Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings

Architecture and Asceticism in Medieval India

Tamara I. Sears

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Hardback

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English

Yale University Press
10 July 2014

Religious buildings; History of architecture

The first major study of the Hindu monastery, a highly complex architectural form in the heart of the Indian subcontinent.

This pioneering book is the first full-length study of the matha, or Hindu monastery, which developed in India at the turn of the first millennium. Rendered monumentally in stone, the matha represented more than just an architectural innovation: it signaled the institutionalization of asceticism into a formalized monastic practice, as well as the emergence of the guru as an influential public figure. With entirely new primary research, Tamara I. Sears examines the architectural and archaeological histories of six little-known monasteries in Central India and reveals the relationships between political power, religion, and the production of sacred space. This important work of scholarship features scrupulous original measured drawings, providing a vast amount of new material and a much-needed contribution to the fields of Asian art, religious studies, and cultural history. In introducing new categories of architecture, this book illuminates the potential of buildings to reconfigure not only social and ritual relationships but also the fundamental ontology of the world.

By: Tamara I. Sears
Imprint: Yale University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 279mm, Width: 216mm, Spine: 3mm
Weight: 1.551kg
ISBN: 9780300198447
ISBN 10: 0300198442
Pages: 300
Publication Date: 10 July 2014
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tamara I. Sears is assistant professor of South Asian art and architectural history at Yale University.

Reviews for Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings: Architecture and Asceticism in Medieval India

An excellent, original, and valuable work of scholarship at the cutting edge of its field. Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings will make an immense and worthy contribution to the study of Indian architecture in the pre-modern period. Sears is remarkably wide in her scholarship and approach, and the significance of this work reaches well beyond her immediate field to speak also to religious studies and cultural history. -Richard H. Davis, Bard College -- Richard H. Davis A very important book. Tamara Sears offers a strong and sophisticated argument for alternate bases of religious authority grounded in exceptionally diligent primary fieldwork. Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings will unquestionably make its mark in the reshaping of the field of South Asian art. -Pika Ghosh, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Pika Ghosh