The first to describe in detail a community of potters working for the Jagannatha Temple in Puri, eastern India, Temple Potters of Puri explores the role of the temple servant and how it affects the potters’ understanding of their work and of themselves. As a pilgrimage center of national importance, supported by the patronage of successive regional dynasties and by fervent popular belief, the Jagannatha Temple requires earthenware in great quantities for the creation and distribution of the sacred food that is an integral feature of daily ritual and pilgrimage. Several hundred potters participate as temple servants in maintaining the temple’s ritual cycle by performing their divinely assigned task. This study observes the potters’ technical prowess, sustained by devotion, but also examines the tensions within their relationships to more powerful temple servants and authorities. The role of the potter as temple servant is at once glorious, as demonstrated by texts and personal interpretations of the potters’ divinely-appointed service, and pathetic, as shown in the brutality of caste-based hierarchy and cash-based exchange penetrating the modern temple’s daily operations. The accompanying DVD shows the potters at work and records their skills and products as well as the annual festival that celebrates their role as temple servants. Contents: Introduction – Invisible Earthenware Part I – Pots in the Jagannatha Termple; The Jagannatha Temple: Pilgrims, Sacred Food and Temple Servants; The Cycle of Pots in the Temple Part II – The Potters’ Community, Work and Ritual; The Village; Gifts of a God: Workshop, Kiln, Tools and Materials; Work Processes; Work Cycles and Life Cycles; Kurala Purana: Origins and Status of the Potters as an Occupational Group; Kurala Panchami: Makers, Tools and Processes Sanctified Part III – The Potters as Temple Servants; Neli, the Potter’s Wife: The Potter Servants and their Land; Potter Leadership, the Tada Seba and the Monasteries of Puri; The Potters as Modern Temple Servants: Duties, Rights and Rewards; Incorporating Outsiders, Debating Rights and Duties; Recent History of the Potters Community Appendices
This book is the first to describe in detail a community of potters working for the Jagannatha Temple in Puri. As a pilgrimage centre of national importance, the temple requires earthenware in great quantities for the creation and distribution of the sacred food, an integral feature of daily ritual and pilgrimage. This study observes the potters’ technical prowess, sustained by devotion, and the accompanying DVD shows the artisans at work, demonstrating their skills and products.

Empirical evidence is scant and scattered. Between these fragments, historians have filled the voids with legends. Though legends are not evidence per se, they do carry a seed of truth – and hopefully, their incorporation in this volume will inspire new interest in the mystery of the world’s greatest temples. The engineering techniques that allowed ancient civilizations to construct such marvellous edifices have been lost to us for generations. Unfortunately, they have not received the attention they deserve, as relics of human culture and faith. This is especially true for Konark. In The Sun Temple of Konark, the author attempts to separate chaff from grain, utilizing scientific tools and methodologies. The Sun Temple has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered one of the seven wonders of India. This seminal volume is the result of extensive research by the author into not only the history and legends related to the temple, but also the temple structure itself. An engineer and architect by profession, the author examines the temple in great detail. He questions several of the established theories regarding construction in its various stages and forwards his own theories with reasonable conviction. He takes great pains to go into as much detail as possible with regard to each and every portion, monument, and sculpture of the temple. With 415 images and 21 detailed architectural drawings, the book is a treasure trove for any admirer or student of Konark, or a researcher of its art, history, and architecture.
•Renowned architectural writer Anil Dey analyzes the myriad myths and mysteries surrounding the Konark Sun Temple, one of the Seven Wonders of India
•Gorgeous pictures and accessible text on a complex and engaging subject
•Will be of interest to those who want to learn more about India’s religious and cultural heritage, as well as students of Architecture and South Asian history

Empirical evidence is scant and scattered. Between these fragments, historians have filled the voids with legends. Though legends are not evidence per se, they do carry a seed of truth – and hopefully, their incorporation in this volume will inspire new interest in the mystery of the world’s greatest temples. The engineering techniques that allowed ancient civilizations to construct such marvelous edifices have been lost to us for generations. Unfortunately, they have not received the attention they deserve, as relics of human culture and faith. This is especially true for Konark. In The Sun Temple of Konark, the author attempts to separate chaff from grain, utilizing scientific tools and methodologies.

