic, literary and philosophical aspects of the Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva the form which is a divine expression of the amalgamation of the male and the female and is said to contain the whole world in it. Providing a conceptual and historical back-ground of the doctrines relating to Shiva and Shakti worship it involves an iconographical study of the Ardhanarishvara image, with the focus on its dress, ornaments, coiffure, posture and other features. With many visuals of the Ardhanarishvara images even the unpublished ones, it describes the images found in different parts of India and discusses the emergence of the deity relying on literary sources and theories. Explaining how the idea and actual representation of the unity of Shiva and Shakti came to acquire supreme importance with the growth of sects each worshipping the deity in its own form, Dr. Yadav points out that the Ardhanarishvara aspect is basically the output of the Tantra philosophy. Providing maps and line-drawings and a list of the places that have yielded Ardhanarishvara images, she makes an interesting and indepth analysis, based on extensive field-work, to come up with some brilliant and new explanations of the meaning and implications of the Ardhanarishvara.
The book begins with an introduction on the prehistoric and proto-historic cultures of India and discusses human evolution as gathered from hominid fossil remains. It also examines the nature of cultural relics belonging to each period and dynastic rule; agriculture, trade, settlement and migration patterns related to making, use and spread of art materials; and social and religious aspects of society that are revealed by the art and architecture of the periods.
The book begins with an introduction on the prehistoric and proto-historic cultures of India. Well-known historians discuss human evolution as gathered from hominid fossil remains, pre-human hominid remains of the Siwaliks and fossil remains of the Narmada basin. The systematic study, mentioning the areas of finds and their geography and other characteristics, examines the nature of cultural relics belonging to each period and dynastic rule; agriculture, trade, settlement and migration patterns related to making, use and spread of art materials; how the finds reflect upon rise of craft and industrial centers at the time; and social and religious aspects of society that are revealed by the art and architecture of the periods. Importantly, it reveals the interchange of cultural thoughts and lifestyles and of art and architectural influences; and the synthesis of artistic style and materials as evident in especially the periods of Muslim rule in India. The book also features fossil finds, art and architectural materials pertaining to painting, pottery, sculpture and iconography, and literary materials like Persian documents housed in the Indraprastha Museum of Art and Archaeology, New Delhi. The materials date from the stone ages, Indus-Saraswati Civilization and Chalcolithic period to what are commonly identified as the ancient medieval and modern periods of Indian history. The volume will be useful to scholars and students of various disciplines history, archeology, art and culture, and sociology.
“An assemblage of twenty-six scholarly essays: in honour of Dr Kapila Vatsyayan, the book attempts to conjure up the integral vision of art — exploring, as it does, the underlying unity of different disciplines. Written by distinguished Indian and foreign scholars: artists, art historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, scientists, philosophers and litterateurs, who have shared or subscribed to Dr Vatsyayan’s holistic vision of arts, these essays look for the linkages that have existed within the arts, between the arts, and across the cultures — focusing, contextually, on the form, the content, and the vision of art in terms of time and space. With at once stimulating alternative viewpoints available to humankind today, the authors consider space, time and consciousness as they are related to, and expressed in, metaphor, symbol and creative process. Together with cross-cultural comparisons of art, the book also explores the future of man as an artist. Art: The Integral Vision, besides the Editors’ Introduction giving an overview on the presentations, is blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s personal message. A foremost authority on Indian art and culture, Dr Kapila Vatsyayan is well-known to all serious scholars of art history, religion, philosophy and cosmology. A prolific author and recipient of several honours, including the prestigious Padma Shree (1990) and Padma Vibhushan (2011), she has convincingly spelt out the unifying principles of cultural plurality and the interdependence and interrelatedness of creative arts. This holistic vision — unmistakably manifest in her writings — has come to finest fruition in her setting up (in 1985) the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. This is a fascinating book for wide-ranging specialists and students interested in the mathematical, geometrical, metaphysical, astrophysical, cosmological, philosophical, psychological, historical, mythological and metaphorical understanding of art, especially the Indian art.”
This book presents the varied reflections on Coomaraswamys personality as a philosopher, art historian, art curator and his strong positioning against the colonial teachings of Western art historians and philosophers on Indias art, civilization and culture, projecting an image of Indianness in every sphere.
The savants of the twentieth century have excavated the past to discerningly reveal the present. Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi and Ananda Coomaraswamy, among others, interpreted Indian aesthetics, civilization, culture and philosophy unearthing the Indian wisdom against the wrong interpretations and teachings of the Western colonial scholars. This volume, a collection of papers presented at a national seminar on the Philosophy of Ananda Coomaraswamy held in February 2011 at the University of Hyderabad, approaches Coomaraswamys philosophy on Indian aesthetics, life and religion from different perspectives.
