Elements of Indian Art Including Temple Architecture, Iconography and Iconometry

From the Jacket 

The book is a study of the fundamental principle of ancient Indian art and architecture, dealing with essentials of Hindu thinking and practice of art like the Hindu view of Godhead, iconography, and iconometry, and symbols and symbolism in Hindu art. Referring to major classical Indian literary works shedding light on art and architecture, it undertakes a survey of Indian art and temple architecture from the 3rd century BC through the medieval period, highlighting the directional changes that marked the history of art, specifically sculpture and painting. It elaborately views the various terms and concepts associated with the field of art and iconography like mudras, asanas, pithas, explaining the nature of Buddhist and Jain deities as well as those of Hindu sects like Saivism, Vaisnavism, and Saktism. Pointing out the importance of studying Hindu temple architecture in order to fully appreciate Hindu art which was meant for the propagation of dharma, it analyses the basic features of the temple architecture and its regional variants.

Tracing the differences in conception and delineation of a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, and Christian church, the research focuses particularly on the principles of visualization of symbols and signs in Hinduism and Christianity. It also reveals how the West has viewed Indian literature and art, exposing the inner contradictions of some European thinkers who while praising literary works of Kalidasa and others condemned the Hindu images.

The work contains more than 300 illustrations, half-tone, and line drawings, that make the discussion easy to comprehend for a range of readers – scholars, students as well as laymen.

About the Author 

Dr. S.P. Gupta, born in 1931, presently Chairman, Indian Archaeological Society, New Delhi, is a distinguished archaeologist and art historian who has been awarded several gold medals and the Sir Mortimer Wheeler Prize for excellence in field-archaeology. He has worked and lectured in more than 30 countries in the world. He has authored a number of books including Disposal of the Dead and Physical Types in Ancient India (1971), Tourism, Museums and Monuments (1975), Archaeology of Soviet Central Asia and the Indian Borderlands -two volumes (1978), The Roots of Indian Art (1980) – the French edition of which was published in 1990 and Cultural Tourism in India (2002). He has also edited many books and published about 50 articles in various national and international journals and books.

Dr. Shashi Prabha Asthana (1947-1997), an expert in ancient Indian history, art history, and archaeology, won a number of prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Bursary Merit Scholarship, Commonwealth Scholarship, and British Institute Fellowship to visit and work in the UK, the USA, Japan, Iraq, Iran, France, Germany, and many other countries. She has authored several monographs and catalog, including History and Archaeology of India’s Contacts with other Countries from earliest times to 300 BC (1976), Pre-Harappan Cultures of India, and its Borderlands (1985), Mathura Kala (2000), Indian Art through the Ages and Indian Bronzes.