Temple Architecture and Imagery of South and Southeast Asia

This volume is a tribute to Professor M.A. Dhaky’s profound and influential scholarship by an international community of well-known scholars in the field of South and Southeast Asian temple art and architecture. The thirty-two essays that make this book unfold many layers of the temples’ imagery, taking a broad view and traversing religious, cultural, and temporal boundaries. While a majority of these are rooted in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia, and Vietnam also figure prominently. Preceded by valuable insights into M.A. Dhaky’s encyclopaedic writings, the volume is configured along six sub-themes inspired by his contributions to the discipline. These include the architectonics of temples, their varied materials and milieus, stylistics, patronage and transregional connections; studies of architectural elements in culture-specific contexts; inter-relationships between sculpture and architecture in the temple’s larger narrative; the embodiment of cult icons; other non-cultic manifestations on the temple; ritual observances and performance traditions. Several of the essays move in and out of M.A. Dhaky’s writings, building upon themes addressed by him, extending his methods to newer materials, regions, and time-frames, and charting fresh paths that extend the orbit of temple studies. Scholars and interested readers will find in this volume a thoughtful and cohesive collection of the most recent and insightful research on art historical aspects of South and Southeast Asian temples by the finest minds engaged in the field.