Books

TARJUMA-I-MANAKUTUHALA & RISALA-I-RAGADARPANA

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ISBN : 81-208-1282-4
Edited By :SHAHAB SARMADEE

(1996 lxviii+314pp)
Rs.500.00
This is the first Persian text brought out in the Kalāmūlaśāstra Series. The volume presents a combined text on music in Persian that was compiled during the seventeenth century CE. The fact of its being a combined text has gone unnoticed till recently. Read More
This work is important from various points of view.It was through the first part of this text i.e. up to chapter two that an important compilation on the identification of Rāgas accomplished under the supervision of Rājā Mansingh Tomar of Gwalior entitled Mānakutūhala is preserved for posterity in Persian translation, which was till now considered lost in original. The appended treatise incorporates further details on the development of contemporary music.

It is undoubtedly one of the few important texts which sheds significant light on the music of the Mughal period. Also, a unique feature of this work is that it covers the period during which the internal and the external forces worked together resulting in a new synthesis. In this configuration, music played a significant role to integrate diverse views.

Book Excerpt – article published in Newsletter

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DATTILAM of DATTILA MUNI

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ISBN : 81-208-0586-0
Edited By :MUKUND LATH

(1988, xvii+236pp, textual notes., com., appen., bibl.)
Rs.300.00
The Dattilam, ascribed to Dattila Muni, is a remarkable treatise from the earliest known period of organized systematic writing on music in India. The work can be placed in the same period as that of the available recension of the Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata MuniRead More
(c. first century CE) and it presents a well-developed Śāstric tradition of analytical thinking on music.

The treatise is devoted to the description of gāndharva, a sacred corpus of music, derived from the still more ancient sāman, the sacred Vedic form. gāndharva was also the source of later musical forms from which the present forms have descended. As a text the Dattilam is not merely important in the historical context but also as a text of perennial significance for it articulates a framework and approach in musicology with which our understanding of musical forms is still impregnated. This edition presents the only available manuscript of the text, along with its translation and a commentary.

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KRSNAGITI OF MANADEVA

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ISBN : 81-208-1478-9
Edited By :C. R. SWAMINATHAN and SUDHA GOPALAKRISHNAN

(1997, xv+349pp., col. ills.)
Rs.650.00
The kṛṣṇagīti is a lyrical and devotional poem composed in Sanskrit by Mānaveda, Zamorin of Kozhikode during seventeenth century CE. The poem in its eight parts celebrates the life of Kṛśṇa from his incarnation (Avatāra) to his ascent to Heaven (svargārohaṇa)…Read More
Perhaps modelled on Jayadeva’s Gītagovinda and written in the form of a monologue addressed to kṛṣṇa, the poem is suffused with the sentiment of spiritual devotion (bhakti). It enumerates the story of the Lord and eulogizes His līlās on the earth. Moreover, it is the source-text for Kṛṣṇaṭṭam, the votive dance-drama affiliated to the Guruvayur Temple in central Kerala. This edition presents the text of the Kṛṣṇagīti in Devanagari for the first time.

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SELECTED ESSAYS OF G. SANKARA PILLAI

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ISBN : 81-244-1081-2
Edited By :N. RADHAKRISHNAN

(1997, xi+176pp., index)
Rs.250.00
The collection of essays in this volume, grouped in three sections under the headings: General Perspectives, Traditions of Theatre, and Modern Idiom in Theatre, reveal the author’s complete mastery on the various aspects of Indian culture, particularly the theatre arts…Read More
The essays reverberate with an intensity of feeling for the ritual or folk theatre of Kerala: more through Sankara Pillai’s eye and pen the vision of Earth as Mother and Mother as Earth in her diverse forms is revealed. Equally powerful are the essays devoted to contemporary literature and theatre. The author incisively analyses the theatre scene in India in its aspects of both national phenomena as also international with European movements.

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STYLISTICS OF BUDDHIST ART IN INDIA

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ISBN : 81-7305-243-3
Edited By :Mireele Benisti

(2003, xiv+346pp., 2 vols. (text & plates), 288 illus.)
Rs.4,000.00
This book contains many landmarks in the history of Buddhist doctrine and art, presented on the basis of in-depth analysis of the styles and icons of stūpas…Read More
It emphasizes the study of minor votive stūpas and those figured in reliefs, which, undamaged and represented with complete ornamentation, are testimonies about the conception and use of this object of worship.

Another emphasis of this work is on stylistics, i.e. the study of styles systematically conducted with a precise and elaborate method, constituting a full fledged discipline, which, along with iconography, provides a solid foundation for scientific history of art.

