Indian Temple Sculpture - Tapa blanda

`...produced sumptuously...a rich compendium to understanding the religious sculpture of India in all its complexities...It is a masterly study.' -Professor Kesavan Veluthat, Central University, Hyderabad `...aims at [both] a universal context for understanding Indian sculpture, and a developmental history of the formation of the major icons...when detailing specific examples Guy is at his best.' -Dr. Cathleen Cummings, University of Alabama, USA

In this innovative book, John Guy examines Indian religious sculpture in its temple setting, exploring its origins and cosmological meaning, its function within architectural schema and its dynamic role in facilitating worship by devotees. Illustrated with the Victoria and Albert Museum's unrivalled collection of South Asian sculpture, the volume examines Indian temple sculpture as an instrument of worship, conveying powerful religious experiences, both emotive and aesthetic. It traces the early origins of sculptural imagery in India, the emergence of the pantheon of deities associated with the growth of temple building, and with the codification of image-making. The central role of the temple setting is presented through archival and contemporary photographs, underscoring the role of ritual practice and the vitality of the temple festivals still enacted today. This book also provides a fascinating introduction to the principal iconographic forms in the three traditional religions of the Indian subcontinent, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, with the principal deities presented through their myths and manifestations.