Look Inside

Gods and Temples in South India

$32
FREE Delivery
Quantity
Delivery Ships in 1-3 days
Item Code: NAN012
Author: Winand M. Callewaert
Publisher: Manohar Publishers and Distributors
Language: English
Edition: 2005
ISBN: 9788173046568
Pages: 247 (71 B/W Illustrations)
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5 inch x 5.5 inch
Weight 320 gm
Fully insured
Fully insured
Shipped to 153 countries
Shipped to 153 countries
More than 1M+ customers worldwide
More than 1M+ customers worldwide
100% Made in India
100% Made in India
23 years in business
23 years in business
Book Description
About the Book

Millions of foreign and Indian tourists and pilgirms visit the thousands of shrines that testify to India’s great cultural and religious heritage. For many of them the local priest or their own childhood reading of the Indrajal comics are the only aids to understand and interiorize the message of the ‘stones’. For them and for others this book has been written as an introduction to the mythological and religious background of the gods worshipped in temples and carved in beautiful statues. It also gives a detailed description of the numerous episodes depicted on the walls and inside the shrines.

A journey through south India is definitely an aesthetic experience. It becomes a religious experience if the visitor can enter into the mind of the sculptors and devotees who gave the best of their lives to construct and decorate the temples. Their effort were inspired mainly by devotion, even if some of them belonged to travelling guilds who were responsible for the great similarity in the immense variety of sculpture. With this in mind, the visitor knows he walks on sarcred ground, centuries old, when he enters a temples or climbs the Shravana Belgola hill to have darshan of Shree Gomateshvara.

At the same time she or he may like to know why Ganeshji has the head of an elephant or why Snake- gods are so abundantly present on the walls of temples, along with erotic scenes and images of Shiva in so many different forms. And what stories of the mythological past are told to explain why Shiva is also worshipped in the form of a Lingam? Finally, God in ancient India was not only worshipped as a man, but also as a woman. All that ‘appears’ if one looks attentively at the living stones.

A fascinating reading for all those interested in the history of and cultural tourism in India.

About the Author

Winand M. Callewaert Ph. D. D.Lit(1943-) is Research Director of Indian Studies at the Department of Oriental Studies, Leuven, Belguim.

With the collaboration of many scholars and devotees in Indian he has made an outstanding collection of the oldest available manuscripts of Sant literature on microfilm. His publications include Nirgun Bhakti Sagar: Devotional Hindi Literature with Bart Op de Beeck, The life and Works of Raidas with P. Friedlander, The Sarvagi of Gopaldas: A 17th Century Anthology of Bhakti Literature. The Millennium kabir Vani: A Collection of Pad-s, and Devotional Literature in South Asia, ed. with Dieter Taillieu.

Introductory Note

A journey to South India is much more rewarding if one can enter into the world of the gods through the lines and forms of the images in the temples. But it is difficult to understand what an impact these sculptures must have had and still have on the devotee visiting the temple, if one does not know which episode in the life of a god or a goddess is depicted.

I n chapters 1-6 (Part I) I retell these stories and the reader may refer to these for more details when the name of a particular episode or deity is given in the description of the temples (Part II). The technical chapters 7-11 in the second part are mainly meant for the visitor standing in awe before the magnificent friezes and sculptures in the temples. If she or he can identify the sculpture, thousands of years of ritual and devotion will come to life.

The matter in this book is only meant as an introduction but requires much attention while reading. In order to make the reading less difficult I give in the Index brief information with each main entry, along with the page references. I print in bold the page-reference where more information about a particular deity or story is given. And to ensure that proper names be given the right accent, I mark the long vowels with a line on top.

I gratefully acknowledge my great debt to Richard Barz, Canberra who carefully went through the text to polish my English.

Contents

Introductory Note3
Map of India4
Contents5
The Hindu Pantheon7
Part I
1Ganesh Removes Obstacles11
2Vishnu 'Descends' to Earth25
3Shiva the Great Lord43
4God as Women 61
5Nagas: Snake Gods and Goddesses77
6Erotic Temple Sculptures87
Part II
7The Chalukyas: Stone- cutters and Builder (Badami)97
8The Granite of the Pallavs (Mahabalipuram)131
9The Cholas: Rich Enterpreneurs (Thanjavur)149
10The Moonstone of the Hoysalas (Belur, Halebid)159
11Vijaynagar: 'City of Victory' at Hampi175
12Pilgrimage to Shravana Belgola213
Select Bibliography221
Index225

Sample Pages

















Frequently Asked Questions
  • Q. What locations do you deliver to ?
    A. Exotic India delivers orders to all countries having diplomatic relations with India.
  • Q. Do you offer free shipping ?
    A. Exotic India offers free shipping on all orders of value of $30 USD or more.
  • Q. Can I return the book?
    A. All returns must be postmarked within seven (7) days of the delivery date. All returned items must be in new and unused condition, with all original tags and labels attached. To know more please view our return policy
  • Q. Do you offer express shipping ?
    A. Yes, we do have a chargeable express shipping facility available. You can select express shipping while checking out on the website.
  • Q. I accidentally entered wrong delivery address, can I change the address ?
    A. Delivery addresses can only be changed only incase the order has not been shipped yet. Incase of an address change, you can reach us at help@exoticindia.com
  • Q. How do I track my order ?
    A. You can track your orders simply entering your order number through here or through your past orders if you are signed in on the website.
  • Q. How can I cancel an order ?
    A. An order can only be cancelled if it has not been shipped. To cancel an order, kindly reach out to us through help@exoticindia.com.
Add a review
Have A Question

For privacy concerns, please view our Privacy Policy

Book Categories