The Sun Temple has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered one of the seven wonders of India. This seminal volume is the result of extensive research by the author into not only the history and legends related to the temple, but also the temple structure itself. An engineer and architect by profession, the author examines the temple in great detail. He questions several of the established theories regarding construction in its various stages and forwards his own theories with reasonable conviction. He takes great pains to go into as much detail as possible with regard to each and every portion, monument, and sculpture of the temple. With 415 images and 21 detailed architectural drawings, the book is a treasure trove for any admirer or student of Konark, or a researcher of its art, history, and architecture.

This volume is the first to bring together the V&A Museum’s collection of 19th-century temple hangings from South India, made in the kalamkari style of hand drawing, mordant-dyeing and painting. This is the first time they have been fully illustrated with complete translations of their inscriptions, accompanied by detailed analyses of their narratives. Published in association with the V&A Museum, London, this volume features original research and lavish illustrations.

Introduction: The Ramayana: Contructed, Killed and Brought; Ramayana Chirala; Ramayana Machilipatnam; Ramayana Srikalahasti; Ramayana Srikalahasti (English captions); Ramayana Sri Lanka; Ramayana: Selected Scenes; Balakanda Madurai; Yuddhakanda Madurai; Krishnacharita Coastal Andhra. Two Episodes from the Mahabharata; The Killing of Shishupala Madurai; The Duel between Karna and Arjuna Madurai. Two Ganga Hangings; Ganga Dupatti Machilipatnam; Ganga Dupatti Machilipatnam; Mahalakshmi Pithakam Machilipatnam. Introduction to Holy Sites; Sri Subrahmanya Temple, Tiruchendur; Sri Subrahmanyaswami Temple, Tirupparankunram; Sri Ranganathaswami Temple, Srirangam; Alagar Koyil Chittirai Festival; The Life of Christ Srikalahasti; Bibliography; Glossary; Acknowledgements.
• First such collection to be brought together• Lavishly illustrated with complete translations of Tamil, Telugu inscriptions• Detailed frame-by-frame analysis• Some of these temple hangings are on display at the V&A Museum, London, from September 15, 2015 to January 2016This volume is the first to bring together the V&A Museum’s collection of 19th-century temple hangings from South India, made in the kalamkari style of hand drawing, mordant-dyeing and painting. This is the first time they have been fully illustrated with complete translations of their inscriptions, accompanied by detailed analyses of their narratives. Published in association with the V&A Museum, London, this volume features original research and lavish illustrations.Introduction: The Ramayana: Contructed, Killed and Brought; Ramayana Chirala; Ramayana Machilipatnam; Ramayana Srikalahasti; Ramayana Srikalahasti (English captions); Ramayana Sri Lanka; Ramayana: Selected Scenes; Balakanda Madurai; Yuddhakanda Madurai; Krishnacharita Coastal Andhra. Two Episodes from the Mahabharata; The Killing of Shishupala Madurai; The Duel between Karna and Arjuna Madurai. Two Ganga Hangings; Ganga Dupatti Machilipatnam; Ganga Dupatti Machilipatnam; Mahalakshmi Pithakam Machilipatnam. Introduction to Holy Sites; Sri Subrahmanya Temple, Tiruchendur; Sri Subrahmanyaswami Temple, Tirupparankunram; Sri Ranganathaswami Temple, Srirangam; Alagar Koyil Chittirai Festival; The Life of Christ Srikalahasti; Bibliography; Glossary; Acknowledgements.

The Tyagarajasvami Temple in Tiruvarur, a major historic site in the heart of the Tamil country, has preserved among its many treasures a set of ceiling paintings from the 17th century. These magnificent paintings tell the story of Mucukunda, the monkey-faced Chola king who established Lord Tyagaraja in the Tiruvarur temple. They also offer tantalizing glimpses of daily life, material culture, flora and fauna, temple architecture and ritual performance from this period. Contents:
Introducing Tyagaraja Vitivitankan Mucukunda, the Monkey-Faced Chola How Tyagaraja came to Tiruvarur Ajapa and unmanl The Paintings Listening to the Silent Echo of the Murals at Tiruvarur
The Tyagarajasvami Temple in Tiruvarur, a major historic site in the heart of the Tamil country, has preserved among its many treasures a set of ceiling paintings from the 17th century. These magnificent paintings tell the story of Mucukunda, the monkey-faced Chola king who established Lord Tyagaraja in the Tiruvarur temple. They also offer tantalizing glimpses of daily life, material culture, flora and fauna, temple architecture and ritual performance from this period.

