Indian Art Icons (Revealing Some Glaring Glimpses)

About the Book In most of the cases the religious images are made in accordance with their norms codified in silpa texts or in their stories and episodes available in religious myths. But in some art icons we find certain unusual, uncommon and unique features, which are sometimes against the textual injunctions. The present book, Indian Art Icons: Revealing Some Glaring Glimpses itself makes it clear.

The book presents in-depth study of stone and terracotta figures some individually like Kärttikeya Subrahmanya, Kärttikeya and Kaumāri, Earliest Vaikuntha-Vişņu, Nirrti, Laksmi with Ganesa and yakṣas, Laksmi with cock or monkey, Laksmi anointed by eight elephants, the so-called Indrāni, the so-called Kinnara-mithuna, and Some Sculptures awaiting proper identification. Some chapters are devoted to the class of a deity collectively like Somäskanda, Süryani, Kşemankari, Ulükärudha Camunda, etc. Novel information is also provided about some less known aspects of Brahma, various categories and identification of Kinnaras, Mahapuruşa-lakṣaṇas of the Buddha including Srivatsa symbol on his chest,etc.

Indian Art Icons: Revealing Some Glaring Glimpses throws ample light on the original and thought provoking research. Each individual sculpture or class of a deity as a whole has been dealt with its iconographic and aesthetic features corroborating with literary evidences and textual parameters.

Hoping, this work will be a bit helpful to scholars and young researchers not only to become conversant with many complex iconographic features but also to learn a proper approach to identify an unusual image.

About the Author Dr. A.L. Srivastava, a retired Professor of the Allahabad University, has been a good researcher in the field of Ancient Indian art and culture. He has contributed more than hundred fifty research papers on Indian art, sculpture, iconography and numismatics; and even more articles in number to the leading Hindi periodicals in the country.

Dr. Srivastava's special field of study has been the auspicious art symbols like Svastika, Srivatsa, Nandyavarta. Pañcangulanka, Savatsa Gau, etc. He has not only delivered series of lectures on these symbols in many reputed institutions and art centres but also produced separate books on them.

More than twenty five books on Indian art and symbols to his credit include Life in Sanchi Sculpture (1983), Srivatsa (1983), Bharattya Kala (1988). Bharatiya Kala Pratika (1989). Silpa-Sri (1990). Nandydvarta (1991), Panchala Sculpture (2002), Umd-Mahesvara (2004), Svastika (2005). Savatsa Gad (2006), Indian Iconography: Musing in Some Unique & Unusual Sculptures (2011); etc.

His keen interest in the field of research enabled him to be invited by the Canadian Asian Studies Association, Ottawa to present his paper on an ancient art symbol Nandyävarta to the annual conference of the Learned Societies of Canada, held at the University of Montreal in June, 1985, which later published in their journal South Asian Horizons, Vol.4, 1986.

Dr. Srivastava has been contributing regularly his research papers to the annual sessions of many academic bodies. He has also edited the research journals Kala (IAHC), Vols. I and II and Punchala (Panchala Research Institute Kanpur), Vols. V-XI.

Credit goes to Dr. Srivastava for discovering a rare silver coin of the Chandragupta-Kumaradevi Type (JNSI, Vol. XXXVII) and some rock-paintings in the hills of Sanchi-Kanakhera and Nagori, Distt. Raisen, M.P. (Prachya Pratibha, Bhopal, Vol. IV, No.1).

Presently Dr. Srivastava, along with Dr. N.P. Joshi, former Director of Mathura and Lucknow Museums and now the Acharya -Jana-Praváha, Varanasi, is engaged in a voluminous project Silpa-Sahsradala: Inventory of Unique & Uncommon Brahmanical Sculptures.

Preface As we have said earlier in our previous book, Iconography is a way of study of icons, mostly religious in character. In other words it is a science for making idols or divine figures; and as such deals with the characteristics and attributes of different celestial gods and goddesses. In Indian iconography we find each and every divinity having its own different and specific characteristics, attributes and mounts, which are found codified in different silpa texts or canonical treatises. Thus the study of iconography enables us to identify the idol or icon before us on the basis of its characteristics, attributes and mounts.

**Contents and Sample Pages**