The Deccan is one of the great geopolitical regions of India, but its history in the early medieval period is unknown to many. In his new book, Lords of the Deccan, Anirudh Kanisetti uses critical scholarship and a range of art historical and archaeological sources to show that the Chalukya and Rashtrakuta dynasties of the Deccan had a profound impact on shaping the history of the subcontinent.
In this talk, Anirudh discusses how the Deccan innovated in the fields of culture, art, language, and trade, and how it influenced the trajectories of many modern Indian states.
About the Speaker:
Anirudh Kanisetti is the author of Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas, a new history of medieval South India. He works at the Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru, and writes the Thinking Medieval column for The Print. His work focuses on exploring the history of South India through new forms of media and has been featured in The Hindu, The New Indian Express, and Scroll.in among others.
Demon As Devotee: A Universe of Detail in Hoysala Sculpture. Dr Parul Pandya Dhar. March 5, 2022
Hoysala sculptors are justly famous for the imaginative intricacy of their carvings. For instance, in the sculptures portraying ‘Ravana’s attempt to lift the mountain-abode of Shiva' at Belur and Halebidu, the sculptors have artfully concealed an entire universe of detail.
By embellishing their compositions with a microcosm of significant sub-themes within the larger narrative frame, they have created a template that goes well beyond textual narrations of the divine-demonic encounter.
In her illustrated talk, “Demon as Devotee: A Universe of Detail in Hoysala Sculpture, Dr. Parul Pandya Dhar identifies and interprets the complex textures of meaning that such a visualisation yields.
About the Speaker:
Parul Pandya Dhar is a Professor in the Department of History, University of Delhi. Her work engages with Indian art and architecture, art historiography, and connected histories of South and Southeast Asia. She has authored The Toraṇa in Indian and Southeast Asian Architecture (2010), edited The Multivalence of an Epic: Retelling the Ramayana in South India and Southeast Asia (2021) and Indian Art History: Changing Perspectives (2011), and co-edited Temple Architecture and Imagery of South and Southeast Asia (2016), Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories (2014), and Cultural Interface of India with Asia (2004), besides contributing several research articles. She is currently writing on issues relating to connected histories of art across the Indian ocean and the arts of early medieval Deccan.
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