Includes bibliographical references (page 892) and index.
Contents:
Part I. Buddhist and Brahmanical : 1.1. The Indian subcontinent ; The Mauryas and their successors ; Hellenistic intruders and the Mahayana ; The pantheon of the gods ; Hindu empire and the fruits of the dynastic rivalry ; The south and the great Dravidian vimana ; The north and the 'Nagara' temple mountains ; Central synthesis ; Forts ; Sri Lanka ; Nepal -- 1.2. South-east Asia : Java and its neighbours ; The advent of the Khmer ; Angkor ; The Cham and the late ascent of the Mahayana at Angkor ; Mons and Myenmar ; Thais and their eastern neighbours -- Part II. Heaven's empires : 2.1. China and its orbit : The generation of conservative traditions ; Interregnum and the impact of Buddhism ; Middle age, Sui, Tang and Song ; The Yuan interregnum and Tibet ; Ming and the Qing: longevity and sclerosis ; Himalayan theocracy and imperial Lamaism ; Korea -- 2.2. Japan : Origins ; From Asuka to Heian ; Kamakura and Muromachi ; From Momoyama to Edo.
Summary:
"The East, the second in a series of five books that describe and illustrate the seminal architectural traditions of the world, is a survey of unparalleled range. The journey starts on the Indian subcontinent with the Vedic and native cultures of the 2nd millennium BCE. Modified by the changing demands of worship, they produced the characteristic forms of Buddhist and Hindu temples in all their spacial and sculptural variety - and helped to shape palaces and even towns in a complex line of development." "The second part of the book examines the long but conservative architectural histories of China, Korea and Japan and their spheres of influence, a story of absorption and transformation centred on the walled enclosures of China and the Japanese predilection for informality and artful simplicity." "Not simply a profusely illustrated catalogue of buildings, the book also describes their political, technological, social and cultural contacts. It functions equally well as a detailed and comprehensive narrative, as a collection of the great buildings of the region, and as an archive of themes across time and place."--Jacket.
Series:
Architecture in context ; 2 Tadgell, Christopher, 1939- Architecture in context ; 2.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.