Banaras reconstructed : architecture and sacred space in a Hindu holy city / Madhuri Desai.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Desai, Madhuri (Madhuri Shrikant), author.

Series:

Global South Asia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hindu architecture--India--Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Hindu architecture.

India--Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Sacred space--India--Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Sacred space.

Architecture and society--Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Architecture and society.

Buildings--India--Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Buildings.

Physical Description:

x, 292 pages ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2017]

Summary:

Between the late sixteenth and early twentieth centuries, Banaras, the iconic Hindu center in northern India that is often described as the oldest living city in the world, was reconstructed materially as well as imaginatively, and embellished with temples, monasteries, mansions, and ghats (riverfront fortress-palaces). Banaras's refurbished sacred landscape became the subject of pilgrimage maps and its spectacular riverfront was depicted in panoramas and described in travelogues. Madhuri Desai examines the confluences, as well as the tensions, that have shaped this complex and remarkable city. In so doing, she raises issues central to historical as well as contemporary Indian identity and delves into larger questions about religious urban environments in South Asia.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Authenticity and Pilgrimage 17

Chapter 2 Palimpsests and Authority 30

Chapter 3 Expansion and Invention 73

Chapter 4 Spectacle and Ritual 118

Chapter 5 Order and Antiquity 154

Chapter 6 Visions and Embellishments 187.

Notes:

Outgrowth of the author's thesis (Ph. D.--University of California, Berkeley, 2008) under the title: Resurrecting Banaras : urban space, architecture and religious boundaries.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780295741604

0295741600

9780295741994

0295741996

OCLC:

962140580