This beautifully illustrated book showcases the Hindu and Jain temples of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka built prior to the invasion of peninsular India by the Delhi sultans at the end of the 13th century. Unlike temples in many other parts of India, those of the Deccan are well preserved, with their wealth of figural and decorative carvings miraculously intact. They demonstrate the development of Indian sacred architecture and art over a span of more than 600 years.

Focusing on some 50 historical sites, the Temples of Deccan India begins with artificially excavated “cave” shrines dedicated to various Hindu deities, before proceeding on to examine free-standing Hindu and Jain monuments sponsored by successive rulers of the Deccan. Attention is paid to the beautiful sculptures found on temple basements, walls, brackets and ceilings. Carved in crisp relief, and sometimes even in three dimensions, these carvings are among the greatest glories of Indian stone art. 

Among the featured highlights are the cave temple on the island of Elephanta, with its stupendous representation of three-headed Sadashiva; the colossal, monolithic Kailasa temple at Ellora, a technical feat unsurpassed in the entire history of Indian architecture; the magnificent columned pavilion at Hanamkonda, now currently being reconstructed; and the temple at Belur, with its exquisitely carved female figural brackets. Specially commissioned plans of temple layouts accompany 300+ photographs. and clarify the succession of dynasties that governed the Deccan during the centuries covered here. Maps locate the temple sites, while passages of text illuminate the succession of dynasties that governed the Deccan from the 7th to 13th centuries. Educational, accessible and beautifully illustrated, this book will be of interest to anyone fascinated by Indian architecture.

Perched atop a five-hundred-meter cliff in the far north of Cambodia, Preah Vihear ranks among the world’s holiest sites. It was built a millennium ago as a shrine to Hindu god Shiva by the same civilization that gave the world Angkor Wat. Sadly, it has been transformed recently into a battlefield prize, first with Cambodian factions during the Cambodian civil war, and later (to present) it has been the focus of sometimes violent border disputes with Thailand. In Temple in the Clouds former Washington Post foreign correspondent John Burgess and author of two previous books on Cambodia, draws on extensive research in Cambodia, Thailand, France and the United States to recount the cliff top monument’s full history, ancient and modern. He reveals previously unknown legal strategies and diplomatic manoeuvring behind a contentious World Court case of 1959-62 that awarded the temple to Cambodia. Written in a lively, accessible style, Temple in the Clouds brings new insight to one of Southeast Asia’s greatest temples and most intractable border conflicts. With 50 photographs, plans and maps.

Also by John Burgess: Stories in Stone: ISBN: 9786167339016; A Woman of Angkor ISBN: 9786167339252

One hundred masterpieces of European art and arts and crafts of the eighteenth century form a panorama of innovation, design and expert realisation. In their sumptuous design, the porcelain, furniture, bronzes and silver objects are all miracles of the luxury craftsmanship found in court art. Such sophisticated design was the driving force behind the quickly successive styles of classicism, naturalism and the exotic design of the Rococo period.

André-Charles Boulle, Jakob Philipp Hackert, Johann Joachim Kaendler, Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt and Jean-Baptiste François Pater are just some of the renowned artists featured in this catalogue. The artworks are opulently presented, interpreted in detail and arranged according to context. Thus the colourful image of a great era in art emerges, one that relied on creative energy and the power of the imagination.

