Adam Hardy

Tradition and Transformation: Continuity and Ingenuity in the Temples of Karnataka

A continuous tradition of Drāviḍa (south Indian) temple architecture flourished in Karnataka, southwest India, between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. This article focuses on the eleventh-century temples, arguing that the later forms can only be understood in relation to the constantly developing tradition, looked at as a whole. A formal analysis is put forward, based primarily on the evidence of the monuments themselves. From the monuments, an appropriate way of seeing can be deduced, allowing an understanding of both individual temple compositions and of the way in which the forms evolve. A clear evolutionary pattern emerges, tending toward dynamism and fusion. Seen retrospectively, there is a sense of inevitability, as if the inherent potential of the architectural language is unfolding. Yet there is great inventiveness. The article illustrates the nature of this inventiveness and discusses its relationship to the evolutionary pattern. It concludes that it was not fixed forms that were passed down, but a way of creating, and that the sense of evolutionary direction this produced can be understood in relation to the world view the temples embody.

Hindu temples and the emanating cosmos

A recurrent idea in Indian philosophical, theological, and mythological systems is that of a universe manifested through a sequence of emanations. Diverse traditions of doctrine and practice share this vision of the progression from the one to the many. Temple designs often embody the same pattern. Within the diverse traditions of Indian temple architecture, an emanatory scheme is observable both in the formal structure of individual temple designs, which express a dynamic sequence of emergence and growth, and in the way in which temple forms develop throughout the course of such traditions. The canonical Sanskrit texts on architecture (Vastu Shastras) share this emanatory way of thinking, presenting varied temple typologies in which designs develop from simple to complex, emerging sequentially one from another. These texts provide a framework for design that demands interpretation and improvisation, while leading to results that are only partly determined by the individual architect. This contributes to a sense, powerfully established by the unfolding potential of the tradition of architectural practice, that a new temple design is svayambhu (self-manifesting) appearing through a cosmic process from a supra-human source.

RAPID MAPPING AND VISUAL NOISE: RECORDING FOR THE VISITOR, RESIDENT, PILGRIM AND TOURIST; AJMER, INDIA (WORK IN PROGRESS)

This paper examines issues arising from an inter-disciplinary work in progress involving ethnographers, architects, historians and conservators. The aim is to develop a digital model through which information relating to the history, ritual use, religious significance and cultural habits of a mixed community can be accessed for the purpose of more responsive conservation planning. The case study site is the walled city of Ajmer in Rajasthan, India, a populous pilgrimage centre that holds tangible and intangible cultural value for many diverse groups of residents and visitors but which remains largely unmapped in conventional terms.

Introduction: Medieval India and the Paramāra Dynasty

This collection of essays focuses on the history, literary culture and legacy of the Paramāra dynasty. Ruling from central India, with collateral branches of the family at Candrāvatī, Vāgaḍa, Bhinmāl and Jālor, the Paramāras constituted an important force in the Indian medieval world. They flourished between the tenth and twelfth centuries and throughout their history entertained high political ambitions. In particular Vākpati Munja ( circa 973–95) and Bhoja ( circa 1000–55) undertook military campaigns that sought to establish the Paramāras as a paramount power in India. Although frustrated in these aims, they are remembered nonetheless as a great dynasty, representative if not paradigmatic of the vibrant civilisation of the late medieval age.

The expression of movement in architecture

‘Movement’ in Architecture can mean different things, and the idea of ‘expressed movement’ has, alone, been variously conceived. This article attempts to distinguish between these notions and propose a taxonomy. Two general categories are defined: ‘contained movement’, where it is not the architecture that is thought of as moving, but the eye, mind, imagined body or forces; and ‘represented movement’, where there is an implication or illusion that the architecture is in motion. It is argued that different kinds of movement often work together. These ideas are illustrated and situated through a brief historiographical survey, first outlining the tradition of discussing expressed movement in western architecture, then extending to writings on the arts and architecture of India. An analysis of movement in Indian temple architecture is put forward in order to demonstrate how an interpretation of a particular kind of architecture in terms of specific movement patterns can be substantiated, primarily by communicating these patterns unambiguously through visual means. Finally, current thinking about architectural movement is touched upon. It is suggested that openness to the diversity of conceptions of how movement is expressed may both sharpen the analysis of architecture and extend the possibilities for its creation.