Overview for Akriti to Sanskriti: The Journey of Indian Forms
India is a civilization of many images, a culture of many visual feasts, a tradition where the visible and the palpable are as important as the oral and the occurrent, where our highest truths are embodied not only in our erudite texts but in our kathas (stories) and gathas (songs), akritis (visual forms) and rachanas (compositions), rich with a variety of forms, shapes, designs and motifs.
Akriti to Sanskriti : The Journey of Indian Forms explores some akritis that adorn both majestic and grand monuments, as well as common and ordinary spaces, and which through their purely visual languages are pointers to not only our culture, but equally to Brahma Jnana or transcendental knowledge.
These beautiful visual representations of both the ordinary people and artisans, are not individual expressions but that of the shared experiences of the community and the preserve of the family, passed down through endless generations. They are neither mere designs nor decorations, nor meant only for rites and rituals, but in their own unpretentious way become sources of visual knowledge and have a culture of their own.
Akriti to Sanskriti, a unique analysis and repository of Indian visual forms, is a collector's tome.
Harsha V Dehejia (Author)
Harsha V. Dehejia has a double doctorate, one in Medicine and the other in Ancient Indian Culture, both from Mumbai University. He is also a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Glasgow and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, all by examination. He is a practising Physician in Ottawa and also Adjunct Professor in the College of Humanities of Carleton University in Ottawa. His special interest is in Indian Aesthetics. His publications include: Advaita of Art, Parvatidarpana, Despair and Modernity, Gods Beyond Temples and Leaves of a Pipal Tree (all by Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi); Parvati: Goddess of Love, The Flute and The Lotus: Romantic Moments in Poetry and Painting and Celebrating Krishna: Sensuous Images, Sacred Words (all by Mapin, Ahmedabad); A Celebration of Love: The Romantic Heroine in the Indian Arts and A Festival of Krishna (both by Roli, Delhi).
Bagchee
