HISTORY AND HERITAGE: THE AFTERLIFE OF MONUMENTS

Curated by Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Stones and Texts: Playing Dice with the Matrmandala

Speaker: Dr. Tara Sheemar Malhan, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi

Chair: Prof. Neeru Misra, Academic Advisor, B.L. Institute of Indology, Delhi

The commonality among the Indic expressive traditions like painting, sculpture, literature and dance is known to be rooted in the theory of Sanskrit aesthetics. The narratives of the 11th century ‘meta-text’, the Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, invest the physical decoration of the temples with life and these are further closely entwined with the characters. The speaker will trace some of the stories of the Kathasaritsagara which refers to sculptures in particular wats and connect this with certain examples derived from various early medieval spatial contexts as possible material correlates of the narrative descriptions