Temples of Madhya Pradesh
What do three hundred surviving ancient temple sites of Madhya Pradesh reveal about the full range of Hindu sacred architecture - and what was lost to medieval destruction? A deep architectural and sculptural study of ten major temple clusters, making the grammar of Hindu temple-building legible.
Madhya Pradesh is a hidden gem when it comes to examples of exquisite temple architecture. More than three hundred great temple sites still exist which tell the story of what Hindu architecture, sculpture and iconography is and used to be, and how it was destroyed in the middle ages. At Bodha, we aim to study ten great ancient temple clusters in Madhya Pradesh which have hitherto gone unnoticed and barely studied. Along with deep textual analysis of its architecture and sculpture we will also engage in visually representing various elements and processes that together create Hindu architecture.
Aim will be to explain the process in which the Hindu temple is constructed. By visually deconstructing and reconstructing the elements of temple architecture like this, we aim to create guidebooks which become not just great pieces of literature on particular temple sites, but also illustrative of the wider activity of temple building itself.
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