The Kalatattvakosa is a monumental, encyclopaedic lexicon designed to elucidate the conceptual vocabulary essential for a nuanced understanding of Indian artistic and intellectual traditions. Conceived as part of a long-term, multi-volume research initiative by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and envisioned by the late Dr. (Smt.) Kapila Vatsyayan, the series serves as a unique scholarly endeavour, bridging textual scholar-ship with philosophical inquiry, cultural history, and the living practices of Indian art forms, as stated by her in the second volume of the Kalatattvakosa, There were no boundaries of the disciplines, cultures, civilizations and the Arts. In the (Kalatattvakosa) the boundaries of our endeavour have been clearly demarcated by the terms intrinsic to one tradition and as elucidated in primary texts."
As a rich resource of knowledge, Kalatattvakosa offers an encyclopaedic exploration of key terms that are essential for a holistic understanding of Indian traditions. These terms are pervasive in nature and exist across multiple layers and dimensions. The series presents a structured inquiry into the conceptual frameworks through which Indian civilization has experienced, expressed and organized knowledge in diverse fields. Each volume is dedicated to some foundational term, under which numerous related concepts are thematically arranged. Each term is examined not only from its etymological and textual roots but also through its semantic evolution, physical manifestation, and experiential resonance within Indian thought.
The present volume focuses on pratika and sanketa, a particularly rich and polysemic term that spans the fields of ritual, art, metaphysics, and epistemology. Rooted in traditions ranging from Vedic hermeneutics and Upanisadic reflection to classical aesthetics and both temple and secular architecture, the pratika embodies the Indian capacity for symbolic and analogical thinking. It may signify a symbol in one context, a substitute in another or a medium for spiritual realization in yet another. Through these overlapping meanings, the pratika functions as a vehicle of profound symbolic communication and experiential insight.
More than a mere symbol or representation, the pratika serves as a dynamic epistemic tool a mediating form through which abstract or transcendent realities become accessible to perception, understanding, and experience to becom motif as well. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including Vedic, Agamic, and Puranic traditions, as well as ritual studies, philosophy, aesthetics, and artistic practice, this volume reveals the pratika as a central concept in the Indian worldview, where the visible and invisible, the material and metaphysical, and the immanent and transcendent are intricately interwoven through symbolic expression.
This volume has been methodically edited by Professor Maruti Nandan Prasad Tiwari, Former Professor Emeritus at Banaras Hindu University National Tagore fellow at IGNCA and a distinguished scholar and prolific author. The team at the IGNCA Regional Centre, Varanasi, led by Prof. Vijay Shankar Shukla and Dr. Abhijit Dixit, has provided invaluable support to Professor Tiwari in the successful completion of this demanding task. Special recognition is also due to the Kalakosa team at the IGNCA Headquarters - Ms. Aakriti Thakur, Mr. Ripunjay Thakur, Dr. Arvind Sharma, Dr. Yogesh Sharma, and Prof. Sudhir Lall whose meticulous review and thoughtful contributions have significantly enriched the volume, ensuring it meets the high standards of excellence for which the IGNCA is known.
Indian tradition both in theory (sastra) and pervades practice (prayoga) unravels itself from the vision of 'Absolute Reality that governs the whole universe at all levels and states of existence. The Vedas are revelations from a heightened state of consciousness. Upanisads, Brahmanas and Puranas bring forth the mysteries of the phenomena at various levels of perception. Various systems of thought, including the Jaina and Buddhist emerge there from. So do the disciplines ayurveda, astronomy, metaphysics, philosophy and the arts. Fundamental conceptions of the cosmos, space, time, body, mind, and self-pervade almost all theories and disciplines making each of them interrelated just like a sutra (thread) that holds all beads together.
In this framework, the wide range of Indian art-forms has to be under-stood in their holisticity. For a fuller comprehension of the system of inter-relatedness and interpenetration, IGNCA identified approximately 250 important terms representing fundamental concepts occurring in various schools and disciplines. This was done after considerable research and deliberations with the scholars. By selecting the groups of terms under particular categories and thereby concentrating upon each category in each volume of the Kalatattvakosa while focussing upon their occurrence and significance in the arts, has endeavoured to evolve an important modern device to grasp the essential thought and knowledge system of the Indian tradition.
The criteria of selecting the terms and their grouping in the previous seven volumes have been elaborately discussed by the editors of those volumes. The main purpose of the Kalatattvakosa is to concentrate on textual traditions principally drawn from Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and other literary sources. An in-depth investigation into the primary sources will and has hopefully already facilitated the reader to learn about the interlocking of different disciplines.
Vedas (1216)
Upanishads (508)
Puranas (638)
Ramayana (764)
Mahabharata (376)
Dharmasastras (168)
Goddess (520)
Bhakti (243)
Saints (1594)
Gods (1310)
Shiva (395)
Journal (181)
Fiction (64)
Vedanta (382)
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