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Srirangam...
Srirangam
Heaven on Earth by: Chithra Madhavan₹1,080.00
ISBN: 9788193263907
Year Of Publication: 2019
Edition: 1st
Pages : 167
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: Universal Publishing
Size: 30
Weight: 970
Srirangam is the foremost of the eight self-manifested shrines (Swayam Vyatka Kshetras) of Lord Vishnu. It is also considered the first and most important of the 108 Divya Desams or sacred places praised in the Tamil hymns of the Azhvars (great devotees of Vishnu). It is the only Vishnu temple to have received the encomiums of the maximum number of Azhvars since eleven of the total number of twelve Azhvars has sung the glory of Ranganathaswami.
The traditional story (Sthala-Purana) of this temple records the origin of this shrine. When Vibhishana carried the Ranga Vimanam given to him by Sri Rama all the way from Ayodhya enrooted to Lanka, he wanted to rest on the banks of River Cauvery in Srirangam. When he started to resume his journey, he found that the Ranga Vimanam had become fixed to the ground as Ranganatha wanted to make Srirangam his home. For the sake of Vibhishana, the Lord faces the southern direction towards Lanka.
The huge temple-complex, covering 156 acres, constructed over many hundreds of years, is an exquisite storehouse of architecture and iconography. The present temple premises has been modified and reconstructed over the centuries of its existence. With twenty-one gopurams, seven prakarams, more than sixty shrines and numerous mandapams, it is the largest living Hindu temple in the world. Many emperors, kings, queens, other members of royalty, officials, army-commanders, religious leaders and people from all walks of life have contributed to this temple. Over the centuries, the Srirangam temple has maintained its pre-eminent position amongst the Vishnu temples of the Tamil country. In fact, for the Tamil Vaishnavites, the Tamil word for temple, 7covir denotes only the Srirangam Ranganathaswami temple. This temple has a unique record of chronicles written in Tamil. It has withstood the onslaughts by invaders during the 14th century The processional image (Utsava-Murti) of this temple worshipped as Azhagiya Manavalan was taken out of the temple for forty-eight long years during this turbulent period when He travelled to various places in South India, including Thirumala, the abode of Sri Venkateshwara.
“Srirangam”
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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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““This book is an autobiographical essay of a man who rose from a humble beginning in a remote village with one room elementary school to attend the University of Chicago, with its impressive Gothic structures ranked among the best in the world; and to become the Chancellor of a prestigious university in the country. Dr Rao attributes all this to destiny. Destiny in this view constitutes the circumstances in which one is situated; but it is the deftness with which one manoeuvres himself through the maze of circumstances that really matters in the final analysis.
The book is offered as a possible source to inspire the aspiring individual not only to set noble goals but also find possible ways of reaching them. Blessed is the one who moves his way upward without hurting himself or others in the process. This has been the guiding principle of Dr Rao.”
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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. -
Sale!Bibliography on Indian Buddhist Art and Archaeology ₹1,710.00
The bibliography includes 4081 entries, covering published materials in English and French languages over the last two centuries. It is divided into two parts. The first part contains 2410 entries dealing with Indian Buddhist art and archaeology and Indian art in general, history, religion, some Buddhist sites outside present India with special attention given to Pakistan , etc. Entries in the second part are exclusively devoted to Indian Buddhist sites. There are 57 sites; each one is individually studied. The book gives a representative overview of what has been researched and accomplished in the field of Indian Buddhist Art and Archaeology since Wilkins’s article on Bodh-Gaya in 1788 or Thomas Daniel’s first illustration on the Kanheri caves in 1798.
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