Hindu Religious Art and Architecture

Nadia or Nabadwip with its headquarters at Krishnanagar was the birth place of Lord Chaitanya (1486 1527), the great religious reformer and a celebrated seat of Sanskrit learning. Being a great place of pilgrimage it is known as the Benaras of Bengal. The religions movement which is known as Vaishnavism and which Lord Chitanya initiated in mediaeval Bengal gave birth to a renaissance not only in religion but also in literature, art and architecture. While we know a lot about literature that Vaishnavism inspired, we know precious little about its impact on art and architecture. In this book Dr. Ghosh has given a full-length study of the letter which can be felt today especially in Nadia.

Born on the 4th December 1938, Sankar Prosad Ghosh, the author of the present book, is a Ph.D. from Jadavpur University, Calcutta. An erudite scholar, the present book is the result of Dr. Ghosh's on-the spot investigation of Nadia temples which he carried out single handed between 1972 and 1976..

The book represents my thesis submitted in 1977 for the Degree of Ph.D. in Arts from the Jadavpur University, Calcutta. It is an attempt at a thorough and expository study, based on on-the-spot investigation (from 1972 to 1976), of almost ninety five per cent of the Hindu religious edifices of Nadia district (West Bengal), in all its aspects, viz., historical, structural, religious, social, economic and cultural. the use of diacritical mark I have followed the Nadia District Gazetteer method. No In diacritical mark has been used in the case of proper names and modern names. But rigorous consistency could not be maintained always.

**Contents and Sample Pages**