Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia


Book Description

A fresh and exciting exploration of Southeast Asian history from the 5th to 9th century, seen through the lens of the region's sculpture







Hinduism and the Religious Arts


Book Description

The roots between the Hindu religion and the wider culture are deep and uniquely complex. No study of either ancient or contemporary Indian culture can be undertaken without a clear understanding of Hindu visual arts and their sources in religious belief and practice. Defining what is meant by religion - no such term exists in Sanskrit - and what is understood by Hindu ideals of beauty, Heather Elgood provides the best synthesis and critical study of recent scholarship on the topic. In addition, this book offers critical background information for anyone interested in the social and anthropological roots of artistic creativity, as well as the rites, practices and beliefs of the hundreds of millions of Hindus in the world today.




Empires of Faith in Late Antiquity


Book Description

Explores the problems for studying art and religion in Eurasia arising from ancestral, colonial and post-colonial biases in historiography.




Krishna-cult in Indian Art


Book Description

The place of Krishna in Indian Art has remained obscured for many years until a parallelism was made by J. Kennedy in the years 1913-17 in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, in which the similarly of Krishna and Christ was suggested. However, this book explodes that theory and expounds the myth of the legendary Krishna and establishes the origin and development of the most important God of the Hindu Pantheon. Thus the iconography and stylistic development of Krishna explodes all the prevalent theories and categorically proves the importance of Krishna in Indian art. The subject of the book is explicity the representation of Krishna in Indian sculpture and painting. However, such an art-historical study has necessitated a good deal of discussion of the legend itself for the sake of understanding the iconography.