Love Songs of Vidyap...
Love Songs of Vidyapati
by: Harsha V. DehejiaThis portfolio, based on the ten Maithili love songs of Vidyapati, presents lovely paintings on the varied love moods of Radha: her sensuous charm, innocence, longing for Krishna, surrender to love, etc.
Original price was: ₹350.00.₹315.00Current price is: ₹315.00.
ISBN: 9788124607282
Year Of Publication: 2014
Edition: 1st
Pages : 16 leaves
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
Size: 35
Weight: 525
Vidyapati (c. 13521448), called second Jayadeva in his lifetime, is immersed, charged and inspired by the love of Radha and Krishna. He wrote emotionally-intensive love songs in Maithili, for the queens of Shiva Simha, his patron, and the common folk. Though drawn inspiration from Jayadeva, more than him, Vidyapati presents in his poetry a rare, tender and sensitive understanding of Radhas psyche. In his love songs Radha, not Krishna, is in the centre stage and through his nayika Vidyapati is reaching out to each and every woman in Mithila.
Vidyapati presents his songs from a womans heart, and describes his nayikas slowly awakening youth, her sensuous beauty, her coyish charm, her naïve innocence, her surrender to love and her anguish on being neglected. She is invariably sensual, spiritual, physical and emotional. Though she did not inspire painters of the time, she ruled the hearts of the people of Mithila. Vidyapatis love songs are written in honeyed words and are sung with mellifluous notes in homes, fields, chowks and havelis, across eastern India. And thus he still rules their heart.
This portfolio, based on the ten love songs of Vidyapati, presents lovely paintings on the varied love moods of Radha, the love queen. In doing so, different artists have displayed their dexterity in Jaipur, Caurapancashika, late Mughal, Manaku, Kishangarh, Jain, Kangra and Basohli styles.
- Sale!Akbar, The Aesthete Original price was: ₹4,800.00.₹4,320.00Current price is: ₹4,320.00.
Mughal miniatures are a vivid account of the cultural, sociopolitical scenario of the Mughal era. Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar, the most powerful Mughal emperor, was a great aesthete and promoter of arts. Eminent Persian and Indian artists thronged his Royal Studio and were encouraged to paint numerous emotive miniatures of style and substance, communicating highly complex narratives. These miniatures are a beautiful manifestation of human expressions, vividly encapsulating moments of history for posterity.
This book combines the sources and methodology of history and art history of the Mughal era, and is an analysis of a select group of paintings of Akbar’s reign. The miniature paintings incorporate a wide variety of rich, vibrant and varied themes, ranging from durbar scenes, depicting Akbar in different moods and forms, the princes and nobles in their finery, hunting and battle scenes, elaborate scenes of royal births, construction scenes, ascetics, common man, and countryside scenes, to the flora and fauna. Individual analyses of these miniatures, shows the manner of their composition and the inherent value of their sociocultural content in a lively manner. These paintings became a passion and a diversion for Akbar, who had an innate aesthetic sense.
However, there are hardly any true-to-life paintings of women of the royal seraglio. This book thus attempts to cover some images of femininity, whether it is of Queen Alanquwa, Akbar’s mother, or of Madonna as sacred mothers, and women, per se, in different roles. These miniatures make one wonder how much these women contributed to the life of Mughal India.
This unique volume, having given transliteration and translation of the original Persian text of the miniatures, provides an insight into Akbar as an aesthete, and will help academics and laymen alike in appreciating the beauty and history of Akbar’s period. - Sale!Birds and Animals in Mughal Miniature Paintings Original price was: ₹1,600.00.₹1,440.00Current price is: ₹1,440.00.
The depiction of flora and fauna has been an intrinsic part of Indian painting traditions. The Mughals in their turn, in their fascinating paintings, used the bird and animal imagery to lend a special quality to their art of painting. This book, with over 70 illustrations, is a survey of the birds and animals used in Mughal paintings, especially during the reigns of Emperors Akbar and Jahangir. With historical details, it shows that the depiction of various kinds of birds and animals played a significant role in conformity with the context or the demands of the narratives. The artists painted both wild and domestic animals with equal competence. Outlining the differences in the paintings under the Mughal rulers themselves with regard to depiction of fauna, it notes that while Akbar was interested in historical, mythological or anecdotal events, Jahangir introduced album paintings and evinced interest in individual portrait studies of fauna. In all, it showcases the meticulous depiction of fauna in Mughal art and its persevering beauty. It mentions the names of a host of artists who executed the paintings and the many illustrated manuscripts mythological, historical and on popular fables that saw lavish use of paintings with faunal imagery. The book will interest historians especially those studying art history of the medieval period.
- Sale!Explorations in Indian Philosophy Original price was: ₹550.00.₹495.00Current price is: ₹495.00.
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. - Sale!Across the South of Asia Original price was: ₹1,700.00.₹1,530.00Current price is: ₹1,530.00.
All too often, modern scholarship limits its scope according to the boundaries of contemporary nations and current geopolitical borders. Academic expertise frequently ties itself artificially to these pre-defined spaces and in so doing often does a disservice to the past. It is no great revelation to point out that people of the past defined the limits of their political and cultural reach in ways that were very different from those found on modern maps. Ancient rulers, merchants, and priests understood the reach of their influence and defined foreignness in ways that would be deeply unfamiliar to those only knowledgeable of the modern world. Yet, despite the well-recognized truth in these observations, it is still relatively rare for scholars to research in ways that transcend modern boundaries.
This collection of essays invites readers to take a broad view of South Asian art and culture by providing a wide geographic and chronological scope. The articles are united only by their focus on art historical and archaeological concerns and their concentration on South Asia ranging from Afghanistan to the island kingdoms of Indonesia. Each essay on its own constitutes a solid, well-grounded academic study, but taken collectively they provide a wide and inclusive view of issues of art and material culture that span the region and invite comparison.
By taking this approach, this volume is a tribute to Prof. Robert L. Brown whose lifetime of teaching has always emphasized connections as well as differences. Over his professional career, he has trained a large cohort of students (many of whom are contributors to this volume) whose expertise truly does reach across the south of Asia. - Sale!Amarushataka Original price was: ₹3,500.00.₹3,150.00Current price is: ₹3,150.00.
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.
