About the Book:
The study of western Indian Buddhist caves has always been concerned with the chronology of the caves based on the political chronology of ruling dynasties. The present work is an attempt to a broader concern with the visuality and its pattern of architectural and decorative designs such as how a particular pattern of articulation was evolved? How did the artisans work in the society with the available tradition/skill and what was the role and politics of patronage? How the early Mahayana developments can be traced within the region itself?
It also presents a critic of consciousness of interpreters as reflected through their subjective positions. It’s an endeavor to question many normative interpretations that have been produced in recent past. It moves away from the concept of homogeneity of tradition and attempts to understand difference in tradition and theoretical formulations. The book is also an attempt to see Ajanta and western Deccan caves very differently from the conventional perspectives.
About the Author:
Dr. Y. S. Alone is a Professor in Visual Studies in School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Previously he worked at Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute (deemed university) Pune and at the Department of Fine Arts,Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. He has published several research papers in journals and chapters in edited volumes on Ancient Indian Art and critic of Walter Spink, Buddhist caves in western India, critic of modern Indian art, popular neo-Buddhist visual culture, interpretative frame-work of Dr. Ambedkar and social sciences. He has lectured widely in India and abroad mainly in China at Shenzhen University, Dunhaung Research Academy, Buddhist Research Institute Hangzhou. He was nominated as ICCR chair visiting Professor in Shenzhen University PR China. He has been member of various Government Committees and has been advisor of NCERT textbook on History of Art for class XI. |
