Article Links: Literatures, Science, Art & Architecture
LANGUAGE
The main topics are the linguistic and cultural contrasts between Aryans and Non-Aryans, between Sanskrit and Prakrit speakers, between those that used correct and incorrect speech according to the brahmanic elite.
The extraordinary role of orality in Indian culture, that persists even today, is analyzed not only in relation to the Vedas but also in respect to belles lettres, prosody, grammar, Puranas and legal codes.
The influx of Non Indo-European words (Dravidian, Munda, Tibeto-Burmese, etc) in archaic Sanskrit is discussed, particularly in the Rig Veda where 300-400 words are recognized to have been borrowed from other tongues.
LITERATURE
-El Mito Indio del Diluvio en su Relación con los Cuentos Clásicos y Próximo-orientales. P. Magnone. Transoxiana 6 (2003). pdf 0.2Mb
Myths about the Deluge are found in many cultures. In this essay the Near East versions are compared with those of India and of the Classical World. The differences are more obvious than the similarities, supporting the independence of the Indian myths.
Annotated translation of a myth of the Matsya Purana preceded by a study of the role of myths in different literary contexts.
The role of mirrors in literature and art are examined, including their relations with love, magic, dreams and presages.
-Food and Immortality in the Veda: A Gastronomic Theology? C. Lopez. EJVS 3.3 (1997), pp 11-19. pdf 0.1Mb
The obsession with food in the Vedas has, often, a meaning beyond the material, expressing metaphysical concepts such as immortality and the vision of heaven.
The multiple meanings of the Sanskrit word rasa in the Rig Veda and in the Upanishads contrasted with its meaning in Buddhist texts such as the Buddhacarita and the Lotus Sutra.
A multidisciplinary project headed by a poet ignorant of Sanskrit whose collaborators bring him a prose version and the context. Here, it is applied to a few Vedic hymns and to a passage of the Ramayana. The result is, at least, interesting and thought-provoking.
A poetic and colloquial translation of a brief episode from book V (Sundarakanda) of Ramayana, in which the rakshasa Trijata (favorable to Sita) speaks about a dream foretelling the defeat of Ravana.
-Sanskrit Rhetoric And Poetic. V. Niwas Misra. Mahfil 7.3-4 (1971), pp. 1-18. gif
In order to better understand the various theories formulated in India about the nature and esthetics of poetry, it is necessary to define more precisely a number of words of complex meaning current in literature and art.
The erotic subject is common in Sanskrit literature, and the boundary between erotic and pornographic unclear. The many opinions of ancient literary critics, often contradictory, are quoted in this respect.
In ancient India many commentaries of literary and philosophical works were available. To understand better the methods and goals of the first class, a commentary of the drama “Malati and Madhava” of Bhavabhuti, written by Harihara, is analyzed, and four long excerpts of it translated.
The Manava-dharma-sastra or "Laws of Manu" is one of the most famous normative texts of social conduct in India. The author gathers the references to the rights and obligations of women scattered in the work, in order to give an idea about the status of women according to the brahman’s point of view.
An experiment in the translation of Sanskrit poetry applied to parts of the canto VIII of Kumara-sambhava ("The Birth of Kumara"), one of two great narrative poems of Kalidasa, presented here in two versions: the first one is extremely literal to the point of preserving the compound Sanskrit words, and for that quite unreadable; the second is more an explanation than a real translation.
A very good translation, complete, recent and annotated, of Kalidasa’s comedy.
Brief farce woven around the interchange of bodies between a brahman and a prostitute.
A modern translation of the Caura-pancasika ("The 50 Stanzas of a Thief ") of Bilhana, a well-known love poem, composed in the 11th century, where each stanza is virtually autonomous.
A rather large sample of the Gita-govinda, the popular lyric poem of the Bengali Jayadeva composed of 24 songs, in a modern version.