This book is a fascinating study of the cultural history of Thanjavur – starting from its early days of grandeur during the Chola Empire when the Chola ruler Raja Raja I built the Rajarajeswaram temple, now known as the Brihadeeswara temple, which celebrated its 1000th year of consecration in 2010. It weaves together known and unknown histories of the various rulers – the Cholas, the Nayaks, the Marathas and the British – and of the Big Temple into a rich tapestry of cultural heritage that is Thanjavur. The historical stories presented in Thanjavur reveal to the reader the treasure house of the Sarasvati Mahal Library and lead them into the narrow lanes, or sandhus, where the painters who created the now famous Thanjavur style lived beside bangle-sellers, textile merchants, perfumers and the devadasis. The reader is invited on a long trip along the fertile river bank of Kaveri where Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam as we know them today were created and flourished. The temples, the palaces, the bronzes, the paintings, the frescoes, the cuisine, the weapons of war and ivory dolls, the kalamkaris, and literary genres are all brushstrokes that make up this colorful painting, which tells the story of the city of Thanjavur. Contents:
Foreword Of Granaries and Palaces: A short history of Thanjavur’s rulers The Sacred and the Secular: An unbroken tradition of painting in Thanjavur Manuscripts and Melodies: Thanjavur as the cradle for Carnatic music Rituals as Rhythms: Dance and drama in Thanjavur Zest for the Good Life: Crafts in Thanjavur Thanjan’s Wish: Thanjavur today and tomorrow Photographers of Thanjavur in the 19th Century Appendix 1: Treasures of the Sarasvati Mahal Library Appendix 2: A selected list of streets in the Thanjavur fort area (Municipal Wards 3-4) Appendix 3: Maps of the Thanjavur district and Thanjavur fort Appendix 4: Family trees of the kings of Thanjavur Bibliography and Suggested Readings Glossary A Word of Thanks Index
This book is a fascinating study of the cultural history of Thanjavur – starting from its early days of grandeur during the Chola Empire when the Chola ruler Raja Raja I built the Rajarajeswaram temple, now known as the Brihadeeswara temple, which celebrated its 1000th year of consecration in 2010. It weaves together known and unknown histories of the various rulers – the Cholas, the Nayaks, the Marathas and the British – and of the Big Temple into a rich tapestry of cultural heritage that is Thanjavur.

The historical stories presented in Thanjavur reveal to the reader the treasure house of the Sarasvati Mahal Library and lead them into the narrow lanes, or sandhus, where the painters who created the now famous Thanjavur style lived beside bangle-sellers, textile merchants, perfumers and the devadasis. The reader is invited on a long trip along the fertile river bank of Kaveri where Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam as we know them today were created and flourished. The temples, the palaces, the bronzes, the paintings, the frescoes, the cuisine, the weapons of war and ivory dolls, the kalamkaris, and literary genres are all brushstrokes that make up this colorful painting, which tells the story of the city of Thanjavur.

HOPSCA, composed of a great number of different functional spaces – hotels, offices, parks, shopping, convention centers and apartments – is a complex which is the periodic product of urban morphology evolution during the rapid process of modernization and urbanization, and has become the inevitable requirement of economic development. A term used to describe integrated developments in urban communities – where people live, work, play and shop in proximity – HOPSCA is emerging as an important piece in China’s urbanization puzzle. It combines urban activities such as office, residence, business, catering, conference, entertainment and so on in an organic way, and forms a complex of multifunction and high efficiency.

This book brings together the excellent design concepts of many well-known design companies in recent years about the HOPSCA all around the world, many projects of which are underway. They will bring new breath and new vitality to urban developments.

Heaven on Earth: The Universe of Kerala’s Guruvayur Temple is a remarkable and unique record enhanced by photographs that not only portray all aspects of life within the temple, but its atmosphere of intangible divinity. It is a temple whose elaborate poojas have survived the many vicissitudes of history, of wars and changing times, always adhering to the rules that Adi Sankaracharya is said to have laid down a thousand years ago.

The temples of the Early Chalukyas, dating from the 6th to 8th centuries, are unrivalled in all of India for their comparatively early date and unusually complete condition, the remarkable juxtaposition of their different constructional techniques and building styles, and for the sheer beauty of their figural and decorative carvings. In spite of their appeal and outstanding historical significance, these monuments have until now lacked an adequate publication.

This volume is the first to fully describe and illustrate the architecture and art of the Early Chalukya temples in Badami, and nearby Mahakuta, Aihole and Pattadakal, all situated on or near to the Malprabha River in central Karnataka. Michell’s definitive text is complemented by forty of his measured drawings, which constitute the most thorough graphic documentation ever undertaken. These are accompanied by more than 150 splendid, newly commissioned photographs by Surendra Kumar.

