South India Lower Dravidadesa - Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture (Set of 2 Books)- An Old and Rare Books

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This project has taken many years to reach the form in which it is now presented. Intended to help consolidate a generation of research, this Encyclopaedia particularly attempts to codify an appropriate technical terminology for Indian temple architecture, and to illustrate that terminology by chapters which survey the remains of temple architecture in India within a geographic and historical framework. The text and plate volumes presented here cover lower Dravidadesa: these will be followed by volumes on Upper Dravidadesa, Integrated Styles of South India (Vijayanagar and Nayak periods), and by an annotated comprehensive Glossary. North India will be covered in a similar fashion, following a scheme worked out by M.A. Dhaky in 1967. Dhaky, the Associate Director for Research at the A.I.I.S. Centre for Art and Archaeology, Varanasi, serves as Project Coordinator for the South Indian volumes, and has been joined by Krishna Deva for coordination of work on North India.

Terminology may initially overwhelm the reader; and I hope no generation of scholars will slavishly imitate the terminology; but the terms work, and through understanding the terms, their meaning and the categories they establish, the student can approach the temples he studies with a more precise perception. A short reference glossary is provided in this volume; a comparative annotated Glossary giving textual sources is under preparation at the Varanasi Centre. Consistent use of an authentic terminology can become a means to understand the logic of the temple itself.

Implicit in the organization of the Encyclopaedia is also a statement about "style," that most tantalising of art-historical constructs. Organization begins by region and period; "styles" are identified first by region, then by dynasty. Artistic traditions are taken to be rooted in a territory, given shape by dynastic patronage, then spread by the course of empire. Art remains in the hands of craftsmen, however, and "style" is seen as located in a nexus between region and patronage. The consequences of these assumptions have been left for others to consolidate, but the resonance and vitality of the scheme gives shape and reference to all information collected in this work.

The style code used throughout for chapter headings and as reference for plates comes from the following style outline:

Style Outline
Vol. I, part 1
I. Lower Dravidadesa, c. A.D. 650-1324

A. Early Period, C. A.D. 650-800
1. Early Tondainandu style, c. A.D. 650-800 Pallavas of Kanci: Phase I
2. Early Pandinadu style, c. A.D. 775-800 Pandyas of Madurai: Phase I

B. Middle Period, c. A.D. 800-1178
1. Middle Tondainadu style, c. A.D. 800-900
a. Pallavas of Kanci: Phase II
b. Banas of Perumbanavadi
2. Middle Pandinadu style, c. A.D. 850-950 Pandyas of Madurai: Phase II
3. Early Colanadu style, c. A.D. 800-1000
a. Muttaraiyars of Nemam and Sndalai
b. Colas of Tanjavur: Phase I
c. Irrukuvels of Kodumbalur
d. Paluvettaraiyars of Paluvur
4. Late Tondainadu style, c. A.D. 945-975 Rastrakutas of Mankhed: Lower Variation
5. Middle Colanadu style, c. A.D. 1000-1078 Colas f Tanjavur: Phase II
6. Pandinadu style (occupation period), c. 11th century A.D. Colas, and Cola-Viceroys of Madurai
7. Early Kerala style, c. A.D. 800-1000 Ceras of Mahodayapuram, Musakas of Kolam, and Ays of Vilinam

C. Late Period, c. A.D. 1070-1324
1. Late Colanadu style, c. A.D. 1070-1279
a. Colas of Tanjavur: Phase III
b. Pandyas of Madurai (occupation period)
c. Hoysalas of Dorasamudram (occupation period)
2. Late Pandinadu style, c. A.D. 1216-1324 Pandyas of Madurai: Phase III
3. Middle Kerala sty;e, c. A.D. 1000-1300 Ceras of Mahodayapuram and Venadu Rulers of Kollam

Vol. I, part 2
II. Upper Dravidadesa, c. A.D. 550-1326

Vol. I, Part 3
III. Integrated Styles of South India, c. A.D. 1326-1736

Conventions

The system of diacritics used in this volume modifies that of Epigraphia Indica by using c, ch, and s to suit international convention; e and o are used though not needed in Sanskrit, so that e and o can be distinguished in words of Dravidian origin. Conventions for Dravidian words do not follow those of the Tamil Lexicon; they rather, agein, modify those used by Epigraphia Indica and by the Archaeological Survey of India. Words of Tamil origin, pronounced by some communities with an initial s, are spelled here with c as they are in Tamil: words of Sanskrit origin reflect the Sanskrit pronunciation. Early "Calukya" and later "calukya" spellings are based on inscriptional usage. Place names attempt to reflect local convention, though the hazards of recording place names in the field are many; temple names which end in "isvara" here follow the Sanskrit, a practice also followed by Nilakanta Sastri. M.A. Dhaky and K.R. Srinivasan have been the final authorities for place-name spelling. "English" spelling is followed in the text; punctuation is "American." Numbers have been spelled out only from one to ten. Clarity and concision have been the goal in editing.