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An Introduction to the Ajanta Caves
This is the most up to date book on the art, architecture, and history of the famous Ajanta caves. It includes chapters on political background, religious background, and epigraphy. It includes a summary of the latest research carried out in the last few decades. It brings together critical information from scholarly books and periodicals.
There are 284 color photographs depicting architecture, paintings, sculpture, and decorative motifs in comprehensive detail. For the first time at least one photograph of all the narrative themes of the Ajanta paintings have been printed in a book.
The identifications of the painted themes by James Burgess, A. Foucher, James Griffiths, Dieter Schlingloff, and Monika Zin have been included to create a collective up-to-date corpus. On historical matters, the latest research of Walter M. Spink has been included.
In order to satisfy the curiosities of the general reader and invoke research interest in advanced learners, an account of how the excavation progressed step-by-step has been included with respect to four major caves.
There are 284 color photographs depicting architecture, paintings, sculpture, and decorative motifs in comprehensive detail. For the first time at least one photograph of all the narrative themes of the Ajanta paintings have been printed in a book.
The identifications of the painted themes by James Burgess, A. Foucher, James Griffiths, Dieter Schlingloff, and Monika Zin have been included to create a collective up-to-date corpus. On historical matters, the latest research of Walter M. Spink has been included.
In order to satisfy the curiosities of the general reader and invoke research interest in advanced learners, an account of how the excavation progressed step-by-step has been included with respect to four major caves.
- GenresHistory
361 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 14, 2020
I got this book from Amazon because it was free and it sounded interesting. And indeed it was!
The book details the lengthy construction effort in the caves, which ebbed and flowed through the years according to the availability of patronage. In a way, it resembled the construction of a western cathedral, only the Ajanta shrines were carved and sculpted, not erected.
The detailed architectural descriptions, and the explanations of what was carved and at what time, can get dry at times. Still, I enjoyed the deductive work which followed the spread of architectural ideas from each cave to the next and explained a cave's features based on the constraints faced by the builders.
But what I enjoyed the most were the narrative descriptions of the murals in each cave. Some wild and fascinating stories there! Also there are lots of images to accompany the text.
At the risk of trivializing the cultural significance of the site, I would say that if you are are a dungeon master (of the "Dungeons & Dragons" kind, not of the "Fifty shades of Grey" kind) looking for ideas for your next playing session, you can find inspiration in this book for some mysteryous and long-abandoned temple in which to set an adventure.
The book details the lengthy construction effort in the caves, which ebbed and flowed through the years according to the availability of patronage. In a way, it resembled the construction of a western cathedral, only the Ajanta shrines were carved and sculpted, not erected.
The detailed architectural descriptions, and the explanations of what was carved and at what time, can get dry at times. Still, I enjoyed the deductive work which followed the spread of architectural ideas from each cave to the next and explained a cave's features based on the constraints faced by the builders.
But what I enjoyed the most were the narrative descriptions of the murals in each cave. Some wild and fascinating stories there! Also there are lots of images to accompany the text.
At the risk of trivializing the cultural significance of the site, I would say that if you are are a dungeon master (of the "Dungeons & Dragons" kind, not of the "Fifty shades of Grey" kind) looking for ideas for your next playing session, you can find inspiration in this book for some mysteryous and long-abandoned temple in which to set an adventure.
May 26, 2014
When I was a post-graduate student at M. S. University, I referred some books by pioneer scholars of Ajanta. Very good books but with dry description without photographs of related description which was very difficult for students and researchers to understand the text. This publication provides through research along with high-quality photographs and very comfortable in size to carry anywhere.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews