Art and History

Art and History: Texts, Contexts and Visual Representations in Ancient and Early Medieval India seeks to locate the historical contexts of premodern Indian art traditions. The volume examines significant questions, such as: What were the purposes served by art? How were religious and political ideas and philosophies conveyed through visual representations? How central were prescription, technique and style to the production of art? Who were the makers and patrons of art? How and why do certain art forms, meanings and symbols retain a relevance across context? With contributions from historians and art historians seeking to unravel the interface between art and history, the volume dwells on the significance of visual representations in specific regional historical contexts, the range of symbolic signification attached to these and the mythologies and textual prescriptions that contribute to the codification and use of representational forms. Supplemented with over 60 images, this volume is a must-read for scholars and researchers of history and art.

R. Mahalakshmi is Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Visual Representations as Historical Source in Ancient and Early Medieval India: An Introduction -R. Mahalakshmi I. Visualising Power: Sacred and Temporal 1. Power of Image and Image of Power in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands: Case Studies of Bactrian Greeks and the Indo-Greeks -Suchandra Ghosh 2. The Abhiraka Coin: Search for a New Identity -Dev Kumar Jhanjh 3. Emblems of Faith, Monuments of Authority: Brahmanical Iconography in the Temples of the Calukyas of Badami-Niharika K. Sankrityayan 4. Controlling the Waters: Divine Imagery and Royal Enterprise in Early Medieval Tamil Nadu -R. Mahalakshmi II. Conceptualising the Divine Feminine: Forms, Meanings and Symbols 5. Giving Akara to the Goddess: Kali in Textual and Visual Traditions-Sneha Ganguly 6. Prajñaparamita: The Making of the First Buddhist Goddess-Megha Yadav 7. Representation of Sixteen Mahavidya in the Dilwara Jaina Temple -Virendra Singh Bithoo III. Religious Traditions, Visual Representations and Regional Contexts 8. Icons and Patterns of Worship from the Fringes of South India: The Religious Landscape of Northern Tamil Nadu -V. Selvakumar 9. From Viraja Tirtha to 'Allegorical' Nabhi Gaya: Exploring the Changing Religious Landscape of Jajpur (Sixth to Fourteenth Centuries CE) -Umakanta Mishra 10. Donors of Kurkihar Images: An Investigation into Their Socioeconomic Background -Sayantani Pal IV. Social Imaginaries and the Ocular 11. The Marriage Rite of S-iva-Parvati: Specimens of Early Medieval Indian Temple Art -Neha Singh 12. Imagery of Love Making: Representation of the Erotic Body in the Temples of Early Medieval Odisha -Sujata Rakshit 13. Of Men, Stones and Stories: Revisiting the Virakals of South India -Malavika Binny V. Prescriptions and Representations 14. The Ga?a Who Consumed Himself: Kirtimukha in North Indian Literature and Art, 400 CE -900 CE -Anisha Saxena 291 15. Buddhist Theory of Representation-Y.S. Alone About the Editor and Contributors Index