Buddhist texts relevant to the conception, building and worship of stūpas, such as Kriyāsaṁgraha, are referred to, with edition and translation.

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A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ANANDA KENTISH COOMARASWAMY

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ISBN : 81-7304-428-7
Edited By :James S. Crouch

(2002, 430pp.)
Rs.1,000.00
The volume documents the remarkably productive career of one of the great minds of the twentieth century. This comprehensive and accurate bibliography is the result of more than twenty years of devoted research and scholarship. Its publication is an event of the first importance for all scholars of Indian art and religion…Read More
Moreover, it is an equally invaluable reference work for anyone concerned with the study of comparative religion, mythology, traditional metaphysics, iconography and symbolism, in general. It describes in detail American, English and Indian first editions of ninety-five books and pamphlets by Coomaraswamy, with descriptions of ninety-six books containing contributions by him to periodicals and newspapers (as well as translations of his writings). It also lists 420 reviews of Coomaraswamy’s books and 216 other items about him and his works. All entries are fully annotated and a complete index is provided.

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AESTHETICS AND MOTIVATIONS IN ARTS AND SCIENCE

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ISBN : 81-224-0746-3
Edited By :KIRAN C. GUPTA

(1996, xvi+183pp.)
Rs.350.00
This volume is a collection of twelve papers invited for a National Seminar based on the seminal work, “Truth and Beauty; Aesthetics and Motivations in Science” by the Nobel Laureate S. Chandrasekhar. The contributions are by experts in arts, fine arts and science,…Read More
exploring the themes of creativity, beauty and truth in their respective subjects of specializations. It is hoped that this publication will lead to more dialogues between the practitioners of arts and sciences.

Foreword

Glimpses of Content

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Baroque India : The Neo-Roman religious architecture of South Asia: A Global Stylistic Survey

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ISBN : 81-7305-161-5
Edited By :Stylistic Survey, Jose Pereira

(2000, xix+497pp, line-drawings, b&w plates, bibl., index)
Rs.2,500.00
Baroque India is the fruit of over forty years of research and is the work of one professionally trained in the history of Indian art (Hindu, Buddhist and Jain). In addition, he is the author of a survey of Islamic architecture worldwide, which includes, of course, the Indo-Islamic traditions…Read More
It is his belief that Indian Baroque-or, more correctly, Indian Neo Roman -cannot be properly appreciated without an understanding of the architectural styles that preceded it on the subcontinent, and which exercised a significant impact on it.

In so doing, the author has tried to outline a consistent aesthetic theory of Neo Roman, to portray its five major modes – Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassicism – as expressions of the Neo-Roman essence, immanently developing, in the indicated sequence, one from the other, and pullulating a rich variety of spatial themes that both display a marked originality and manifest a capacity for assimilating the spatial nuances of the other architectural styles.

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BRHADISVARA TEMPLE: FORM AND MEANING

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ISBN : 978081-7305-388-7
Edited By :R. Nagaswamy

(2010, xxvi+280pp.+xxvi, halftone illus. 284, bibl., figs. & maps 13, index)
Rs.3,000.00
The great temple at Tañjāvur is a visual representation of cosmic power on earth that remains, according to the pious wish of the builder, so long as the sun and moon lasts. The God who inhabits this abode is said to be seated with his consort on the summit of the metaphysical…Read More
mountain surrounded by a circle of peaks in which the divine power descends in diminishing potency as it comes down gradually and takes his abode at the peak of the circle, appropriate to his direction and also the relative importance in the hierarchy. So each peak is a virtual temple. This metaphysical mountain is called the great meru-Mahameru, which forms the basic concept of the Bṛhadīśvara Temple of Tanjore.

The Bṛhadīśvara Temple locates for the first time in Indian history, the 108forms of nṛtta karaṇas on the upper storey around the sanctum wall in sculptural form and reflects the concept of cosmic space in which Śiva’s dance takes place. The available karaṇas are discussed in this volume for the first time in the light of Abhinavagupta’s commentary and also the views of modem scholars.

Every structure in the temple is dated with the help of inscriptions. The story is taken through the centuries and its change in meaning and ritual are brought out in this volume which points out what a Hindu temple mean when in full form and through the centuries. The personality of the builder, the role of rājaguru in planning and guidance and also the names of architects who designed and carved the sculptures and executed the lovely paintings are also furnished in this volume which makes it an invaluable work on the temple.
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DEER IN ROCK ART OF INDIA AND EUROPE

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ISBN :
Edited By :GIACAMO CAMURI, ANGELO FOSSATI AND YASHODHAR MATHPAL

(1993, xvi+150pp. tables, line - drawings., col. and b & w illus.)

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