Temple Imagery from Early Mediaeval Peninsular India

Archana Verma has been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK and a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla. She researches and teaches on various aspects of South Asian Art History and Cultural Studies.

• Contents: Introduction; Changing perceptions of divine power: the evolution of religious idiom in peninsular India; Puranic pantheons and their iconography (AD 600-1200); Heroic discourse: concepts and images in literature and iconography (early historical and early medieval periods) Imaging royal power in visual and verbal narratives; Pantheons of power - the iconographic programme in royal temples; Reflections; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

'Temple Imagery from Early Mediaeval Peninsular India is well researched, thorough, written in an interesting and readable style, and makes a contribution to knowledge about Hindu art and architecture in relationship to kingship in southern India.' Susan L. Huntington, Ohio State University, USA 'This book will prove especially helpful for students of art history, South Indian history and iconography, as well as specialists of materiality/material culture. The first chapter will introduce those unfamiliar with Tamil traditions to the relevant deities, practices, and texts. But even the Tamil literary specialist will be amply engaged by the diversity of disciplinary perspectives presented here.' Journal of Hindu Studies '... scholars in a wide range of fields, and particularly religious studies and history, will benefit both from the book’s many illustrations and from the author’s efforts to parse out how various narrative elements from Saá¹…gam poetry, the Purāņas, and the Ä€gamas was reflected in the formalization, and indeed canonization, of new iconographic forms.' Religious Studies Review