Constructing Kanchi : city of infinite temples / Emma Natalya Stein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stein, Emma Natalya, author.

Series:

Asian cities (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ; 16.

Asian cities ; 16

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pilgrims and pilgrimages--India--Kānchipuram.

Pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Kānchipuram (India)--History.

Kānchipuram (India).

Kānchipuram (India)--Religious life and customs--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (299 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2021.

Summary:

This book traces the emergence of the South Indian city of Kanchi as a major royal capital and multireligious pilgrimage destination during the era of the Pallava and Chola dynasties (ca. seventh through thirteenth centuries). It presents the first-ever comprehensive picture of historical Kanchi, locating the city and its more than 100 spectacular Hindu temples at the heart of commercial and artistic exchange that spanned India, Southeast Asia, and China. The author demonstrates that Kanchi was structured with a hidden urban plan, which determined the placement and orientation of temples around a central thoroughfare that was also a burgeoning pilgrimage route. Moving outwards from the city, she shows how the transportation networks, river systems, residential enclaves, and agrarian estates all contributed to the vibrancy of Kanchi's temple life. The construction and ongoing renovation of temples in and around the city, she concludes, has enabled Kanchi to thrive continuously from at least the eighth century, through the colonial period, and up until the present.

Contents:

Illustration 10 Ekāmbaranātha Temple, Kanchi, Left to right: Roof of Kacci Mayāṉam shrine (tenth century), Pillared Hall (twentieth century), Gateway (seventeenth century), Vṛṣabheśvara Shrine (ninth century), Gateway (sixteenth century)

Illustration 11 (Vṛṣabheśvara Shrine at far right) Archaeological Survey of India, A view of the tank from the east, Ekambreswaraswami Temple, Conjeevaram, 1897, photographic print, 21.1 × 25.6 cm, British Library, Photo1008/3(325)

Illustration 12 Panel 1-4 (and see Illustration 7), Tāṉtōṉṟīśvara Temple, Kanchi, panels seventh century

Illustration 2 Map of Kanchi Temples (map by Emma Natalya Stein and Daniel Cole, Smithsonian Institution)

Illustration 3 Kailāsanātha Temple, Kanchi, ca. 700-725 CE

Illustration 4 Buddha, Kanchi Police Station, twelfth century

Illustration 5 Sīteśvara Temple, Kanchi, tenth century

Illustration 6 Festival at Kāmākṣī Ammaṉ Temple, Kanchi (July 2014)

Illustration 7 Panel 4, Tāṉtōṉṟīśvara Temple, Kanchi, seventh century

Illustration 8 Lakṣita cave-temple, Maṇṭakappaṭṭu, ca. 580-630 CE

Illustration 9 Brick shrine in quarry area, Ārpākkam

Colonel Colin Mackenzie's Search for the Jains

Surgeon George Russell Dartnell

James Fergusson's Downward Spiral

Prince Alexis Soltykoff's 'City of Infinite Temples'

Conclusion: Plastered Pasts

Epilogue

The Living Temple

Encounter

Expansion

Continuation

Bibliography

Abbreviations

Primary Sources

Epigraphic and Archaeological Sources

Secondary Sources

Index

List of Illustrations

Illustration 1 Ekāmbaranātha Temple and Sannathi Street, Kanchi, seventh century

the present

Orienting the Gods

Pilgrimage and Processions

From Ancient Village to Temple Town

Local Style

Conclusion: Urban Logic

3 The City and its Ports

Part 1: KṢETRA

The River Networks

Over the Hills

The Coast

Part II: KṢATRA

Kanchi in a Buddhist World

The City and its Mirrors

Conclusion: From Kanchi to the Sea

4 Kanchi Under Colonialism

What Happened in Kanchi while those Towering Gateways Arose?

Embattled Territory

William Daniell's Most Considerable Temple

James Wathen's Soaring View

Henrietta Clive's 'Hindoo Gods and Monsters'

Cover

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Illustrations

Introduction

All Streets Lead to Temples

An Ancient City

Layers of Time

Kanchi Known and Unknown

1 Sandstone and the City

Building Pallava-Kanchi (ca. seventh through ninth century)

From Brick to Stone (the Seventh Century)

Sandstone Temples in the City (the Eighth Century)

The Temples of Pallava-Kanchi

Everywhere but Kanchi (the Ninth Century)

Conclusion: Foundations Laid

2 Realignment

Kanchi in the Chola Era (ca. tenth through thirteenth century)

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 16 Dec 2021).

ISBN:

90-485-5091-2

OCLC:

1281707865