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Vietnamese Architecture
The first and comprehensive work of its class in English to be accessible to Vietnamese and Western readers, the volume elucidates the lengthy architectural history of Vietnam from the beginning to the contemporary period, focusing exclusively on the architecture of the Kinh, Viet, or ethnic Vietnamese. Unlike works by previous authors, this book has been updated with latest and exhaustive information on Vietnamese architecture and its coverage is inclusive not just the northern part of the country where it originated. The volume carefully fuses developmental and chronological perspectives with thorough research and thoughtful analyses to reconstruct an architectural heritage and shed light on a convoluted subject that has not been systematically explored in past publications. In the process, the author unequivocally challenges old misconceptions and embraces new insights as it has been firmly established that Vietnamese architecture is a unique tradition apart from Chinese architecture despite their superficial similarities.
Buddhist Sculpture and Painting
Published materials on Buddhist sculptures and paintings particularly lack a developmental and holistic perspective; few endeavored to elucidate the chronologies and stylistic relationships with their Indian subcontinental sources. This volume, which originally intended as a complementary work to my book 'BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE' first published in 2010, will address these scholastic deficiencies and primarily covers the period between the third century BCE-twelfth centuries CE. It results in new answers that Vajrayana imageries have strongly been influenced by early Hindu iconography and Tantric Hinduism. It also proposes a fresh chronology for the contentious Central Asian murals after carefully reviewing Indian and Chinese sources. The volume further examines Aniconic sculptures and paintings in India as well as their origins and unique symbolisms.
Buddhist Architecture
"The volume thoroughly examines the origins and principal types of Buddhist architecture in Asia primarily between the third century BCE-twelfth century CE with an emphasis on India. It aims to construct shared architectural traits and patterns alongwith the derivative relationships between Indian and Asian Buddhist monuments. It also discusses the historical antecedents in the Indus Civilization and the religious and philosophical foundations of the three schools of Buddhism and its founder, Buddha. Previously obscure topics such as Aniconic and Vajrayana (Tantric) architecture and the four holiest sites of Buddhism will also be covered in this comprehensive volume. The author further investigates the influences of Buddhist architecture upon Islamic, Christian, and Hindu architecture that have been overlooked by past scholars."
Digital Archetypes
This unique book presents a broad multi-disciplinary examination of early temple architecture in Asia, written by two experts in digital reconstruction and the history and theory of Asian architecture. The authors examine the archetypes of Early Brahmanic, Hindu and Buddhist temple architecture from their origins in north western India to their subsequent spread and adaptation eastwards into Southeast Asia. While the epic monuments of Asia are well known, much less is known about the connections between their building traditions, especially the common themes and mutual influences in the early architecture of Java, Cambodia and Champa. While others have made significant historiographic connec...
Eloquent Spaces
Eloquent Spaces adopts the twin analytic of meaning and community to write a fresh history of building in early India. It presents a new perspective on the principles and practices of early Indian architecture. Defining it broadly over a range of space uses, the book argues for architecture as a form of cultural production as well as public consumption. Ten chapters by leading archaeologists, architects, historians and philosophers, examining different architectural sites and landscapes, including Sanchi, Moodabidri, Srinagar, Chidambaram, Patan, Konark, Basgo and Puri, demonstrate the need to look beyond the built form to its spirit, beyond aesthetics to cognition, and thereby to integratin...
An Introduction to the History of Southeast Asian Architecture
An Introduction to the History of Southeast Asian Architecture chronicles the architectural heritage of 11 Southeast Asian countries, delving into the major influences and historical development of vernacular architecture and buildings in the region. Accompanied by hundreds of photos, the buildings featured in the book tell the fascinating stories of each country’s developments from prehistoric times until the present day.
Paradise
No one knows heaven’s paradise, but earthly paradises created by mortals may mirror the paradise of the afterlife. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan crafted paradises with Diwan-e-Khas in Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra. Enthralled by the splendor, he inscribed a Persian couplet on the Diwan’s arches: ‘If there is paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.’ The title and contents of this book echo the crux of this couplet. This travelogue explores the author's five-decade journey through European monarchs' architectural marvels of paradisiacal proportions and their eminence relative to South Asian architectural resurgence under Shah Jahan in the 17th century CE.
The Geography of Gandhāran Art
Gandhāran art is usually regarded as a single phenomenon – a unified regional artistic tradition or 'school'. Indeed it has distinctive visual characteristics, materials, and functions, and is characterized by its extensive borrowings from the Graeco-Roman world. Yet this tradition is also highly varied. Even the superficial homogeneity of Gandhāran sculpture, which constitutes the bulk of documented artistic material from this region in the early centuries AD, belies a considerable range of styles, technical approaches, iconographic choices, and levels of artistic skill. The geographical variations in Gandhāran art have received less attention than they deserve. Many surviving Gandhār...
The Legend of King Aśoka
This first English translation of the Asokavadana text, the Sanskrit version of the legend of King Asoka, first written in the second century A.D. Emperor of India during the third century B.C. and one of the most important rulers in the history of Buddhism. Asoka has hitherto been studied in the West primarily from his edicts and rock inscriptions in many parts of the Indian subcontinent. Through an extensive critical essay and a fluid translation, John Strong examines the importance of the Asoka of the legends for our overall understanding of Buddhism. Professor Strong contrasts the text with the Pali traditions about Kind Asoka and discusses the Buddhist view of kingship, the relationship of the state and the Buddhist community, the king s role in relating his kingdom to the person of the Buddha, and the connection between merit making, cosmology, and Buddhist doctrine. An appendix provides summaries of other stories about Asoka.
East Asian Landscapes and Legitimation
The conquest of Sichuan and Vietnam by the Chinese Empire led to very different outcomes. This volume examines the negotiations between central authority and local autonomy, the physical manifestations of socially constructed identities, and the transformation of sacred spaces which reflect broader social, political, and religious currents. It also offers a method to study spatial-social interactions in historical settings that provides insights into dynamics of power imposition and identity negotiation in local contexts. Experiential Architecture Analysis (EAA) serves to explore the interplay of local traditions, transcultural ideology transfer, and sacred water sites in the peripheries of Chinese culture. It analyzes the spatial ensembles of sacred sites regarding their roles for legitimation, dominance, and social resistance, while highlighting the agency of consumers to redefine spatial media. All scholars of Chinese and Southeast Asian History, of Religious Studies or Cultural Anthropology find in this volume valuable insights for their research, especially where it concerns areas lacking reliable written sources.
