Hoysala Sculptures: A Cultural Study

The Hoysalas who flourished during 10th to 13th centuries A.D. were known for their architectural grandeur and played a significant role in the deve- lopment of temple architecture in India. The artistic, religious and iconographic wealth in the Hoysala sculptures that adorned every inch of the temple walls are an almost inexhaustive and perennial source of information in regard to the contemporary civilization and the very glyptic lesplendent expression of Hoysala life-style. The Hoysala sculptures amazingly lend great latitude for visualising the picturesque panorama of a life that thrived under the Hoysalas. The Hoysala art is imminently a spontaneous blossoming of lyric imagination transmuted into lithics by an exceptional skill of the sculptor. Nicety, refinement, exuberant carving, minuteness of details characterise the Hoysala art. This richly illustrated, magnificent book "The Hoysala Sculptures – A Cultural Study" projects to the scholars and connoisseurs of art, architecture and archaeology an indepth authentic account of the material culture depicted in the Hoysala sculptures. The architecture, mode of dress, personal ornaments, coiffures, weapon of war, musical instruments etc. all compassing the culture of the society of the times have all been superbly brought within the compass of the study. Furthermore, the study seeks contemporary plastic parallels and finally tries to corroborate the archaeological data with the literary one, wherever possible, thereby lending authenticity to the logical observations recorded by the author. Written in lucid style, this bcok is of great value to the student of art-history and for the common reader its fascination lies in the intense human and cultural interest the subject inevitably generates and in it they may find kernal to their knowledge.