The three greatest composers of carnatic music (that of southern India) lived in the second half of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th. Of them, only Diksitar composed his songs regularly in Sanskrit while Tyagaraja used it occasionally preferring Telugu, and Sastri didn’t use it at all writing exclusively in Telugu. In this article four songs are commented upon (two of Diksitar and two of Tyagaraja) including, as well, their original Sanskrit text without English translations.
d) Middle Indo-Aryan: Pali & Prakrits
The Sattasai ("Seven Hundred Stanzas") is one of the few surviving literary works in Prakrit. Composed in Maharashtri, the most literary of the Prakrits, these brief poems don’t escape the influence of Sanskrit literature, but they have a more rustic flavor and a penchant for the popular.
e) Modern Indo-Aryan (and Iranian):
A brief selection of Kabir’s poems (1440-1518), translated from the Hindi, in which he expressed his belief in a god common to Hindus and Muslims, and his expectations of a more egalitarian society.
The blind poet Surdas (died in 1563), one of the most celebrated in the Hindi language, was a disciple of the philosopher Vallabha, composing his devotional songs in honor of Krishna. Here, are translated twelve of his poems from Sursagar, his most important collection.
The flowering of Urdu poetry coincides with the collapse of the Mughal empire, being favored by the consequent lost of status of Persian as a cultivated language, and the emergence of the new genre of political narrative poetry.
Selection of 25 poems of Tukaram, saint-poet of the 17th century who wrote in Marathi in honor of Vishnu.
Narasimha Maheta was a devotional poet who lived in Gujarat in the 15th century, but this article is not about his poems; instead it is interested in his "biographies", mostly legends, which belong to the hagiographic literature in Gujarati. Composed in verse, in the course of four centuries, a selection of them is offered here as an illustrative sample of the genre.
The first documents in Oriya, the language of the Orissa region of eastern India, are from the 12th century, but the first literary works date to the 14th. The author underscores the profound influence of Sanskrit in the Oriya literature, in style as well as in content, giving an overview of it from its origins to the present day.
Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Sindh (Pakistan), and in the neighboring regions of Gujarat in India. This essay gives an overview of its rich literature, neglected by Western scholars.
Baluchi is an Iranian language spoken today in eastern Iran and in the province of Baluchistan in Pakistan. Its literature is mostly oral consisting in song-poems and prose narratives. The most salient features of these literature are highlighted, and prose and sample verses translated.
Pashto is, as Baluchi, an Iranian language of the Indo-European family. It is spoken in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. The author outlines the history of Pashto literature from its controversial origins to the present, offering a selection of representative texts.
f) Dravidian Languages
Vacanas or “Sayings” are brief poems in free verse composed in Kannada, the language of Karnataka (southwest India). Their intense devotion to Siva prescinds of ritual and caste. This brief anthology was made by a well-known scholar and poet.
A sample of the poems of Kshettrayya, an itinerant poet-saint of the 18th century, author of praised devotional songs, erotic in tone, composed in Telugu, the language of Andhra Pradesh.
-A Note on the Five-Year Yuga of the Vedanga Jyotisa. B.N. Achar. EJVS 3.4 (1997), pp 21-28. pdf 0.1Mb.
One of the six auxiliary disciplines of the Vedas, known collectively as Vedanga, was astronomy-astrology (jyotisha) whose main goal was to establish the propitious time for rituals. Only three short texts are extant from this branch of the Vedanga, two of them very similar. The most ancient and important, annexed to the Rig Veda, describes in its mere 36 stanzas, a calendar based in a five-year time cycle called yuga.
The subject of this article is the origin and nature of traditional medicine in Sri Lanka. The analysis of two medical treatises written in this country, plus of other data, confirm that, in great measure, it was heavily indebted to the Indian Ayurveda.
A search conducted in the National Library, and other institutions in Paris, identified several Sinhalese medical manuscripts. Among them, a translation of the Besajjamañjusa, the only medical treatise written originally in Pali. Another manuscript contained the Yoga-ratnakaraya inspired by the Indian Ayurveda.
