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Kashmir occupies a central position in Asia with its borders touching Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and Tibet. This gave rise to the rich cultural matrix in the valley, including religion, philosophy, literature, history, music, fine arts and aesthetics. There has been continuous sculptural activity in the region spanning over a period of thousand years. Despite the rich treasure trove of Kashmiri sculptural images and their most distinctive regional style, a very little research work is done in this area. The present book is an attempt in that direction. Running into two volumes, it makes an iconographic study of Brahmanical sculptures of Kashmir. Bringing together more than five hundred Brahmanical images of Kashmir from different parts of the world, it demonstrates their enduring themes, iconographic types and stylistic traditions, as well as major influences on them. Also, it highlights their religious and artistic significance while placing them in historical context. The cultural milieu that inspired the creation of these masterpieces in ancient Kashmir has been investigated as well. The book includes sculptural images of Brahma, Siva, Visnu, Mother Goddesses, Kamadeva and others. 

Highlights

* The only book having about 550 Brahmanical sculptural masterpieces of Kashmir, collected from different parts of the world.
* Contains 279 colour and 272 black & white photographs.
* Includes sculptural images of Brahma, Siva Visnu, Mother Goddesses, Kamadeva and others, along with their associates.
* Shows thems, icongraphic types and stylistic traditions of the images.
* Examines major influences on these images.
* Outlines the religious and artistic significance of the images, along with their historical  contexts.
* Signifies the cultural milieu that inspired the creation of these masterpieces.

Contents

Volume One: Introduction- Brahma-Siva, Linga-vigratha, Mukhalinga, Siva Images, Brahmanical Triad, Trimurti Dattreya, Mahesamurti, Uma Mahesvarma, Gangadharamurti, Ardhanarsvara, Tripurantaka Siva, Gajasurasamharramuti, Ravananugrahamurti, Vinadhara Siva, Siva-Natesa, Lakulisa-Lord of the Staff, Bhairava, Ganesa, Karttikeya- Matrkas, Mother Goddesses, Durga, Mahisasurmardant, River Goddesses, Ganga and Yamuna, Anake Goddesses.

Volume Two: Visnu, Visnu Vasudeva, Vaikuntha Visnu, Caturanana Visnu, Garudasana Visnu, Pancaviras, Narasimha, Balarama, Surya, Vamana, Sesasayi Visnu, Vasudeva Kamalaja, Harihara, Laksmi, Prabhavali showing manifestations of Visnu, Visnupada, Kamadeva, Maithuna, Kamadeva, Maithuna—Miscellaneous Images, Indra, Candra (Moon-God), Dvarpala, Siddha, Salabanjika.