George Michell provides a pioneering and richly illustrated introduction to the architecture, sculpture and painting of Southern India under the Vijayanagara empire and the states that succeeded it. This period, encompassing some four hundred years, from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, was endowed with an abundance of religious and royal monuments which remain as testimonies to the history and ideology behind their evolution. The author evaluates the legacy of this artistic heritage, describing and illustrating buildings, sculptures and paintings that have never been published before. In a previously neglected area of art history, the author presents an original and much-needed reassessment.

A new titles in the BLUE GUIDE series covers the increasingly popular tourist destination of Southern India, starting with Bombay. Divided into chapters that focus on the main towns and sites, with ideas for additional excursions off the beaten track, this is one of the most comprehensive guidebooks available to the area. 90 maps and plans. 30 drawings.

History of the tomb of Humayun, Emperor of Hindustan, 1508-1556, in Delhi; pictorial presentation.

George Michell considers the artistic heritage of the architecture, sculpture and painting of the Vijayanagara empire and the successor states. The period, encompassing some four hundred years, was endowed with an abundance of religious and royal monuments, which remain as testimonies to the history and ideology behind their evolution. In a previously neglected area of art history, the author presents an original and much needed reassessment, evaluating buildings, sculptures and paintings, illustrated by many previously unpublished photographs.

This book reinterprets the Muslim architecture and urban planning of South India, looking beyond the Deccan to the regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala - the historic coasts of Coromandel and Malabar. For the first time a detailed survey of the Muslim monuments of the historic ports and towns demonstrates a rich and diverse architectural tradition entirely independent from the better known architecture of North India and the Deccan sultanates. The book, extensively illustrated with photographs and architectural drawings, widens the horizons of our understanding of Muslim India and will no doubt pave new paths for future studies in the field.

This book takes the reader through the centuries and gives a rich insight into India's heritage and architecture. For years the preserve of scholars, this is a presentation of the myrad forms, school and styles of architecture in an informative yet reader-friendly manner focusing on aspects of Indian aesthetics, principles of engineering, history and philosophies, replete with brilliant visuals and illuminating perspectives.

The buildings erected in the Deccan region of India belonged to a number of pre-Mughal kingdoms that reigned in the Deccan from the middle of the 14th century onwards [to the 18th century]. The monuments testify to a culture where local and imported ideas, vernacular and pan-Islamic traditions fused and re-interpreted, to create a majestic architectural heritage with exceptional buildings on the edge of the Islamic world. Many are still standing - yet outside this region of peninsular India, they remain largely unknown.General publications on Indian Islamic architecture usually devote a single chapter to the Deccan. Even specialist monographs can only cover a portion of the region, due to the sheer number of sites. While it is impossible to encompass the full breadth of the subject in a single volume, this book aims to embrace the visual diversity of the Deccan without sacrificing the rigour of academic study. Structures of historical or architectural significance are placed in their context, as the authors discuss building typologies, civic facilities and ornamental techniques, from plaster and carved stone to glazed tiles and mural painting. A chapter is dedicated to each principal Deccan site, interweaving the rise and fall of these cities with a pictorial journey through their ruins, and each building is accompanied by an overhead plan view.