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Art The Integral Vis...
Art The Integral Vision
Essays in Felicitation of KAPILA VATSYAYAN by: Baidyanath Saraswati , Subhash Chandra Malik , Madhu Khanna$80.00
ISBN: 9788124610602
Year Of Publication: 2020
Edition: 2nd
Pages : xvii, 353
Bibliographic Details : Index
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 23
Weight: 1262
“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.”
Message
— His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction
1. Sarvadarśikā
2. Dialogue and Monologue with Kapilaji
— Baidyanath Saraswati
3. A Letter to Kapila Vatsyayan
— Michael Meschke
4. The Invention of Space
— David Park
5. Autonomy and Wholeness: Reflections on Creativity and
Self-expression
— S.C. Malik
6. The Learning of the Imagination
— Kathleen Raine
7. Higher States of Consciousness in East and West
— Peter Malekin
8. Seeing Time in the Indian Miniature
— Jim C. Masselos
9. A Gurjara-Pratihāra Image of Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa
— T.S. Maxwell
10. Mudrā: Its Metaphysical Basis in Kashmir Śaivism
— Bettina Bäumer
11. Radiance as an Aesthetic Value in the Art of Mesopotamia
(With Some Indian Parallels)
— Irene J. Winter
12. Art and Meditation: Traditional Imagery and Contemporary
Parallels as Seen Through Children’s Meditational Art
— Madhu Khanna
13. The Compleat Devotee and the Cosmic City: Hanuman at Hampi
— John Mckim Malville
14. Art and the Topology of Being: Introducing a Threefold
Homage to Kapila Vatsyayan
— André Scrima
15. Sergiu Al-George and the Romanian School of indology
— Radu Bercea
16. Museum of the Future: The Project Gīta-govinda
— Ranjit Makkuni
17. Kr̥ṣṇa-līlā in Temple Art of Khajurāho
— Devangana Desai
18. Goddess Cybele in Hindu Śākta Tradition
— M.C. Joshi
19. The Formation of Medieval Style in Malwa Region
(A Presentation of Hiṅglajgarh Sculptures)
— Ratan Parimoo
20. The Buddhist Bronzes of Surocolo
— Lokesh Chandra and Sudarshana Devi Singhal
21. What Is Deśī About Br̥ahaddeśī?
— Prem Lata Sharma
22. “No Dance, and There is Only the Dance”: Dance and the Indian Arts
— Sehdev Kumar and Aaloka Mehndiratta
23. The King, the Boar and the Waterhole: An Oral Narrative
about the Recreation of Puṣkara
— Aditya Malik
24. The Membrane of Tolerance: Middle and Modern India
— Michael W. Meister
25. Is Religion a Human Invariant?
— Raimon Panikkar
26. A Question of Human Future
— Keshav Malik
27. India and the Future Culture of Man: A Search for
New Perspectives
— Meera Aster Patel
Notes on Contributors
Index
“Art The Integral Vision”
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Amarushataka $88.00
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.
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The Yoga of Netra Tantra $57.00
The Netra Tantra “Tantra of the (Third) Eye (of Siva)”, also called Mrtyujit (Conqueror of Death), is one of the fundamental scriptures of non-dualist Kashmir Saivism or Trika. It is the only Tantra having the Third Eye of Siva as title and theme, and it contains three important chapters on Yoga, relating to three ways of overcoming death.
This book, besides giving an introduction to the Tantra, contains an interpretation of the three chapters; Chapter 1 deals with the Eye of Siva, Chapter 7 with subtle Yoga, and Chapter 8 with supreme Yoga. The same texts are presented in Devanagari, transliteration and translation, including the eleventh-century commentary of Ksemaraja, illustrious disciple of Abhinavagupta. The Appendix contains illustrations of the theme of trinetra from different sources, mainly connected with Kashmir, as well as a comparative study on “The spiritual eye in the Christian mystical traditions”.
This book is an important contribution to the studies on non-dualist Saivism or Trika, and especially to its Yoga. -
Art & Archaeology of India $28.00
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.
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Absence of the Buddha Image in Early Buddhist Art $50.00
It is next to impossible today to even think of Buddhism without the presence of the Buddha image! The image of the Buddha, in truth, has not only come to symbolise the essence of Buddhism but is also a brilliant expression of the cultural/artistic achievements of the Buddhists since ancient times. Surprisingly, the Buddha image developed at a later stage of the evolutionary process; after the parinirvana of the Buddha, the Buddhists for a considerable time beheld the Buddha and experienced him in their own minds without taking recourse to the Buddha image itself. In Absence of the Buddha Image in Early Buddhist Art, Dr. Tanaka, a well-versed scholar, has for the first time ever explored the absence of the Buddha image in Buddhist art particularly in the period from third century bc to late first century ad in order to rediscover the significance of this phenomenon. Dr. Tanaka observes Bharhut and Sanchi sculptures to point out the most essential motifs and elements of stupa-art design the visible facts pertaining to the absence of the Buddha image. The author studies the religious, philosophical, artistic and political significance of the visible facts, highlighting the concept of the empty throne as the motif representative of that absence. She applies the empty throne concept to the sanctuaries of monotheistic religions, and thus undertakes a comparative study of Buddhism and other religions, particularly, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism to suggest that present-day discussions on the linkage between religions can centre on this theme. The dexterous handling of the topic combined with the authors use of first-hand research material makes this an erudite study. The directness in the authors approach and the unwavering eye on the theme sustains the interest throughout. An abundance of visual material, i.e., drawings and photographs, and tables immensely aid in analysis of the visible facts. This intense work on a rich theme offers well-researched and interesting material that will be useful to scholars of religious studies, fine arts and even philosophy.
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Explorations in Indian Philosophy $22.00
Any discourse on Indian philosophy has to be taken out of the box in which it was confined for ages using obsolete methods for evaluating thinking patterns. In the traditional way of analysing Indian philosophy there was an inimical approach to each other between the philosophers and the philologists, and between the Sanskrit tradition-oriented philosophers and modern English/vernacular-based philosophers. This friction is evident in the hesitation of the traditionalists in giving philosophers like Daya Krishna and K.C. Bhattacharyya their due share.
The twelve essays in this volume address many a question about the characteristics of Indian philosophical traditions and Indian-ness. Indian philosophy is essentially not Sanskrit based alone, there is a significant contribution to it from the South Asian languages and English, and the cultures of the subcontinent. It attempts to provide provocative insights in sharing the author’s penetrative acumen both in his traditional and modern approaches to South Asian intellectual systems. It therefore addresses the prejudice between the East and the West, and traditional and modern, and the concerns of South Asian diaspora in the Western countries.
As far as this anthology is concerned, the icing on the cake is the Foreword by Dr Mrinal Kaul, who critically analyses the major developments taken place in the realm of Indian philosophy in the last few decades, critically appreciating the contents.
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