Vaisnavism Played A Very Significant Role In Socio-Religious And Artistic Expressions Of Kashmir In Ancient And Medieval Periods. Vaisnavism Carved Its Due Place In The Minds Of The People In The Valley With Equal Amount, If Not More Than That Of Buddhism And 'Saivism. In General, The Religion Of Vishnu In The Kashmir Valley Shared The Pan-Indian Notion, Yet In Certain Aspects, It Maintained Its Individualistic Approach. Such Differences Are Noted In The Texts As Well As In The Artistic Expressions Of The Valley. The Present Book Deals With The Various Facets Of Vaisnavism In Kashmir With Particular Reference To The Vaisnava Icons And Art. The Book Deals With Para, Vyuha And Vibhava Aspects Of Vishnu As Well As With Composite And Syncretic Aspects Of The God. Attention Has Also Been Paid To The Minor Vaisnavite Deities Including The Personification Of Vishnu'S Attributes. There Has Been A Dearth Of A Comprehensive Study On Vaisnava Art And Iconography Of Kashmir And This Book Is Likely To Fill The Gap

Objects of Translation offers a nuanced approach to the entanglements of medieval elites in the regions that today comprise Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north India. The book--which ranges in time from the early eighth to the early thirteenth centuries--challenges existing narratives that cast the period as one of enduring hostility between monolithic "Hindu" and "Muslim" cultures. These narratives of conflict have generally depended upon premodern texts for their understanding of the past. By contrast, this book considers the role of material culture and highlights how objects such as coins, dress, monuments, paintings, and sculptures mediated diverse modes of encounter during a critical but neglected period in South Asian history. The book explores modes of circulation--among them looting, gifting, and trade--through which artisans and artifacts traveled, remapping cultural boundaries usually imagined as stable and static. It analyzes the relationship between mobility and practices of cultural translation, and the role of both in the emergence of complex transcultural identities. Among the subjects discussed are the rendering of Arabic sacred texts in Sanskrit on Indian coins, the adoption of Turko-Persian dress by Buddhist rulers, the work of Indian stone masons in Afghanistan, and the incorporation of carvings from Hindu and Jain temples in early Indian mosques. Objects of Translation draws upon contemporary theories of cosmopolitanism and globalization to argue for radically new approaches to the cultural geography of premodern South Asia and the Islamic world.

This book examines women and society in India during 600–1200 CE through epigraphs. It offers an analysis of inscriptional data at the pan-India level to explore key themes, including early marriage, deprivation of girls from education, property rights, widowhood and satī, as well as women in administration and positions of power. The volume also traces gender roles and agency across religions such as Hinduism and Jainism, the major religions of the times, and sheds light on a range of political, social, economic and religious dimensions. A panoramic critique of contradictions and conformity between inscriptional and literary sources, including pieces of archaeological evidence against traditional views on patriarchal stereotypes, as also regional parities and disparities, the book presents an original understanding of women’s status in early medieval South Asian society. Rich in archival material, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of ancient and medieval Indian history, social history, archaeology, epigraphy, sociology, cultural studies, gender studies and South Asian studies.

The more 1100 sculptures in these two volumesrepresent the long overdue publication of the most important sculptures in custody of Tibetan monasteries

The historical development of Esoteric Buddhism in India is still known only in outline. A few verifiably early texts do give some insight into the origin of the ideas which would later develop and spread to East and Southeast Asia, and to Tibet. However, there is another kind of evidence which can be harnessed to the project of reconstructing the history of Esoteric Buddhist doctrines and practice. This evidence consists of art objects, mainly sculpture, which survive in significant numbers from the 6th to the 13th century.