The volume brings forth different facets of Coomaraswamy: as a catalyst in spiritualizing Indian arts; his views on modernism and anti-modernism; his efforts in aestheticizing India; his polemics of decolonization through art criticism; his aesthetical philosophy; his perception and understanding on art, culture and Indianness; his metaphysics; and his philosophical approach to visuals and materials from the lens of an art historian. It sketches Coomaraswamys multifaceted persona, enunciating that the crux of modern Indian philosophy is one of vision, rather than building theories.
In a nutshell this book presents the varied reflections on Coomaraswamys personality as a philosopher, art historian, art curator and his strong positioning against the colonial teachings of Western art historians and philosophers on Indias art, civilization and culture, projecting an image of Indianness in every sphere.
This book gives exhaustive and valuable insights into all aspects of the artisans and craftsmen of northern India who played a key role in the evolution of life between the seventh and twelfth centuries ce. This critical study examines the socio-economic conditions of the various categories of workers in stone, metal, clay, leather, cotton, salt, and other industries.
The basic aim of the book is to expose the major contributions of artisans and craftsmen in portraying the society in different perspectives. These artisans and craftsmen, were drawn mostly from the shudras, lower caste of the community, suppressed and have-nots section of the society, but were highly talented. The work is also designed to create interest among the reader and scholars alike, to understand the society of the period under reference through the immortal art of these creative people. The artisans such as potters, weavers, carpenters, architects, sculptors, brick-makers, metallurgy and metal workers, leather workers, painters, and the workers engaged in the profession of ivory, glass and mirror, perfume and cosmetic, musical instrument, oil, salt and liquor makers, etc. were the heroes of that time, who not only met the day-to-day requirement of the then society, but also portrayed different aspects of their life, in its true color, through their workmanship. It was the architect who designed and constructed houses to live in, as well as water tank, well and channel, royal building, stupa, temple and fort, bridge, pillar and rock-edict etc., which met the need of the society.
Today, we feel proud of the rich heritage of old Indian art and architecture, credit for which solely goes to the then artisan who crafted immortal creations. However, the invaluable contribution made by the historians in immortalizing their creations, by putting them in black and white, is no less important. It is the historian, whose mighty pen has immortalized not only Ashoka the great, as a king but also the creators of the stupas of his times on equal footings. It is with this aim in view that the present book has been presented to the posterity, in order to pay rich tributes to the creators of our rich cultural heritage.
Unluckly there was no proper institutionalized provision for the education of artisans and craftsmen, so generally the former adopted the occupation of their parents and hereditary skill was enhances as it was transferred from father to son, and generation to generation. Contemporary sources reveal that the social stautus of artisan class was based on the nature and economic conditions of a particular profession.
The centuries-old exchange of ideas, knowledge systems, resources, skills and materials among the people of the Asian continent left a lasting legacy in various spheres of human experience. This was a dialogue that involved rich exchange of religious, literary, aesthetic and artistic ideas and forms across the regions of Asia. The general impressions of an art, which is spiritual and magical in character, highly charged with literary myths and legends, and presented through a seemingly improvised styles in various art forms, provide us with a clue of an understanding of the fundamental foundations of the arts in Asia.
This volume contains the papers of the panel on ‘Asian Aesthetic Theories and Art Forms’ in first two sections. This panel was a part of the international conference on “Asian Encounters: Networks of Cultural Interaction” held in New Delhi. The volume reaffirms that the Indian theory of art as a creative process and creative expression is broadly true for entire Asian theory of art and aesthetics and it opens up a pan-Asian theory of art and aesthetics.
‘Representation of Asian Art in Asian Museums’ was another panel of the conference. The volume contains three papers from that panel also and the transcript of the dialogue held on ‘Cross Cultural Frontiers in the Study of the Past’.
It has its focus on Buddhism and Buddhist art of early medieval period in India. The introduction of Tantrism bought Buddhism and Brahmanism closer to each other, both in enmity and similarity. It opened the gate to the vast field of Buddhist iconography, Tantric practices, deities, mudras and mandalas.
Assimilation of Brahmanism into Buddhism is a research work on Buddhism and Buddhist art of early medieval period in India. Archaeological materials and literary records suggest that Buddhism had a continuous existence during the third century bce to the thirteenth century ce in India. Though early Buddhism was totally different in its doctrines and faith from the Brahmanical system, the Buddhism of today is a religio-philosophical system having assimilated and adopted new ideas and beliefs from the environment in which it was born and nurtured.
The introduction of Tantrism bought Buddhism and Brahmanism closer to each other. It opened the gate to the vast field of Buddhist iconography along with Tantric practices, deities, mudras and mandalas. Many of these were influenced by the Brahmanic idea of godhead and some were the combination of one or more ideas of Brahmanic divinities. There was assimilation of a number of factors between Brahmanism and Buddhism.
This scholarly volume addresses the different aspects of this assimilation process by getting into a historical study of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism; outlining the political history, and socio-economic and religious changes during 300700 ce; scanning the political and economic background and the spreading of esoteric Buddhism; emergence of Vajrayana Buddhism; and providing a detailed sketch of Vajrayana images.
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