The present book breaks new grounds in being among the first such juxtaposed studies of two great focal centres of Rock-cut Art–one in the lower Tamil Nadu and the other in the Upper Deccan. The former of the two centres was reared under the early Pandyan dynasty of Madurai, and the latter, under the redoubtable Calukyas of Badami. The efflorescence of this art, in these two centres, for Brahmanical religion, has bequeathed one of the richest legacies of South India in monumental art. The book is designed, along with its illustrations both photographic and line drawings, to be helpful for a close perception of the foundational character of this art, making the nexus of the mainstream culture with the regional spectra. It will be of specific use to scholars and teachers of art history, on the comparatively less known heritage of early Pandyan rock-cut, as much as on the primary contribution of Ellora under the Rastrakutas towards Indian art and cultural renaissance and even to world art.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR K.V. Soundara Rajan
K.V. Soundara Rajan (b. 1952) who additionaol Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, needs no introduction to scholars and academics in art, archaeology and architecture, in India and outside. His contributions to Indian Culture have the mark of secular values, being related to not only Hinduism and its allied facets of Buddhism and Jainism but also to the creative art productions of Islam in architecture. Trained by Mortimer Wheeler and F.E. Zeuner in field archaeology and Prehistoric studies, in which career he has excavated several sites of varying nature in different parts of India, from the Harappan, through the Megalithic to Indo-Roman centres, it is his primary grounding in Sanskrit and its ancient legacy that made him a legitimatae and effective practitioner in interpretative thrusts in both archaeological and traditional studies in an integrative manner. He has a score of books and hundreds of research articles in his name and had, besides being an alumnus of Allahabad University, been the chairperson of several learned societies traveled in the Old world and the New, having lectured and studied their monuments and museums and is respected for his fluent exposition of our cultural heritage. His ‘Essence of Hinduism’ with its succedding Dictionary Volumes of Hindu usages, is perhaps the creation closest to his heart as the quintessential presentation of our cultural legacy. His abiding interests include also Classical music and the Stage.
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