Abstract
The volume Late Temple Architecture of India 15th to 19th Centuries: Continuities, Revivals, Appropriations, and Innovations, according to the author, George Michell, is in effect an entirely new subject: the temple architecture of India during a period that has in the past been labelled variously as ‘Late Medieval’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Colonial’ and/or ‘British’, but which is here simply referred to as ‘late’, though defined by the actual time span to be covered.
This is hardly an ‘entirely new subject’ as the temple architecture of different parts of India during the period ranging from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries has already been studied/focused either on the basis of regional stylistic developments or the spread of a particular religious ideology in a number of major research works. The author justifies his present attempt by commenting that ‘there still exists a crucial lacunae in the scholarly literature on Indian religious architecture during the 15th–19th centuries; hence the present volume’.
The concerned discourse is divided into three parts. Part one, entitled ‘Historical and Religious Background’, comprises two chapters of which Chapter 1 (Patterns of Building Activity) delineates the broad patterns of temple construction from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries AD. A perfunctory and sketchy narration of the destruction of Brahmanical and Jaina temples by the Afghan and the Central Asian Muslim invaders is given in the Prologue with reference to (i) a general understanding of the extensive damage done to architectural and sculptural remains throughout the subcontinent; (ii) the particular cases of Somnath, Puri and Srirangam; (iii) western India; (iv) central and eastern India, interrupted by a section (v) on the role of the Marathas in the Deccan and beyond; and, finally, (vi) southern India. The first chapter ends with an epilogue that summarises the temple constructions undertaken from the latter part of the nineteenth century onwards. Anyway, the use of the term ‘Hindu’ is quite disturbing.
The same synoptic tone and trend continues in Chapter 2 entitled ‘Devotional Cults and Temple Patrons’ and for that matter the different sections like ‘Vishnu and Rama as Royal Deities’, ‘Courtly Patronage of Shiva’, ‘Protective Goddesses’, etc. will certainly serve and guide the lay readers as well as tourists who intend to visualise or get acquainted with the architectural trajectory of the five centuries as a whole.
It is quite surprising why Michell did not devote even a very brief synoptic review of the major trends in Indian temple architecture (from the Gupta period to the fourteenth century) either in part one or in part two entitled ‘Stylistic Trends’. Part two comprises Chapters 3–6. In ‘Continuities and Revivals’ (Chapter 3), the fine distinction between traditions of architectural continuities and revivals is lost amidst a discourse which somehow failed to elaborate instances of either the constant process of renewal or new attempts that betrayed a link with past traditions. A more vivid portrayal of the working of the continuities and revivals could have transformed this vital chapter. Labelled figures/illustrations of the elevation of the temples could have enriched the text to a great extent.
Chapter 4 (‘Appropriations’) is a lucid and compact discussion of appropriating features from other non-indigenous traditions, and, indeed, Michell’s forte and basic objective are well balanced here. The work does not characterise the borrowings in form of domes, vaults, pointed arches, etc. as ‘Christian’ or ‘Islamic’, rather it refers to the process of integration of such borrowings in the construction of Brahmanical and Jaina structures.
Chapter 5 (‘Innovations’) could have offered more instances and some interesting orbits of architectural activities as at Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh or central India could have been amply highlighted.
The terse ‘Overview’ offered in Chapter 6 leads to part three which deals with the selected monuments. This part consists of seventeen chapters (7–23) delineating the temple architecture of different zones, such as the extreme north, central India, the western coast, etc. As mentioned in the Preface (p. 14), the author believes that he need make no justification for his particular selection of temples; however, some representative types from several zones have not been included in the present study. The author has incorporated a few temples of Bangladesh; however, their antecedent stages as evident from a few noteworthy temples of West Bengal have not been discussed or analysed. Each chapter of part three has the concerned regional map indicating the sites of the listed monuments along with photographs of the concerned temples or memorials and occasional plans. The descriptions of the individual temples are very concise and the entire compilation serves as a handy guide for those who are interested in the overall scenario of the pre-modern–modern temple architecture of the subcontinent. In addition to Brahmanical and Jaina temples, Michell has also discussed memorial structures termed variously as chhatris, samadhis, dewals or maqbaras.
A brief and selective glossary of architectural terms has been incorporated in this volume along with two indices of temples by site and of building patrons. Sharing the sentiments of the author, this volume truly remains ‘an introduction’ to the subject concerned; however, the volume should be appreciated for bringing together 500 years of Indian temple architecture with its startling diversity of forms, structural techniques and fusion of different stylistic idioms.