Aryan Books

ASCETICS, PIETY AND POWER: Saiva Siddhanta Monastic Art in the Woodlands of Central India

By :- R.N. Misra

Price:

2400 $ 60

1920

Sale Price:

$ 48

QTY:

Available: In Stock

Type: English

Pages: xii+218

Format: Hard Bound

ISBN-13: 978-81-7305-605-5

Place: New Delhi

Edition: 1st

Publisher: ARYAN BOOKS INTERNATIONAL

Size: 22cm x 28cm

Product Year: 2018

Add to Cart Buy Now

The book attempts to recapture the material milieu, spiritual anchorage and power and authority of SaivaSiddhanta ascetics in the Vindhyan woodlands of central India during the early medieval times. In doing so, it also highlights contradictions that coupled renunciation with acquisitive monasticism, piety with power, and militancy with asceticism. The details tend to betray territorial ambition of the renouncers who carved out a vast network of prosperous mathas— the spectacular structures generally ignored in our studies so far— as their strongholds amidst the raw and hazardous woodlands (atavis) lived by indomitable autochthons (atavikas). The book highlights the renouncer-woodlander coalition institutionalized under the monasteries, temples and sculpture. Sculptures among these, in particular, portray queer female deities, fierce goblins, banshees and ascetics too, all integrated with conventional divinities, which composed the Saiddhantika monastic art and architecture.

Preface and Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: Settings of Monastic Art and its Makers
Saiva-Siddhanta
Ataviand Atavikas
Gopacala in Profile
Marginalised State of Polity in Gopacala and Dahala

2. Ascetics
Descent and Lineages of Siddhanta Ascetics
DaksinaKosala
Kadambaguha
Aranipadra
Madhumati
Tripuri
Ascetics and Piety
Ascetics and Economic Resources
Ascetics and Power

3. Monastic Architecture: Mathas 1
Architectural Features
Kadwaha: History and MathaArchitecture
Surwaya
Terahi
Amardaka (Amrol)
Ranod

4. Monastic Architecture: Mathas 2
Chanderi and Thubon
The Mathas in Dahala Region
Golaki(golagnika) Mathaof Gurgi
The Now Extinct Mathasat Bilhari and Maihar
Chandrehe
Architecture of the ChandreheMatha
Chunari
Kodal
Concluding Remarks

5. Monastic Temples and Sculptures
Temples
Terahi
Surwaya
Chandrehe
Kadwaha
Kodal
Sculptures
Figural Imagery
The First Phase (7th to 9th century)
The Second Phase (10th to 12th century)

Maps:
Map 1.Vindhyatavi: The environs of Terahi and Mahua.
Map 2.The group of sites at Kadwaha.
Map 3.Saivite monasteries in central India, 7th-14th centuries.

Diacritical Symbols and Glossary
Select Bibliography
Index

Professor R.N. Misra taught at the Universities of Saugor, Gwalior and Allahabad (1959-2001) and was also a Fellow of Indian Institute of Advanced Study (1973-75; 2002-05) and Tagore National Fellow (2012-15) affiliated to the Archaeological Survey of India.
The books he authored include Bharhut (in Hindi, 1971), Ancient Artist and Art Activity (1975), Indian Sculptures (in Hindi: 1978, 2002, 2008), Yaksha Cult and Iconography (1981), Sculptures of Dahala and DaksinaKosala (1987), Ancient Indian Society, Economy and Religion (in Hindi, 1991, 1994), Silpa in Indian Tradition (2009) and Outlines of Indian Arts (edited, 2014).

No review available. Add your review. You could be the first one. Please Login