Images Of The Body In India

This intriguing book engages with the concept of the body in its cultural context by acknowledging and demonstrating that the human body is understood differently in Western and Indian cultures. The contributors go on to show that any attempt to put forward a single concept of the body within Indian culture would be misleading. Divided into three parts, the book examines the considerable and often conflicting variations in body images and body concepts. In Part One the contributors focus on the representation of the body in religious and philosophical texts; representations that emerged from reading, translating and interpreting classical writings from diverse historical and anthropological approaches. Through predominantly ethnographic studies, Part Two explores the role of the body in narratives and ritual performance, from dance to ritualistic ceremonies. Visualisation processes of the body are examined in Part Three, focusing on developments in modern and contemporary periods: from visual practices at the Mughal court, to the multiple bodies of the bride, and the influence of new media. This volume is a fascinating collection of articles for those in the fields of sociology and anthropology, history, religion, cultural studies and South Asian studies.

This intriguing book engages with the concept of the body in its cultural context by acknowledging and demonstrating that the human body is understood differently in Western and Indian cultures. The contributors go on to show that any attempt to put forward a single concept of the body within Indian culture would be misleading. Divided into three parts, the book examines the considerable and often conflicting variations in body images and body concepts. In Part One the contributors focus on the representation of the body in religious and philosophical texts; representations that emerged from reading, translating and interpreting classical writings from diverse historical and anthropological approaches. Through predominantly ethnographic studies, Part Two explores the role of the body in narratives and ritual performance, from dance to ritualistic ceremonies. Visualisation processes of the body are examined in Part Three, focusing on developments in modern and contemporary periods: from visual practices at the Mughal court, to the multiple bodies of the bride, and the influence of new media. This volume is a fascinating collection of articles for those in the fields of sociology and anthropology, history, religion, cultural studies and South Asian studies.

India has one of the richest and most extensive histories of photography in the world with the camera arriving in the country only a few year after its invention in Europe. Organized chronologically, this book covers over 150 years of photographs, divided into ten chapters which focus on themes and genres such as archaeology and ethnography, portraiture, photojournalism, social documentary, street photography, modernism, and contemporary art. An in-depth introduction and ten short essays contextualize the photographs in light of India's journey from colonial territory, to independent nation state, to global economic superpower, along the way suggesting new arguments as to how this has been reflected in photographic practice. Over 100 Indian as well as international photographers are included in this well-researched and engaging book that includes some of the country's most iconic images, alongside the work of lesser-known artists and a wealth of previously unpublished material.

The sensuous human form-elegant and eye-catching-is the dominant feature of premodern Indian art. From the powerful god Shiva, greatest of all yogis and most beautiful of all beings, to stone dancers twisting along temple walls, the body in Indian art is always richly adorned. Alankara (ornament) protects the body and makes it complete and attractive; to be unornamented is to invite misfortune. In The Body Adorned, Vidya Dehejia, who has dedicated her career to the study of Indian art, draws on the literature of court poets, the hymns of saints and acharyas, and verses from inscriptions to illuminate premodern India's unique treatment of the sculpted and painted form. She focuses on the coexistence of sacred and sensuous images within the common boundaries of Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu "sacred spaces," redefining terms like "sacred" and "secular" in relation to Indian architecture. She also considers the paradox of passionate poetry, in which saints praised the sheer bodily beauty of the divine form, and nonsacred Rajput painted manuscripts, which freely inserted gods into the earthly realm of the courts. By juxtaposing visual and literary sources, Dehejia demonstrates the harmony between the sacred and the profane in classical Indian culture. Her synthesis of art, literature, and cultural materials not only generates an all-inclusive picture of the period but also revolutionizes our understanding of the cultural ethos of premodern India.

