Book Description

Kashmir occupies a central position in Asia with its borders touching Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and Tibet. This gave rise to the rich cultural matrix in the valley, including religion, philosophy, literature, history, music, fine arts and aesthetics. There has been continuous sculptural activity in the region spanning over a period of thousand years. Despite the rich treasure trove of Kashmiri sculptural images and their most distinctive regional style, a very little research work is done in this area. The present book is an attempt in that direction. Running into two volumes, it makes an iconographic study of Brahmanical sculptures of Kashmir. Bringing together more than five hundred Brahmanical images of Kashmir from different parts of the world, it demonstrates their enduring themes, iconographic types and stylistic traditions, as well as major influences on them. Also, it highlights their religious and artistic significance while placing them in historical context. The cultural milieu that inspired the creation of these masterpieces in ancient Kashmir has been investigated as well. The book includes sculptural images of Brahma, Siva, Vishnu, Mother Goddesses, Kamadeva and others.