Contents:
Preface; Historical Background; Architecture; Sculpture; Badami; Mahakuta; Aihole; Pattadakal; Maps; Building Chronology; Glossary of Architectural Terms; Glossary of Indian Names; Select Bibliography; Photo Credits; Index.

The temples of the Early Chalukyas, dating from the 6th to 8th centuries, are unrivaled in all of India for their comparatively early date and unusually complete condition, the remarkable juxtaposition of their different constructional techniques and building styles, and for the sheer beauty of their figural and decorative carvings. In spite of their appeal and outstanding historical significance, these monuments have until now lacked an adequate publication.
This volume is the first to fully describe and illustrate the architecture and art of the Early Chalukya temples in Badami, and nearby Mahakuta, Aihole and Pattadakal, all situated on or near to the Malprabha River in central Karnataka. Michell’s definitive text is complemented by forty of his measured drawings, which constitute the most thorough graphic documentation ever undertaken. These are accompanied by more than 150 splendid, newly commissioned photographs by Surendra Kumar.

The founder and patron Reinhard Ernst planned a home for his unique collection; the city of Wiesbaden provided a site in the heart of the city and the Japanese star architect Fumihiko Maki delivered the plans. The result is the Museum Reinhard Ernst for abstract art, an architectural gem, but also a building open to the public and a magnet for the international art public alike. 

Since the practical invention of photography in the 1840s, Scotland has been at the centre of the history and development of the medium. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery – which houses the Scottish National Photography Collection – and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, hold outstanding collections of photographic art spanning three centuries. Included are figures such as D.O. Hill and Robert Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Annan, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Capa, Bill Brandt, Annie Leibovitz and Andreas Gursky. This book offers a detailed guide to the collections as well as an accessible and informative introduction to photography. This revised edition includes recently commissioned photography and significant new acquisitions, with works by Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman and Robert Mapplethorpe.

Ratha Yatra, the ancient annual festival of the chariot and Jagannatha, the presiding deity of the great temple Srimandira at Puri, is one of the grandest spectacles on earth.

Jagannatha (along with siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra) ride three colorful chariots in their annual sojourn to their garden house and birthplace Gundicha Temple, where they stay for seven days before returning back. Full of drama, vitality, and a panoply of rituals and ceremonies, Ratha Yatra is rooted in ancient traditions, myths and legends. It embodies the most colorful elements of the classical folk cultures of the Indian subcontinent and the Odisha region, and is the most succinct manifestation of India’s heritage today. Celebrating the Hindu faith, this festival keeps Jagannatha alive and vibrant in the great pilgrim town of Puri, one of India’s four most sacred cities.

•A detailed exploration of a stunning festival, which is of great importance to Indian culture and heritage
•A comprehensive and holistic view of this celebration

Ratha Yatra, the ancient annual festival of the chariot and Jagannatha, the presiding deity of the great temple Srimandira at Puri, is one of the grandest spectacles on earth.

Jagannatha (along with siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra) ride three colorful chariots in their annual sojourn to their garden house and birthplace Gundicha Temple, where they stay for seven days before returning back. Full of drama, vitality, and a panoply of rituals and ceremonies, Ratha Yatra is rooted in ancient traditions, myths and legends. It embodies the most colorful elements of the classical folk cultures of the Indian subcontinent and the Odisha region, and is the most succinct manifestation of India’s heritage today. Celebrating the Hindu faith, this festival keeps Jagannatha alive and vibrant in the great pilgrim town of Puri, one of India’s four most sacred cities.

Here, for the first time, American architect Roger Vogler examines this great Hindu temple carved downward from the top of a hillside in Maharashtra from the perspective of his fellow architect: the unknown sthapati who actually designed it thirteen centuries ago.

The Kailas’s magnificent sculptures and carved architectural details have all been extensively documented by many eminent scholars. The great volume of space that envelops them (which as every architect knows is designed with fully as much care and purpose as its solid stone) is, however, almost totally absent from their writings, as are the moral and religious messages that lie beneath these stones, hidden in metaphor. Not the least of these are the towering raw cliffs enclosing the temple’s precincts: themselves metaphors for the presence of God.

