South Asian Folklore

South Asian Folklore
Author: Peter Claus
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 754
Release: 2020-10-28
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000143538

With 600 signed, alphabetically organized articles covering the entirety of folklore in South Asia, this new resource includes countries and regions, ethnic groups, religious concepts and practices, artistic genres, holidays and traditions, and many other concepts. A preface introduces the material, while a comprehensive index, cross-references, and black and white illustrations round out the work. The focus on south Asia includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with short survey articles on Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, and various diaspora communities. This unique reference will be invaluable for collections serving students, scholars, and the general public.

Jain Paintings and Material Culture of Medieval Western India

Jain Paintings and Material Culture of Medieval Western India
Author: Lipika Maitra
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2023-08-31
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1000918793

Through a curated collection of key Jain paintings, this volume offers a glimpse into the way people lived in western India during the medieval times: What they wore, how they ornamented themselves, what they amused themselves with, what furniture they sat on, which modes of transport they used. It includes Jain paintings from various collections in India and abroad to underscore the value of pictorial evidence in piecing together the past. The book takes the reader on a breath-taking visual journey through the varied costumes, exquisite textiles, handcrafted ornaments, curiously shaped vessels and containers, musical instruments, arms and armour, conveyances, and many such articles of everyday use. These articles of everyday use are corroborated with the descriptions left by foreign travellers passing through western India at that time. It explores contemporary lexicons and vernacular literature from this period, for possible names in vogue for the articles of Material Culture. The work is richly illustrated with line drawings by the author to highlight the objects being referred to. What comes across clearly through this book is that art is the mirror of the times, and as such, paintings reflect the society in which they are created. A magnificent read, this book will be essential for scholars and researchers of Indian painting, art history, Indian art, arts and aesthetics, Jainism, visual arts, South Asian history, Indian history, heritage studies and cultural history. It will also be a must-have for history and visual arts enthusiasts all over the world.

Masters of Fire

Masters of Fire
Author:
Publisher: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2008
Genre: Art metal-work
ISBN:

This book takes a look at the nature and 'health' of one of India's most unique and beautiful traditional craft traditions: the bronze icon industry of Tamil Nadu. The book is written from the perspective of an anthopologist and gives a view of human behavior through the lens of material culture. It is a most valuable contribution of ethnoarchaeology to archaeometallurgy. This book came about when Professor Thomas E. Levy, University of California, San Diego, and his wife, Alina Levy, native Indian, decided to seek out the hereditary bronze casters of Swamimalai with the aim trying to learn how traditional metal production and workshops were organized today. As an archaeologist interested in ancient metal production in the Middle East, Thomas E. Levy and his wife thought the living traditional metal craft industries of India could provide an opportunity to better understand ancient metal production found at sites he had excavated in Israel and Jordan. The Levys studied many workshops and decided to document the familiy-owned bronze icon manufactory of one of India's most distinguished hereditary bronze casters - Devasenapathy Sthapathy and Sons, Sri Jayam Industries. The great great grandfather of the three brothers who own this workshop was awarded a prize for excellence in handicrafts from Britain's Queen Victoria. The observation, interactions and study of the workshop family finally resulted in the joint venture of this book.