Aryan Books

WALKING WITH SIVA: Cognitive Roots of Indian Art, Archaeology and Religion (Set of 2 Vols.)

By :- K.K. Chakravarty

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Type: English

Pages: liv+332

Format: Hard Bound

ISBN-13: 978-81-7305-598-0

Place: New Delhi

Edition: 1st

Publisher: ARYAN BOOKS INTERNATIONAL

Size: 22cm x 28cm

Product Year: 2018

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This volume speaks about the quest for the idea and image of a Universal Being which can be all things to all beings. It moves afar, looking for parallels, precedents and progenies, in Asia and the world, of the unique, hydra-limbed, massive 5th century ad Rudra Siva image found at Tala in Chattisgarh in India in 1987. It explores the immense vitality of its presence, simultaneity, ambiguity and profundity of its denotative and connotative meaning.

Based on excavations, explorations, conservation and restoration, led by the author, the volume separates chaff from grain by a penetrating historiographic investigation; conceptually reconstructs dismembered monuments and sites on archaeological evidence; digs deep into epigraphic, philosophical, religious, botanical and artistic texts to recover the polyvalent script of the art; substantiates this script ethnoarchaeologically by retrieving, from oral evidence and ritual practices, corollary tribal imagery and monastic rites; rebuilds the composite stylistic movement in architecture and sculpture, in a rigorous, comparative analysis of the spatial temporal context of unities and variations; and, opens up new vistas in Indian Art History, by using cross-disciplinary methods, and, effecting a fine-tuned fusion of Indian and Western interpretative horizons.

The volume provides, in 687 illustrations and maps, extensive notes and references, glossary and index, a close view of the large ground traversed by Dr. Chakravarty. It corrects the amnesia and aphasia, loss of memory and speech, about an eternal flux of being and becoming, of human and non-human communities, dramatically staged in the theatre of the universe. The author's fascinating enterprise brings to light a new and neglected school of art in Daksina Kosala-Cakrakotya-Vidarbha-Kalinga region, created in the deepest and poorest recesses of hilly and forested tribal tracts of India. The daring innovation, experimental ardour, fervid curiosity, pent-up energy and ardent humanism of the art remain an example for succeeding generations and explode the notion of its primitive, retrograde nature, nursed earlier.