ART & ARCHITECTURE
a) General
The symbolic use of the square and circle in Asian architecture starting with Bronze Age tombs, continuing with its diffusion in Central Asia, China and India to culminate with the buildings of the Mughal dynasty.
b) Hindu
In this first article of a series about the fortifications of India, 8 sites of the Indus Valley civilization and 22 from the early historic period are reviewed, taking into account archeological, literary and iconographic sources.
Only from the 6th century onwards substantial remains of fortifications are found in southern India, starting with three sites of the Calukya dynasty: Aihole, Badami and Alampur. Between the 11th-14th centuries there is an evolution with the appearance of concentric walls (Hangal, Warangal) or by the employment of more solid materials (Halebid, Malkhed, Raichur, the third wall of Warangal). Between the 15th-18th centuries Hindu fortifications must adapt to the arrival of the Muslims and to the proliferation of firearms, as stand witness the magnificent remains of the Vijayanagara empire (Vijayanagara city, Candragiri, Penukonda, Mudgal, Vellore). Lastly, the features of 4 fortified cities (Tiruchi, Tanjavur, Madurai, Palaiyamkottai) are examined with the aid of ancient plans and ruins in situ.
The mountain forts of the plateau of Mysore (Maisur in French), in southeastern Karnataka and neighboring areas of Tamilnadu, were made famous by the four Mysore wars between the English and the native rulers Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan. However, most of them seem to have been the creations of the Vijayanagara kings from an earlier period. The author surveys the architectural remains of a great number of these forts providing nearly one hundred pictures of them.
This is the catalogue of the fortified sites studied in the previous article (10 in Tamilnadu, 9 in Karnataka) with the bibliography of each one.
Uparamala, also known as northern Malava, is a frontier region of east Rajasthan not only geographically, but also politically and artistically. It can, then, serve as a model to try to elucidate the essence of architectural and sculptural styles in Hindu temples. With that purpose, Meister compares various temples that have significative stylistic differences in spite of being contemporary and/or adjacents.
The ruins of Vijayanagara in Karnataka, capital of the homonymous kingdom that encompassed most of southern India in the 14th-16th centuries, are the only substantial remains of a Non-Islamic city of ancient India. Divided in three areas: residential, sacred and royal, the authors of this article focused on the last because it presents the major morphological and functional variety of buildings.
Hampi is the modern name of Vijayanagara, one of the major and most fascinating archeological sites of the subcontinent (see previous entry), and the Vithala one of its most remarkable temples. Each and everyone of the temple’s inscriptions (24 in total) are recorded and translated. Previously, the structure, function, and characteristics of the surrounding area are described.
Excellent plans and drawings of the center of Jaisalmer, in west Rajasthan, including those of some havelis, the great mansions built by rich merchants in the 18th century.
Another great portfolio of drawings by the same team of the previous. This one is about the wooden palace of Padma-nabha-puram built in Kerala in the 15th century.
Wood has been for a very long time the material of choice for house construction in Gujarat, in combination with brick and stone. Also, and no less important, for eaves, balconies, doors, windows and floors. In order to unravel the ancient techniques of wooden construction, this article resorts to recent buildings in traditional style that keep using the old methods.
Inventory and classification of musical instruments depicted in the Hoysala sculpture of Karnataka, between 12th-13th centuries.
Terra cotta plaques were the material of choice for sculptural reliefs in the temples of Bengala. They are one of the main sources of information about ancient ships. Specially, the local ones are depicted with fidelity and precision, but the foreign vessels, with which the artists were not familiar, are not. Numerous photos and drawings illustrate this survey of the subject.