These absences have led to dozens of misunderstandings and erroneous conclusions regarding the monument itself and the intentions of its designer. Focusing not merely on its stones but on the meanings that lie beneath them as well, this book corrects these misunderstandings and rebuts these errors in the course of an entertaining and revelatory walking tour of the entire temple.

Published in association with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Hidden away in the remote village of Lepakshi in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, merely a couple of hours’ drive from Bengaluru, is one of the most spectacular Vijayanagara temples. Unlike so many other religious monuments of the period that have suffered disfiguring additions, or have lost their original carvings and ceiling paintings, that at Lepakshi dedicated to Virabhadra, a fierce emanation of Shiva, is miraculously intact. Its architecture, sculptures and paintings showcase the finest artistic achievements in southern India during the first half of the sixteenth century. While the remarkable qualities of Lepakshi have long been recognized, particularly its unique series of ceiling paintings, this volume is the first to provide the temple with a comprehensive description. It is authored by three eminent scholars: George Michell, who has focused on Vijayanagara temple architecture; Anna L. Dallapiccola, who has extensively researched the sculptural and painting traditions of southern India; and Brigitte Khan Majlis, an expert on Indian textile designs and techniques. In addition to newly prepared architectural plans of the monument, the volume is illustrated with more than 250 specially commissioned photographs of the temple’s exterior and interior by Surendra Kumar. Contents: Preface and Acknowledgements; Introduction – Anna L. Dallapiccola and George Michell; Architecture and Sculpture – George Michell; A Note on Game Boards – John M. Fritz; Ceiling Paintings – Anna L. Dallapiccola; Costumes and Textiles in the Paintings – Brigitte Khan Majlis; Bibliography; Glossary; Definitions of Textile Terms; Index of Indian Names.

In twelfth century Cambodia, a young woman called Jorani earns her living guiding pilgrims up a two thousand-step stairway to the magnificent cliff-top temple, Preah Vihear. One day, she accidentally witnesses the furtive burning of sacred palm-leaf documents, and is drawn into a succession struggle at the temple. She is forced to choose between loyalty to family and to the son of the abbot, with whom she forms an unlikely bond. Set in the golden age of Cambodia’s Angkor civilization, The Stairway Guide’s Daughter brings to life a temple that is one of humankind’s most remarkable creations of faith and architecture and is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Also available by John Burgess: A Woman of Angkor ISBN 9786167339252

Between 1970 and 1971, Italian artists Paolo Scheggi and Vincenzo Agnetti worked together on a project they called The Temple. Birth of Eidos. Due to Scheggi’s untimely death in 1971 at the age of 31, the project remained unfinished. These previously unpublished preparatory sketches, drawings, and notes, which were shown at the Museo Novecento in Florence, are examined in essays by Ilaria Bignotti and Bruno Corà and texts by Germana Agnetti and Cosima Scheggi, daughters of the two artists and directors of their respective archives. The concept of the project was to create a sacred place, a temple, to contain linguistic objects representing primary forms of community, subjectivity and power, linking these with the artistic and theoretical research the two artists were conducting at the time.

Agnetti died 10 years after his friend and colleague. His research followed a new route but remained closely linked with that idea born in 1968, that “any work, any artistic object, any gesture is a critical reminder of reality and our existence”. (Germana Agnetti).

For the nature and adventure enthusiast: Roaming America is a visually stunning, ultimately practical guide to visiting the US National Parks.
Combining breathtaking imagery, useful planning information for each national park, suggested itineraries, best-of recommendations, and more Roaming America will give you all the inspiration you could need to plan your next national park road trip! Featured inside:

Sikh Heritage, with a foreword by Hardeep Sigh Puri, is a succinct and delightfully photographed glimpse into the community’s religion, its ten gurus, its temples, traditional systems of governance, history, architecture, and the famous Golden Temple. This book traces the history of the valor and devotion of the Sikh community, which forms less than 1 per cent of India’s one billion population, yet produces over 50 per cent of the country’s food reserves. Despite the brutal assaults of history faced by the Sikh community – such as the partition of Punjab – they still maintain the merit of their heritage. Looks at how the thriving Sikh diaspora has spread across the globe; and how they always took the words of the gurus with them wherever they went. This work has captured the relics that have borne witness to the establishment of the Sikh community and identity. Most of these heritage objects associated with the gurus are in private collections or in gurdwaras. A photographic documentation of the Sikh historicity through objects both in time and space, such as the beautifully captured images of Takhats or temporal seats of the Sikhs, portray a unique relationship between the edifice and the Sikhs – thus, each photograph is a story in itself. This new approach aims at the conception of Sikh heritage not only as the sacred masterpieces of the past to be valued and conserved, but also as emblematic and living spaces to be appropriated by the local communities who are the bearers of a rich and active collective memory.

