Constructing Kanchi

City of Infinite Temples
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-94-6372-912-3
Verlag: Amsterdam University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 16, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Asian Cities

Constructing Kanchi: City of Infinite Temples traces the emergence of the South Indian city of Kanchi as a major royal capital and multireligious pilgrimage destination during the era of the Pallava and Chola dynasties (ca. seventh through thirteenth centuries). The book presents the first-ever comprehensive picture of historical Kanchi, locating the city and its more than 100 spectacular Hindu temples at the heart of commercial and artistic exchange that spanned India, Southeast Asia, and China. The author demonstrates that Kanchi was structured with a hidden urban plan, which determined the placement and orientation of temples around a central thoroughfare that was also a burgeoning pilgrimage route. Moving outwards from the city, she shows how the transportation networks, river systems, residential enclaves, and agrarian estates all contributed to the vibrancy of Kanchi’s temple life. The construction and ongoing renovation of temples in and around the city, she concludes, has enabled Kanchi to thrive continuously from at least the eighth century, through the colonial period, and up until the present.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stein, Emma Natalya

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Museumskunde, Materielle Kultur, Erinnerungskultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Gebäudetypen Sakralbauten
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Geschichte der Architektur, Baugeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Illustrations

Introduction: All Streets Lead to Temples

An Ancient City

Layers of Time

Kanchi Known and Unknown

1 Sandstone and the City: Building Pallava-Kanchi (ca. seventh through ninth century)

From Brick to Stone (the Seventh Century)

Sandstone Temples in the City (the Eighth Century)

The Temples of Pallava-Kanchi

Everywhere but Kanchi (the Ninth Century)

Conclusion: Foundations Laid

2 Realignment: Kanchi in the Chola Era (ca. tenth through thirteenth century)

Orienting the Gods

Pilgrimage and Processions

From Ancient Village to Temple Town

Local Style

Conclusion: Urban Logic

3 The City and its Ports

Part 1: K.ETRA

The River Networks

Over the Hills

The Coast

Part II: K.ATRA

Kanchi in a Buddhist World

The City and its Mirrors

Conclusion: From Kanchi to the Sea

4 Kanchi Under Colonialism: What Happened in Kanchi while those Towering Gateways Arose?

Embattled Territory

William Daniell’s Most Considerable Temple

James Wathen’s Soaring View

Henrietta Clive’s 'Hindoo Gods and Monsters'

Colonel Colin Mackenzie’s Search for the Jains

Surgeon George Russell Dartnell

James Fergusson's Downward Spiral

Prince Alexis Soltykoff's 'City of Infinite Temples'

Conclusion: Plastered Pasts

Epilogue: The Living Temple

Encounter

Expansion

Continuation

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Stein, Emma Natalya
Emma Natalya Stein (PhD, Yale) is Assistant Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. Her research investigates the relationships among sacred architecture, urban space, and tropical landscapes. Dr. Stein has conducted fieldwork throughout South and Southeast Asia.