What are photographs ‘doing’ in museums? Why are some photographs valued and others not? Why are some photographic practices visible and not others? What value systems and hierarchies do they reflect? What Photographs Do explores how museums are defined through their photographic practices. It focuses not on formal collections of photographs as accessioned objects, be they ‘fine art’ or ‘archival’, but on what might be termed ‘non-collections’: the huge number of photographs that are integral to the workings of museums yet ‘invisible’, existing outside the structures of ‘the collection’. These photographs, however, raise complex and ambiguous questions about the ways in which such accumulations of photographs create the values, hierarchies, histories and knowledge-systems, through multiple, folded and overlapping layers that might be described as the museum’s ecosystem. These photographic dynamics are studied through the prism of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, an institution with over 150 years' engagement with photography’s multifaceted uses and existences in the museum. The book differs from more usual approaches to museum studies in that it presents not only formal essays but short ‘auto-ethnographic’ interventions from museum practitioners, from studio photographers and image managers to conservators and non-photographic curators, who address the significance of both historical and contemporary practices of photography in their work. As such this book offers an extensive and unique range of accounts of what photographs ‘do’ in museums, expanding the critical discourse of both photography and museums.

A fantastic insight into Colonial India through vintage photographyAt the beginning of the 1850s, photography had gained acceptance in Colonial India. With its magnificent architecture, exotic landscapes and many different cultures, India could offer fantastic photographic scenes. In this splendid photobook, which is also the catalogue for an exhibition at The David Collection in Copenhagen, the author has collected photos by English and some Indian photographers. Their images represent India's architecture in all its glory - outstanding palaces and monuments, including Taj Mahal - as well as portraits of princes, maharajas, ministers and warriors in all their splendour.There are also photos of the typical Indian craftsmen - stone- and woodcarvers, carpenters and colourists - as well as photos of elephants, people bathing in the Ganges river, people harvesting hay and working in gardens, acrobats, snake charmers, dancers, musicians and religious processions. All photos are accompanied by descriptive captions while a map of India creates overview of which locations the photos were taken.

"'O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies and to understand this body and its knower is called knowledge.' --Bhagavad Gita The body has always been central to Indian art, thought, literature and even religion. In Body Sutra, renowned art historian Alka Pande celebrates the body by capturing both its beauty and divinity in an artistic-cum-historical journey. This book is inarguably the definitive and a truly authoritative work on the literary and artistic representation of the body, and combines rare Indian literature with the most stunning visual documentation of the body ever. Over time, the artistic representation of the body developed its own iconography. Drawing from the canonical Shilpa Shastras, where the idealized body becomes more corporeal, it goes on to attain a classical perfection in the Gupta Age, when the sensuous and the sacred came together. Dr Pande traces the shifting patterns of the representation of the body through 5,000 years of history, from the ancient to the contemporary. Body Sutra also gives an extraordinary insight into India's pluralistic and diverse culture. This masterful treatise beautifully weaves together poetry, prose, well-researched text and over two hundred stunning images. With almost each page like a work of art, the book is definitely a collector's item. Body Sutra is a book that will be talked about for decades."--Publisher.

Goddess Images Are Omnipresent Within The Cultural Fabric Of India, Yet Most Indians Are Unaware Of Uplifting Meanings These Images Convey. In The Book, Images Of Indian Goddesses,. Dr. Madhu Bazaz Wangu Explains The Emergence Of Indian Goddesses Within The Changing Social, Political And Cultural Environment From The Prehistoric To The Present Times And Explains Their Metaphysical Meanings. Why Are Hindu Goddesses Paradoxical In Nature? Why Are They Portrayed As Erotic And Maternal Simultaneously? Why Do They Have Multiple Arms? Why Do Some Of Them Have Their Own Vehicle (Vahana) And Some Do Not? Why Are Such Images Portrayed On The Popular Calendar- Posters? The Book Answers Such Questions And Helps The Reader Understand Their Meanings. The Goddesses Discussed Range From The Devoted Sita To The Sinister Kali; From The Warrior Durga To The Auspicious Shri Lakshmi; From The Erotic Radha To The Serene Sarasvati And Many Others. Dr. Wangu Firmly Feels That If Experienced Hindu Goddesses Have A Potential For Stimulating The Onlooker'S Innermost Self. Experiencing Goddess Imagery Uplifts This Worldly Life And Ponders The Nature Of The Other -Worldly Existence. Furthermore, The Book Argues That The Goddesses Are Stimulating And Empowering Models Not Only For Indian Women But For All. Images Of Indian Goddesses Helps A Common Person Understand And Appreciate The Bewildering Number Of Female Images Expressed In India'S Sacred Art. The Book Is Not Only Absorbing And Inspiring, It Also Offers A Visual Treasury Of Goddess Art Images. Its Text Is Food For The Mind And The Illustrations Are A Feast For The Eyes.