Pushtimarg, a Vaishnava sect founded by Vallabhacharya in the 15th century, lays great stress on worship of the deity Shrinathji through the joys of life and living and devotion through kirtan (devotional poem-songs), bhog (offerings of sumptuous food and beverages), shringara (offerings of adornment, through dressing and ornamentation), and decoration and painting. The paintings constitute the Nathdwara school, so named because the image of Shrinathji is enshrined in a temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan.

Shringara of Shrinathji catalogs a set of previously unpublished miniature paintings of the Pushtimarg tradition from the collection of late Shri Gokal Lal Mehta. These 60 splendid artworks were executed by Sukhdev Gaur, the mukhia (chief artist) of the temple, during the dynamic stewardship of Tilkayat Govardhanlalji (1862–1934 AD). Documenting the high degree of skill in draughtsmanship, portraiture and in composition, expositions by artist Amit Ambalal accompany the exceptional, high-quality photographic reproductions of these beautiful paintings in this captivating volume.

This book highlights 55 outstanding masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland, which were founded in 1850. The works range in date from the Renaissance to the twentieth century and include many of the most famous names in the history of Western art. Artists represented include Botticelli, El Greco, Velàzquez, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Watteau, Monet, Degas, Sargent, Picasso and Braque. In addition, the major figures of the national school, Ramsay, Raeburn and Wilkie, lend a distinctly Scottish flavor to this exceptional selection. All of the paintings are fully illustrated and described in this catalogue authored by the curatorial staff of the Galleries. Michael Clarke, director of the Scottish National Gallery, gives a unique insight into the history of the National Galleries of Scotland as he discusses the development of the Scottish national collection over the last 150 years.

This volume reveals the roles of foreign and Indian Jews in the Indian national art project and raises issues such as: Is an “Indian artist” any artist born into an Indian family? What role can foreigners and members of Indian minority groups play in the Indian National Art Project as scholars, critics, or artists? Is a piece of work “Indian art” because of its subject matter or its style? Is it possible to utilize “foreign techniques” in creating “Indian art”? Jews and the Indian National Art Project documents the work of artists such as Anna Molka Ahmed, Mirra Alfassa (The Mother), Siona Benjamin, Carmel Berkson, and Fredda Brilliant as well as those of photographers (David Mordecai and Man Ray) and architects (Otto Königsberger, Moshe Safdie). Also covered in this volume are the work of critics, scholars and art patrons like Ernst Cohn-Wiener, Charles Fabri, Stella Kramrisch, and Marion Harry Spielmann.
• Chronicles the substantial role played by Jews in the shaping and development of contemporary Indian art and aesthetics• Contains images of lost paintings of Fyzee Rahamin and Magda Nachman, and other never-before-seen paintings• Written in an unbiased manner and supported with in-depth research, the book will be invaluable to anyone who wishes to understand contemporary Indian artThis volume reveals the roles of foreign and Indian Jews in the Indian national art project and raises issues such as: Is an “Indian artist” any artist born into an Indian family? What role can foreigners and members of Indian minority groups play in the Indian National Art Project as scholars, critics, or artists? Is a piece of work “Indian art” because of its subject matter or its style? Is it possible to utilize “foreign techniques” in creating “Indian art”?Jews and the Indian National Art Project documents the work of artists such as Anna Molka Ahmed, Mirra Alfassa (The Mother), Siona Benjamin, Carmel Berkson, and Fredda Brilliant as well as those of photographers (David Mordecai and Man Ray) and architects (Otto Königsberger, Moshe Safdie). Also covered in this volume are the work of critics, scholars and art patrons like Ernst Cohn-Wiener, Charles Fabri, Stella Kramrisch, and Marion Harry Spielmann.