Iconographic survey of the giraffe in sculpture, rock paintings, and miniature paintings. These exotic animals were introduced in India by the Arabs from eastern Africa through the trade networks of the Indian Ocean.
c) Delhi Sultanate
Baha al-Din Tughrul was a rival of the founder of the Delhi Sultanate, Qutb-ud-din Aybak. Governor of the ancient province of Bayana, in the east of Rajasthan, he sponsored there several religious buildings, three of which are still extant: two mosques, and a prayer wall on open ground (idgah), which in spite of being among the first Islamic monuments of India had received little notice until now.
The Tughluq was, among the five dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, the one that left the most extensive and important architectural legacy. After considerations of chronology and patronage, a detailed typological survey is carried out, including citadels, mosques, madrasas, tombs and palaces. The two final sections deal with the architects and religious epigraphy.
Similar to the preceding article, but shorter.
Qadam Sharif was a religious complex founded by Firuz Shah, one of the most prolific builders of the Delhi Sultanate. Located in the north of Delhi, distant three kilometers from Firuzabad (the citadel-capital created by the same Firuz), its focal point was a shrine in honor of a footprint of the Prophet. The author tries to rescue for the benefit of the reader this Islamic monument neglected and forgotten.
Hisar-i-Firuza was an ambitious urban project of Firuz Shah Tughluq. Now called Hisar, the city is situated in the state of Haryana, 140 km northwest of Delhi, keeping part of the ancient fortifications, the main mosque, the palace, and other buildings. Each one is described here after a review of the architectural achievements of Firuz in Delhi.
Welch, a specialist in Tughluq architecture, reviews the principal works of hydraulic engineering of this dynasty in Delhi. Among them: the system of dams of Ghiyas-ud-din in Tughluqabad, the Satpula of Muhammad, the Hauz Khas, and the bridge of Wazirabad.
d) Regional Sultanates
Here are the results of two missions sent to the southern Deccan to study Muslim fortifications. Those are found in Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bidar, Basava Kalyana, Golconda, Naldurga, Parenda and Sholapur (in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and southern Maharashtra), sites that prospered under the Bahmanis and subsequent sultanates.
A light introduction, but with superb photos, to the rich architecture of Ahmadabad developed during the exceedingly prosperous Sultanate of Gujarat (1407-1583)
Of the gardens of Ahmadabad little or nothing remains, thus in order to evoke them it is necessary to resort to contemporary accounts and descriptions of travelers.
Six cities in Gujarat, established by Muslims or under strong Muslim influence (Ahmadabad, Baroda, Palanpur, Radhanpur, Surat and Cambay) are compared in order to reach conclusions about the Islamic urbanism in the area.
The khanaquahs, initially places of residence for Sufi saints, became later places of prayer. That of Shah Hamadan is made of wood and can be found in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. Built in the 14th century, it has been damaged and remodeled several times, but still remains one of the most remarkable specimens of Islamic regional architecture in India.
The conversion to Islam in Bengal was massive, promoting the proliferation of a great number of mosques during the Bengal Sultanate (1338-1538). Except for the enormous Adina, based on orthodox models, all had to adapt their architecture to the peculiar cultural and geographic constraints of the region: rapid Islamization, absence of a monumental tradition, a large rural population, rainy weather, scarcity of stone, etc.
The calligraphic art of the inscriptions of Bengal, including those from Western Bengal (India) as well as those from Eastern Bengal (Bangladesh), in the entire Islamic period (Sultanate of Bengal, Mughals).
The city of Hyderabad, in Andhra Pradesh, was founded in 1591 by Quli Qubt Shah as the capital of his Sultanate, one of various coexisting in the Deccan at the time. The author analyzes the urban plan, raising the hypothesis that Hyderabad was designed as a replica of the Paradise depicted in the Koran.
A panorama of the history of Bijapur (situated in Karnataka), capital of one of the most powerful of the Deccan sultanates, is followed by a description of the city in order to address the central theme of this long study: its works of hydraulic engineering, which include wells and bavlis, dams, aqueducts and qanats, built or upgraded by Muslims with the help of Persian engineers.
e) Mughal
The sub-imperial palaces of the Mughal period (those in the hands of governors, landlords and local leaders) are studied here more from a sociopolitical viewpoint than from a strictly architectural one, considering their location, fortifications and materials.
