Paradigms of Indian Architecture: Space and Time in Representation and Design (Soas Collected Papers on South Asia, 13) - Hardcover

Tillotson, G. H. R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0700706283 ISBN 13: 9780700706280

Publisher: Routledge, 1997

Synopsis

This book explores conceptions of Indian architecture and how the historical buildings of the subcontinent have been conceived and described. Investigating the design philosophies of architects and styles of analysis by architectural historians, the book explores how systems of design and ideas about aesthetics have governed both the construction of buildings in India and their subsequent interpretation. How did the political directives of the British colonial period shape the manner in which pioneer archaeologists wrote the histories of India's buildings? How might such accounts conflict with indigenous ones, or with historical aesthetics? How might paintings of buildings by British and Indian artists suggest different ways of understanding their subjects? In what ways must we revise our conceptions of space and time to understand the narrative art which adorns India's most ancient monuments? These are among the questions addressed by the contributors to the volume.

About this title

Synopsis

This book is about conceptions of Indian architecture - about how the historical buildings of the subcontinent have been conceived and described. 'Paradigms' - meaning patterns or models - here include the design philosophies of architects and styles of analysis by architectural historians. The book explores how systems of design and ideas about aesthetics have governed both the construction of buildings in India and their subsequent interpretation. How did the political directives of the British colonial period shape the manner in which pioneer archaeologists wrote the histories of India's buildings? How might such accounts conflict with indigenous ones, or with historical aesthetics? How might paintings of buildings by British and Indian artists suggest different ways of understanding their subjects? In what ways must we revise our conceptions of space and time to understand the narrative art which adorns India's most ancient monuments? These are among the questions addressed by the contributors to Part One of the volume.

In Part Two, attention turns first to India's sacred architectural tradition, to ask what we can learn of the principles of temple construction from the forms of the buildings themselves. And what sort of accounts should we give of how a long-lived tradition was deployed by a particular historical regime? In the case of domestic architecture, what can the architect of today learn from the practices of the past? And what sociological forces underlie this century's dramatic changes in urban morphology?

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700706283
• ISBN 13: 9780700706280
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 228