Indian Temple Architecture

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Transformation of forms of Indian temples takes place through a dual process-time as well as space. These two patterns of transformation, through time and (while representing time) in space, reflect one another closely. Both are processes of emergence, expansion and proliferation, which simultaneously imply differentiation and fusion, growth from the dissolution into unity.  One of the richest traditions of temple building that India has produced took shape in the 7th century A.D., centred in what is now the state of Karnataka, and lasted until the 13th. This was one of the two main branches of Dravida or ‘Southern’ temple architecture, giving rise to such famous temples as the Virupaksa, Pattadakal, Ellora, and the Hoysalesvara, Halebid. These are analysed, alongwith more than 250 other buildings, in this monumental study that, for the first time, explains the Karnata Dravida tradition as one continuous, coherent development. The book, with its numerous analytical drawings, will be welcomed for the way it shows how to look at these great monuments, and makes their complex architecture accessible. It is clearly shown how the formal structure of a temple makes concrete the idea of manifestation, of the transmutation of the eternal and infinite into the shifting multiplicity of existence, and the reabsorption of all things into the limitless unity from which they have come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adam Hardy

Dr. Adam Hardy, an architect, was born in 1953, studied at Cambridge, and has since practiced and taught architecture Until recently, he was Senior Lecturer at Birmingham School of Architecture and is now Senior Tutor at the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture in London, where he continues to explore the relevance of traditional principles to contemporary design. His passion for Indian temples has been in full flow since his first visit to India in 1981. In the intervening period, he has written and lectured widely on the subject. This book is based on his Ph.D. research on the temple of Karnataka, completed in 1991. He is currently involved in the design of a South Indian temple complex near Birmingham.

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Bibliographic information

Title
Indian Temple Architecture
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
8170170346
Length
810p.
Subjects