History & Archaeology (171)

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    The book presents various stages of development of Mathura art from its earliest times and, in the process, gives a valuable account of the archaeological explorations and expeditions in the region since 1836.

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    Splendour of Mathura Art and Museum by: Ramesh Chandra Sharma 1,350.00

    It is a treasure document enlightening the various stages of development of Mathura art from its earliest times. Introducing the socio-cultural background from the pre-historic times it furnishes a valuable account of the archaeological explorations and expeditions in the region since the first antiquity saw the light of the day in 1836. Indigenous by birth, the Mathura School of Art flourished on the banks of Yamuna, reached its pinnacle under the Kushana patronage, continued in the Gupta age followed by Medieval times, thus dominating the entire Northern India for more than five centuries leaving behind imprints to be followed by the succeeding art styles. The type of stone and style changed with time and it did get influenced by its contemporary School of Gandhara once, but its exclusiveness remained down the ages. Beside the analytical assessment of the folk art tradition of early terracottas and yaksha cult, Dr. Sharma brings to light for the first time the salient features of the evolution and development of Mathura sculptures on various themes including Jaina, Buddhist and Brahmanical. The book is an uptodate document of new researches, fresh arrivals and latest reorganisation of the Museum’s galleries. The coloured and black & white illustrations in this book speak of the display of rich Mathura art in the Museum. The Index to the Exhibits will facilitate in spotting the description of a specific object quickly. Important sites have been located on the City and District maps and situation of galleries and ancillary units of the Museum can be found on the Gallery Plan. While the visitors will find the book a very remunerative companion during the Museum round the scholars will equally be benefitted through the prolific research material it reveals.

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    This volume identifies and presents over one-hundred temples having more than one garbhagrha, categorized as dvikuta, trikuta, catuskuta, pancakuta, saptakuta, navakuta and caunsath. It features the temples in detail: their historical milieu, their iconography and the application of mandala(s) to their plans.

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    Temples with Multiple Garbhagrhas by: Fredrick W. Bunce 1,350.00

    Hindu temples are raised to their deities. They are a means to acknowledge the deity and to enshrine his/her images. People honour and worship the deity. Within the Hindu pantheon, there is an array of divinities spread over three major sects Þ Vaisnava, Saiva and Sakta. All these sects have stemmed from the Vedic teachings and beliefs. Normally a temple is devoted to a single diety, having a solitary sanctum (garbhagrha), called ekakuta. In this volume, the author, through his serious research, has made a sincere attempt to identify, present and feature about one hundred temples with multiple garbhagrhas which are categorized as dvikuta, trikuta, catuskuta, pancakuta, saptakuta, navakuta and caunsath yogini temple.
    This book delves deep into the details of these temples: their historical milieu, their iconography, the application of mandala(s) to their plans and so on. It also attempts to correct those errors crept in the earlier studies of other researchers in understanding and detailing a few multiple garbhagrhas. The author has given a brief description of such temples and has made a sincere effort to provide a relatively precise scale rendering of those temples, in a size and format, commensurate with their importance.
    This volume can serve architects, temple planners, researchers, vastu experts and even historians as a sourcebook on temples with multiple garbhagrhas.

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    The book comprehensively studies aspects of Thai political life, religion, art and literature emphasising the role of Buddhism in influencing the Thai culture. It analyses Buddhist art styles pertaining to sculpture, stucco decoration and paintings in different periods of history and surveys schools of art and stupa-building.

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    Thailand by: Kanai Lal Hazra 900.00

    The book is a comprehensive study of different aspects of Thai political life, religion, art and literature with the emphasis on the role of Buddhism in influencing the Thai culture and way of life. Showing how Thailand has a unique blend of a glorious past traceable to very early times and remarkable modernisation attempts, it traces, under political history, the earliest dynasties of kings and their battles and wars to found empires and cities down to more recent political developments in particular, its loss of territories to the British and the French in the nineteenth-twentieth centuries, its relation with other nations and its economic scenario. Reflecting deep scholarship and quoting extensively from ancient and modern scholarly works it looks into the rise and development of Buddhism referring constantly to inscriptional evidences and archaeological studies. Focussing on a detailed analysis of the growth of Buddhist art styles pertaining to sculpture, stucco decoration and paintings in different periods of history, it takes up a survey of the schools of art and stupa-building while revealing how the Thai art form is based on ideas borrowed from India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. In an interesting attempt, the author undertakes a discussion of the Thai tamnan (stories/legends) of the distant past: historical works by Buddhist monks and accounts relating to Buddhist images, relics and institutions.

