Overview for The Mosques of the Indian Subcontinent: Their Development and Iconography
The spread of Islam in India produced some of the most spectacular monuments, the mosques stand as testimony to the great architectural skill and expertise of the Indian subcontinent through centuries and constitute one of the most important aspects of the rich architectural cultural of the region. This volume showcases some 54 important mosques spread across the Indian subcontinent-from Lahore in modern Pakistan to Gaur in modern West Bengal and from Delhi in the north to Kayalpatnam and Bijapur in South India. It mentions the location of the mosques, their history, structure and plan patterns and discusses various elements of the structures in detail: their entrances, pillars, porticoes, type of mihrab and other aspects. It emphasizes the importance of a particular masjid such as its typifying the mosques of a certain period or dynasty and setting the standard for later masjids in some manner. It presents some other plans and proportional elevations in the appendices for a comparative study. An extremely useful list of Muslim rulers of the Indian subcontinent is provided. With maps and drawings of plans of mosques, the book is a painstaking effort to examine the evolution and iconography of the mosque architecture in the region. The volume will be indispensable for scholars and students of Indo-Islamic architecture.
Fredrick W. Bunce (Author)
Fredrick W. Bunce, a Ph.D. (Comparative Arts) from the Ohio University Athens, Ohio, USA, is a cultural historian of international repute. Now Professor Emeritus of Art, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, he has lectured at learned forums and published on a variety of art-related themes. And has held many a solo exhibition at different art galleries, art museums and universities; besides his participation in the artist's guild/faculty/other ventures of the kind. A scholar with varied intellectual/research concerns - notwithstanding his specializations in iconography, particularly Oriental and Buddhist Arts, Professor Bunce has been legitimately honoured with certain notable awards/commendations, and is listed in Who's Who in American Art and also the International Biographical Dictionary: 1980-present. Among his published books are: Encyclopaedia of Buddhist Deities (2 Vols.); Encyclopaedia of Hindu Deities (3 vols.); Dictionary of Buddhist and Hindu Iconography; and Yantra of Deities and their Numerological Foundations, all published by D.K. Printworld.
Bagchee
