The society of traditional India is frequently characterized as static and dominated by caste. This study challenges older interpretations, arguing that medieval India was actually a time of dynamic change and fluid social identities. Using records of religious endowments from Andhra Pradesh, author Cynthia Talbot reconstructs a regional society of the precolonial past as it existed in practice.

Records publications acquired from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, by the U.S. Library of Congress Offices in New Delhi, India, and Karachi, Pakistan.

Analyzing the ways in which ideas of heroic discourse and the socio-religious and political needs of the period moulded iconography, this book explores the evolution of the iconography of the early mediaeval Hindu temples of the Indian peninsula, over the course of the sixth-twelfth centuries C.E. In order to study the socio-religious and political atmosphere in which the early mediaeval temple iconography grew and developed its specific forms, the author makes use of the inscriptions, archaeological and the literary materials ranging from the fourth centuries B.C.E. to the thirteenth century C.E., as these give an idea of the continuities and discontinuities in the ideas of heroic and political discourses which lie at the back of the visual art forms that they created. Of particular interest are the royal charters, issued in Sanskrit and Tamil, the religious narratives from the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas, iconographic canons that form a part of the religious texts known as the Agamas, written in Sanskrit, the court literature of the early mediaeval period and the early historical Sangam Tamil literature, apart from the archaeological material from the Indian peninsula. The author focuses particularly on exploring the ideas of power current in the society that created the narrative iconography of the period and the region studied.

Arunakiri is important for a number of reasons not the least being his role as the harbinger of a Tamil renaissance and as the exemplar of a classic poetic style that beautifully combines text and performance.

The Rajarajesvaram (Brithadisvara), The Royal Temple Of The Cola Monarch Rajaraja I, Was The Greatest Monumental Undertaking Of The Cols. The Inscriptions On Its Walls Are A Veritable Registry Of Administrative Details. The Author, Dr. Geeta Vasudevan, Has Undertaken An Indepth Analysis Of These Inscriptions And Examined The Pivotal Role Of The Royal Temple In The Economic, Social, Religious And Political Affairs Of The Empire. She Convincingly Puts Forth The Argument That The Royal Temples Under The Middle Colas Were Instruments Of Imperial Power And Helped To Enhance And Consolidate Cole Hegemony Over A Vast Empire Extending Over 1000 Kms From Andhra In The North To Northen Sri Lanka In The South.The Thesis Is Also The First Serious Attempt To Bring Out The Differences Between Bhakti Temples (Or Temples Sanctified Through Holy Associations) And Royal Temples (Or Royal Chapels Of Kings); The Reasons The Former Have Survived Almost 1000 Years As Places Of Worship While Many Of The Latter Are Languishing As Archaeological Monuments.