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    The book explains the nature of war, its socio-economic and political aspects from the Vedic and Western perspectives, and how the moral and social ethical concepts are related pragmatically to the issue of war. The author echoes serious concerns about the ways by which the present-day global majors approach war.

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    The Concept of War by: Sanghamitra Dasgupta 495.00

    War makes life miserable for both the parties involved, the invader and the invaded. No war is fought without losing men and material, stripping off societal life and political order. Simultaneously it contributes to the progress of the society and preserves the liberty and honour of a state. From the Vedic period of India and the epic period of Greece, we have records of wars, and deliberations on the logic, philosophy, politics, ethics, strategies (pre- and post-war) of war, and the ways of reconstructing the war-ravaged societies, paving the way for drastic social and economic changes.
    This volume scans the Indian and Western views and approaches on war in the ancient and modern times. To understand the concept of war in ancient period, it analyses Rigveda, Manusmriti, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Arthasastra from the Indian parlance and the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle from the Western perspectives. It also makes an in-depth study on the war philosophies of modern Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and S. Radhakrishnan, and Western philosophers like John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Georg Friedrich Hegel and Bertrand Russell.
    The book also explains the nature of war, its socio-economic and political aspects, and how the moral and social ethical concepts are related pragmatically to the issue of war. The author echoes serious concerns about the ways by which the present-day global majors approach war.

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    The Great Temple of Madurai Meenakshi by: Thiruppugazh Amudhan Valayapettai Ra. Krishnan 1,260.00
    MADURAI the name at once evokes a feeling of devotion and awe; devotion towards Mother Meenakshi and Lord Sundareshwarar, the presiding deities at the most famous Madurai Meenakshi Temple of Tamil Nadu and awe at the long, uninterrupted history of literature, art and architecture that flourished in this temple town from pre-Christian era to the present day. That the divine grace and compassion of Goddess Meenakshi pervades and permeates through every aspect of life in this region, can be the only reason that through several. changes of dynastic rules, wars and vicissitudes, Madurai has been the centre of attraction for thousands of years to pilgrims and tourists, traders and travellers, Kings and commoners from all over the world.
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    Baolis, bawadis, keres, kulams, kundas, talaos, tankas, wavs, zings were a neglected lot in the oeuvres of Indian architects and art. This volume, devoted to their study, is heavily loaded with the design of various structures and other vital information. Every detail is assiduously analysed, compared and rechecked to present the dimensions, proportions and relationships of each of these structures.

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    The Iconography of Water by: Fredrick W. Bunce 1,035.00

    While numerous Indian monuments are well known in the annals of architectural research and excavation, a category of monuments – baoli, bawadi, kere, kulam, kunda, talao, tanka, wav and zing – was neglected in the oeuvres of architects and art. A few are familiar with the splendid beauty of the Surya Tank, Modhera; the vertiginous Canda Baoli, Abhaneri; the incomparable Rani-ki Wav, Patan; the magnificent Kalyani Tank, Hulikere; and the beautiful Rudabai-ni Wav, Adalaj. Thousands of such monuments are excellent in architectural beauty and design, apparently based on their primary utility – drinking, bathing, religious purification and ornamental (recreation).
    Water plays a quintessential role in the life of man. Its harvesting, preservation and careful use are of paramount importance, especially in those regions where rains are scanty. Thus took place the construction of these artificial water bodies. Many of them are within the precincts of temples and mosques, built in a time span of seventh to twentieth century ce.
    This volume, devoted to the study of water monuments, is heavily loaded with the design of various structures and other vital information. Every detail in this book is assiduously analysed, compared and rechecked to present the dimensions, proportions and relationships of each of the various elements of the structures. Thus it unravels a number of keys by which others can unlock the mysteries and beauties of these neglected monuments.
    It can be a precious collection for architects, historians, researchers and anyone who loves water bodies.

