Art, icon and architecture in South Asia

Art, icon and architecture in South Asia essays in honour of Dr. Devangana Desai edited by Anila Verghese, Anna L. Dallapiccola New Delhi Aryan Books International, 2015

ISBN 9788173055331

DK-244943

http://www.dkagencies.com/doc/from/1063/to/1123/bkId/DK8263321716228836696803113771/details.html

Meant to felicitate an art historian of international repute: Dr Devangana Desai, this 2-volume festschrift carries latest research papers, covering some of the broad areas, which have figured among her lifelong research concerns.  Written by eminent scholars from Germany, India, Singapore, UK, and USA, the 37 essays here been grouped in five thematically organized sections: Buddhist Monuments and Icons – Iconography, Narrative Sculpture and Images – Monuments (Architecture) – Painting – General Themes.   Among other specific themes, the essays focus on the Ashokan Stupa at Sopara, Gandhara Art from the Hirayama Collection in Japan, Mathura ‘Personality vis-à-vis the Development of Narrative Art, the Woman and Dwarf Motive in Western Indian Sculpture, Temple Sculpture in Colonial Madurai, Revelations in Rock, Kachwaha Temples, Enigmatic Buddhist Monasteries and Temples in Central India, and Water Structures of Gujarat; besides studies of narratives in stone, yantras, iconography, calligraphy, terracottas, Khajuraho sculptures, Jaina cave temples, and paintings.   The papers are lavishly illustrated with exquisite photographs.

The Buddhist cosmopolis

The Buddhist cosmopolis Lokesh Chandra New Delhi International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 2014


ISBN 9788177421392
DK-244619
http://www.dkagencies.com/doc/from/1063/to/1123/bkId/DK9163217162761201187395747441/details.html

This is a study of different aspects of Buddhism in the course of its evolution and decline in the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan and South-east Asia. Using comparative archaeological observations of the Buddhist cosmopolis to explain regional variations in Buddhist iconography and culture, internalisation and innovation in Buddhist art, mandalas of Vairocana and Trika Shaivism of Kashmir, it showcases the development and qualitative changes in iconography that led to the rise of royal attributes in the Buddha images

The spirit of Indian painting close encounters with 101 great works, 1100-1900

The spirit of Indian painting close encounters with 101 great works, 1100-1900 B.N. Goswamy. Gurgaon, Haryana, India Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2014.

ISBN 9780670086573
DK-243910

http://www.dkagencies.com/doc/from/1063/to/1123/bkId/DK645523321121536778422511371/details.html

Showcased in this volume are some of the finest, at once fascinating Indian paintings – the veritable marvels of Indian art. An art historian of international eminence, Professor Goswamy, who has had a lifetime involvement with paintings, here sets out 101 works, painstakingly chosen from thousands of the well-known works. His selection, admits Goswamy, is purely personal; but what has guided his choice, “first and foremost”, is that “each one of them speaks to me with a strength and clarity, I cannot ignore”. These paintings, spanning about a thousand years, represent different periods, diverse themes that inspired painters, varying regional styles, and historically important works that were influenced by foreign traditions; besides the works of great masters. Even if each of these paintings, in Goswamy’s opinion, is a great work of art, he does not claim them to be the greatest masterpieces of Indian painting.

Vaiṣṇava temples of South India

Vaiṣṇava temples of South India a study of divyakṣetras in Tamil Nadu S. Ganeshram Delhi Sharada Publishing House, 2015.


ISBN 9789383221028
DK-243328

Jews and the Indian National Art Project

Jews and the Indian National Art Project edited by Kenneth X. Robbins, Marvin Tokayer New Delhi, India Niyogi Books, 2015.
ISBN 9789383098545
DK-243260
India is a most diverse, multicultural, and multilingual country, with a continuing flow of “immigrants” from foreign lands and also between its different regions.  Accordingly, the Indian National Art Project has not been hermetically sealed quest for “purity”, only reflecting Indian traditions and methods or involving only Indian artists, scholars, critics, and patrons.
http://www.dkagencies.com/doc/from/1063/to/1123/bkId/DK915321716276215007115892651/details.html

Satasaradiyam researches on indology

Satasaradiyam researches on indology some reflections the birth centenary volume of late Prof. R.N. Dandekar

Dr. B. K. Dalai is a former director of Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit and Dr. Ravindra A. Muley is Director of the Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit.

The Dussehra of Kulu history and analysis of a cultural

The Dussehra of Kulu history and analysis of a cultural phenomenon Karuna Goswamy Shimla : Indian Institute of Advanced Study ; New Delhi : Aryan Books International, 2014.

http://www.dkagencies.com/doc/from/1063/to/1123/bkId/DKB351716276321721728664822054371/details.html


One of the major festivals of India, the Dussehra celebrates the victory of Lord Rama. But, in many ways, the Dussehra of Kulu, (in the state of Himachal Pradesh), is an at once engaging ‘event’ that has few parallels.  The festival here was started early in the third quarter of the 17th century, as a ‘State Festival’ by Raja Jagat Singh of Kulu, soon after he became a convert to Vaishnavism.  For more than 350 years, the festival -- participated by hundreds of thousands of visitors or ‘pilgrims’ from all over the hills -- has gone on, being held year after year.  What is even now remarkable is the manner in which it has kept changing, but without changing its core.

Even if a lot has written on the Kulu’s Dussehra as a cultural event, this book is, perhaps, the first to study the festival as a cultural phenomenon. Tracing the long history of the festival, it tries to understand the complex set of reasons for its being founded as a ‘State Festival’ in the 17th century, the kind of changes that it has undergone over the centuries, and the causes behind its uncommon longevity. In her thoroughgoing analysis, the author shows how the Kulu Dussehra is not just a religious/cultural event, but has always had political and economic dimensions as well. Professor Goswamy demonstrates that the essential form of the festival remains the same, though many rituals, involved in the festival, have changed with the passage of time; and the quantum of homage is no longer what it was before. Generously illustrated, the book represents the author’s research as a Fellow at the prestigious Indian Institute of Advance Study, Shimla

Karuna Goswamy: formerly Professor of History at the Panjab University, Chandigarh, is a distinguished scholar of Indian culture and prolific author.