Acknowledgements

Photo Credits

Abbreviations

List of Illustrations

Introduction

1. Ancient Geographical Situation of Tala

Locatio

Name

Daksina Kosala

Notes

2. A Brief Political History of Daksina Kosala and Tala

Tala Finds and History

Vakatakas

Nalas

Sarabhapuriyas

Pandu/Somavamsis

Notes

3. The Archaeology of Tala

First Clearance 1977-78

Second Clearance 1985-86

Third Clearance 1988

Notes

4. Historiography for Tala and Daksina Kosala

Initial Accounts

Stadtner and Theory of External Dynastic Influence

J.G. Williams and Theory of Tribal Localism

Krishna Deva and Theory of Gupta-Vakataka Origins

Tala Considered an Isolated Incident

Notes

5. Architecture at Tala

Significance of the Study

Devarani: Plan and Elevation

Elevation: Devarani, Jagati and Mandovara

Access: Steps, Ardhamandapa and Mandapa

Devarani: Antarala, Door Jamb

Devarani: Sikhara Doubtful

Devarani: Later Additions

Devarani: Theories of External Influences

Jethani: Problems of Reconstruction

Jethani: Plan

Jethani: South Approach, Mukhamandapa, Front Pillars

Jethani: South Approach, Proto Mandapa, Pillars

Jethani: South Approach, Proto Mandapa, Platforms & Seatbacks

Jethani: South Approach, Antarala, Pillars

Jethani: South Approach, Antarala, Door Jamb

Jethani: South Approach Compared with Devarani Approach – Iconographic Programme

Jethani: Antarala, Pillar Slabs

Jethani: Antarala, Door Jambs

Movement in Access

Jethani: Garbhagrha, Icon

Jethani: Garbhagrha, Vitana

Jethani: Eastern Approach, Sidewalls

Jethani: Eastern Approach, Pillars

Jethani: Western Approach, Sidewalls & Pillars

Comparison of Jethani and Devarani Pillars

Jethani: Nothern Facade, Shrine

Jethani: Sikhara Doubtful

Jethani: Later Reinforcements

Devarani & Jethani: Structural Comparison

Notes

6. The Style of Tala Sculpture

Coexistence of Styles at Jethani and Devarani

Ambivalence between Styles at Jethani

Middle Mean between Styles at Devarani

Theories of External Influence

Simultaneous Memories of Volumetric and Linear Styles

Style more ‘Classical’ than Late-Gupta Sites

Memories of Vidarbha Style

Influence of Tala

Notes

7. Iconography and Iconology of Tala Art

Problems of Understanding

Ferment of Devotionalism

Devotion for Forms of Siva

Attempts at Identification

Parallels and Precedents

Ambivalent Manifestations: Rudra and Saumya Sivas

Yaksas and Yaksaraja Kubera

Surya and Varuna

Gangadhara Siva and Ganga Tripathaga

Gajalaksmi

Mithunas

Flowers and Plants

Ganas

Kirtimukhas

Simha

Makara

Gaja

Ganesa

Kartikeya

Ardhanarisvara

Ascetics

Ornament and Equipment

Cloth

Jewellery

Headdress

Kundalas, Haras

Gestures

Agniksetra: Temple as Altar

Notes

8. On Ethnography

Speech and Echoes

Pasus as Tribal Marks of Attributes

Ganas, Bhutas and Their Masters

Pasus Associated in Tribal Lore with Siva and Parvati

Pasus in Tribal Technology and Architecture

Pasus and Their Lords in Tribal Life and Death

The Snake in Tribal Lore and Arts

Pasus and Siva in Tribal Creation Myths

Flora in Temple Art and Tribal Fertility Myths

Lotus as a Psychic and Fertility Symbol in Temple and Tribal Art

Pasus Define Tribal Time and Space

Analogous Roles of Siva and Lingodev

Protective Role of Siva and Tribal Heroes, like Nanga Baiga

Pasupata, Gond and Baiga Gurus

Siva, Primal Tribal Cultural Heroes, and Agriculture

Sacrifice of Pasus in Pasupata and Tribal Ceremonies

Residual Share in Sacrificial Ritual

Shared Ambivalence

Worship of Mother Goddess

Primordial Divine and Tribal Couples

Cosmology of Waters in Tribal Lore and Temples

The Cosmic Theatre in Tribal Lore and Temple Art

Heterodoxy in Folk, Tribal and Saiva Sects

The Patronage Network

The Patronage Infrastructure

State Church Alliance in Cult Convergence

State Community Alliance in Cult Convergence

Nature in Art

Notes

9. Origins and Influence of Tala Architecture

Method of the Study

Influence of Early Indian Art

Influence of Gupta Vakataka Art

Influence of Early 5th Century ‘Gupta’ Sites

Jethani Closer than Devarani to Early 5th Century ‘Gupta Sites’

Influence of Early 5th Century ‘Vakataka’ Sites

Devarani Closer than Jethani to Late 5th Century Sites

Influence of Tala Style on Daksina Kosala

Phase 1 (ad 525-75): The Ruins at Malhar and Other Early Sites

Sirpur Viharas and Temples

Ramacandra Temple, Rajim and Sirpur Fragments

Phase 2 (ad 595-625): Sirpur, Laksmana Temple and Related Sites

Phase 3 (ad 625-700): Rajivalocana Temple, Rajim

Phase 4: Quasi-Stellate Brick Temples (ad 700-800), Dhobin, Damakhera

Ruined Temples, Pujaripali 9th century ad Reassertion of Line and Volume

Parallel and Archaistic Developments in Surguja (7th to 11th Century ad): Coexistence of Crudity with Fluency of Line and Amplitude of Volume – Closer Approximation to Styles in Odisha

Developments in Bastar (5th to 7th century ad): Growing Approximation to Southern Styles.

Implications of Tala Style Outside Daksina Kosala

Conclusion

Notes

10. Conclusion

Autonomy and Originality of Style

Problems of Misunderstanding

Towards Understanding

The Preconceptual and Non-Representational

Identity and Difference

Signals and Echoes

Nature and Culture

Fusion of Preconscious, Unconscious, Conscious, ‘Raw and Cooked’

Unity and Variation

From Thought to Unthought

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, IAS (retired in the rank of Secretary, Govt. of India), M.A. (Kolkata), M.P.A. (Harvard), Ph.D., Fine Arts (Harvard), is President, People's Council of Education, Allahabad and Distinguished Professor, Centre for Knowledge Societies, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Paralakhemundi, Odisha.

Dr. Chakravarty has been Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi; Director General, National Museum; Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi; Chairman, National Screening and Evaluation Committee, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI); Director, National Museum of Mankind (IGRMS), Bhopal; and Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). He has headed the Delhi Institute of Heritage Research and Management (DIHRM) as Vice Chairman. He has also chaired the Bhasha Trust, Baroda.

His publications include exhibition catalogues, edited journals on Art, books and articles on Family, Tribal Identity, Indigeneity, Education, Rock Art, Folk and Tribal Art, Khajuraho, Gwalior Fort, Orccha, Bodhgaya, Ujjayini, Vidisha, New Museology, Archaeology, Indology and Sanskritic traditions.

Dr. Chakravarty has reinvented cognitive categories; nurtured relations among cultures, disciplines and arts; strategised culture specific governance and diplomacy; restored vanishing links of cultural, linguistic, biological diversity; regenerated community habitats as living museums; and rebuilt crumbling bridges between culture and development. He is known for fusing theory and practice in promoting cultural survival, environmental self-determination and sustainable knowledge systems of marginalized communities.

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