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    The Supreme Lord by: D. Kiran Kranth Choudary 1,260.00
    It deals with controversies regarding the identity of the idol of Lord Venkatesa and given reasonable conclusions for the first time. The relevance of calling the Sri Venkatesvara shrine Svayamvyaktakshetram and the Lord therein Yajna Vishnu is well brought out here. Dasavataras of Vishnu and then how the Lord came to the Seshachala hill, Kaliyuga Vaikuntam as Kaliyuga Pratyaksha daivam, and the legendry accounts and Srinivasa kalyanam with Padmavati are detailed. When there are a number of hill ranges in Seshachala, the concept of the Seven Hills became popular, and their importance is discussed based on the Mahavedi (great fire altar) concept. Exclusive accounts on history, inscriptions, and architectural renderings of the temple, Anandanilayam, and their significance are given. The Supreme Lord’s physiognomy and reasons for His beautiful, serene appearance are explained.
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    The Three Great Living Temples by: Prof. S. Rajavelu, Ram Shankar, 1,260.00
    Three temples, the Rajarajiswaram at Thanjavur, the Gangaikondacholiswaram at Gangaikondacholapuram and Airavatisvara at Darasuram, are all living temples located within the Cauvery Delta region, the heart of Chola Empire. The tradition of temple worship and rituals established and practiced over a thousand years ago, based on still older Armie texts, continues daily, weekly and annually, as an inseparable part of life of the people.
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    The essays here, challenging the boundaries and assumptions of mainstream art history, question many preconceived notions about meaning in representations — artistic and art historical. Emphasizing on specific visual cultures within the dynamics of historical processes, they raise critical issues of art production, circulation and consumption and attempt to rescue traditional arts from a past that is hermetically sealed off from the present.

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    Towards A New Art History — Studies in Indian Art by: Shivaji K Panikkar, Parul Dave Mukherji, Deeptha Achar, 4,050.00

    Mainstream art historical writing on Indian art has remained focused on identifying and defining stylistic schools, understanding evolutionary patterns and regional styles as well as understanding iconographic and narrative conventions and structures. The wide-ranging essays in this volume challenge the boundaries and assumptions of mainstream art history. Moving away from an art history structured by an art object-centered approach, this book gestures at a framework-oriented approach that calls attention to the political, social, economic structures that undergird art. It is an attempt to reformulate the discipline in a manner that can explain the field of the visual in a way that goes well beyond the explanatory capacity of conventional modes of studying Indian art. These essays question preconceived notions about meaning in representations — artistic and art historical. They contest earlier claims about the objectivity of scholarship in general and history writing in particular as much as they critique the valorization of a purely individuated, subjective art criticism. In its attempt to historicize the practice of art, the book examines the economic, political and social implications of art that enable the re-situation of Art History among social science disciplines. The emphasis is on the study of specific visual cultures within the dynamics of historical processes. These essays raise critical issues of art production, circulation and consumption as well as production of meaning. Traditional arts have been studied from a critical perspective that extricates them from a past that is hermetically sealed off from the present. The opposition of ‘High Art’ and ‘non-art’ (read popular or mass visual culture) has been challenged. Breaking outside the ambit of high art, studies in the book extend from popular, mass-produced art to MTV imagery to digital art.

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    The book gives account of the Vaishnavite temples of Kanci, providing numerous pictures with the structural, architectural and sculptural aspects of the temples. It also throws light on the historical, religious, social and cultural values of the temples.

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    Vishnu Temples of Kanchipuram by: R. Nagaswamy 4,320.00

    Kancipuram was the important capital of north Tamil Nadu for a long period — from the first-second century ce to the end of the seventeenth century. It was a beautiful city laid out in the form of a lotus, according to the poem Perumbanarrupadai. It was admired by the world as a place famous for its festivals and noted for its temples. Through the ages, it has been the abode of many religious leaders who devoted their lives to the religious uplift of the people.
    This well-illustrated work presents a history of the Vaishnavite temples of Kanci, focusing on the history of the ancient temples from the Sangam Age onwards, the many legends, myths and other accounts that refer to it, and its location and building. It provides a detailed account of some major temples of the city supported by numerous pictures of the temples that cover various aspects of each — the entrance and other parts of each temple structure, its architecture, and its artistic engravings particularly its sculptural beauty. It delves into the Vaishnava tradition for concepts and ideas underlying the construction of the sanctum and the sub-shrines, and portrayal of divine forms on the walls, pillars and other parts of the temple. There is a detailed study of the sculptures in the main walls of the temples and the main deities in the shrines. It also examines the many inscriptions found in the temples to offer insights into the historical, religious, social and cultural value of the temples.
    The volume is bound to interest a host of readers, particularly scholars and students of Indology involved in the study of the cultural traditions of south India and its religious art and architecture.

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