The tombs of the six first Mughal emperors, from Babur to Aurangzeb, are interpreted with the aid of Timurid architecture. The idea of a simple evolution is discarded and a cyclic model is proposed, instead.
Study in depth, from multiple perspectives, of one of the most remarkable Islamic monuments of India.
The influence of Humayun’s tomb in the urban landscape of 16th century Delhi is discussed, particularly in relation to the citadel of Dinpanah, and to the religious complex of the Sufi saint Nizam-ud-din Aulya.
Two little-known buildings of the early Mughal period are described here, both enclosed in the fort of Vijayamandirgarh, in the Bayana region of southeastern Rajasthan. One of them is a two-story pavilion (manzil) built by a nobleman in Humayun’s reign. The other is the tomb of Shaikh Buhlul dating, probably, from the beginning of Akbar’s reign. The first one is specially interesting, as a precursor of the renowned Panch Mahal in Fathepur Sikri.
Fatehpur Sikri, the ephemeral capital of Akbar, abandoned a few years after its foundation, remains frozen in time providing a unique opportunity to discover the intentions and aspirations of the Mughals in the design of their cities.
An intensive an extensive study of the Jahangiri Mahal, which in spite of his name belonged to Akbar, the first Mughal palace that has been preserved.
The employment of highly sophisticated tents was characteristic of Mughal courts, reaching its climax during Shah Jahan’s reign. They were used to shelter the nobles in audiences, feasts and ceremonies, and as a display of the magnificence of the sovereign.
The Hall of Public Audiences, the Diwan i Amm, was a new type of building created by Shah Jahan to shelter the nobles from the sun and rain, preserving the etiquette while they awaited for an audience. Those in Lahore, Agra and Delhi are analyzed and compared with the aid of many plans and photographs.
Study about the early Mughal gardens, particularly those situated inside palaces. It is complemented by the next article, of the same author, dedicated to gardens located in the vicinity of rivers and lakes.
The exquisite riparian gardens of the Mughals: those of Agra’s fort, those of Taj Mahal, those of the Red Fort of Delhi, those of Shalimar in Lahore...
Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, was a descendent of Timur and had close connexions with Samarkand, the former capital of the Timurid empire, which had a magnificent architecture and many quadripartite gardens or char baghs. The Timurid heritage influenced the purpose and design of the gardens he commissioned in India, which were used as camping grounds, to celebrate religious ceremonies, audiences, and wine parties.
It was believed that there were no significant remains of Babur’s gardens. The rediscovery of the Lotus Garden, in between Gwalior and Agra, whose name alludes to three fountains illustrating successive stages in the flowering of the lotus, help us to understand the origin and evolution of Mughal gardens.
A detailed study of the religious topography of the valley of Kashmir, makes clear the permanence of Hindu and Muslim sacred spots. This same topography determined, as well, the location of many Mughal gardens in the area, whose more assiduous patron was the emperor Jahangir.
The Zahara Bagh garden, located in the east bank of the Yamuna river in Agra, attributed without much ground to Babur, is actually much later. It belonged, apparently, to a daughter of Shahjahan as revealed by an ancient map of Agra, and by the analysis of literary sources and in situ remains.
The caravanserais, the large roadside walled hostels for the repose of travelers, had been quite ignored by the architectural historians, and many of them had been victims of population expansion and neglect. However, a good number of them perdure along the ancient Mughal route between Agra and Lahore. Four of those caravanserais, close in space and time, are studied here.
The careers of three painters and calligraphers trained in Iran, who illustrated books in the Mughal court, are followed and the artistic connections between Iran and India studied.
© 2009 Alejandro Gutman
