Contemporary life of India : Part 3

It is impossible to know India without understanding its religious beliefs, living and    practices, which have a large impact on the personal lives of most Indians and influence public life on a daily basis. Indian religions have deep historical roots that are recollected by contemporary Indians.

Aspiring models pose for the camera.

Many urban teenagers in India get

portfolio photos taken in hopes of a career

in modeling, a very lucrative profession in

India.

In Uttar Pradesh, a roadside

vendor displays a variety of salted savories.

Contemporary life of India : Part 2

It is impossible to know India without understanding its religious beliefs, living and    practices, which have a large impact on the personal lives of most Indians and influence public life on a daily basis. Indian religions have deep historical roots that are recollected by contemporary Indians.

At a roadside bazaar in Jaipur, framed

images of popular Hindu gods. Thousands of

such prints are sold throughout India each

year for less than U.S. $1 each.

The rickshaw remains the

cheapest mode of transport in India and may

be observed just about everywhere, from congested

city streets as here to dusty country

roads.

The rickshaw remains the

cheapest mode of transport in India and may

be observed just about everywhere, from congested

city streets as here to dusty country

roads.

Contemporary life of India : Part 1

It is impossible to know India without understanding its religious beliefs, living and    practices, which have a large impact on the personal lives of most Indians and influence public life on a daily basis. Indian religions have deep historical roots that are recollected by contemporary Indians.

Modern-day sadhu (ascetic), wearing only

beads with his face caked in ash, raises his

hand in blessing to the unknown photographer.

According to Hindu mythology, his

beads, or rudraksh, have medicinal powers.

In Calcutta, now known as Kolkata,

the Victoria Museum. Built at the behest

of Lord George Curzon (one of the

British Raj’s most flamboyant and much

derided viceroys) and of marble from the

same quarry that had supplied the builders

of the Taj Mahal in the seventeenth century.

Throughout India’s

numerous and varied states, images of the

old and the new constantly converge.

On a crowded city

street, the multitude of life that is India.

 

Art, Architecture & Sculpture Of India : Part 7

Divinity, mysticism, innovation and magnificence are the best ways to define Indian Art , Architecture & Sculpture.

Mud homes in Jodhpur, Rajasthan,

their resonating blue walls the result of a

traditional paint mixture of lime and indigo.

The imposing

Gwalior Fort, Madhya Pradesh. Built in

the eighth century and stretching for

almost 2 miles, the fort encloses within its

high walls a series of palaces and temples

with stone carving and lattice screens in

the Rajput style.

Situated on the

south bank of the Tungabhadra River in

Karnataka—Hampi, the capital of the

Vijayanagar Empire that reached its

zenith in the sixteenth century. The core

of the city was fortified and separated

from its sacred center by an irrigated valley

through which ancient canals and

waterways still run.

Art, Architecture & Sculpture Of India : Part 6

Divinity, mysticism, innovation and magnificence are the best ways to define Indian Art , Architecture & Sculpture.

Recently constructed home of

Ericsson in Gurgaon, Haryana. With its

sleek surfaces, a symbol of India’s bright economic

future.

The fifteenth-century Adinath

Temple, part of the Ranakpur complex and

one of the five most important holy places of

the Jain faith. Located in the Aravali Hills in

the Rajasamand district of Rajasthan, the

temple is constructed of white marble, boasting

some 1,444 pillars, each carved with a

different floral motif.

Art, Architecture & Sculpture Of India : Part 5

Divinity, mysticism, innovation and magnificence are the best ways to define Indian Art , Architecture & Sculpture.

Dating to 1799, the red façade of the

Hawa Mahal (“Palace of the Winds”) in

Jaipur, Rajasthan. Behind the screens of its

balconies, a veiled harem would have

observed the activities on the street below.

Transformed into a major trading

center and gateway in the nineteenth

century, Bombay, now known as Mumbai.

With a skyline merged of stately Victorian

architecture and sleek skyscrapers—symbols

of India’s colonial past and present-day burgeoning

economy—it remains the nation’s

most dynamic city.

Close-up of the Kadal Alagar,

temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, to which

followers of Vishnu continue to flock.

Madurai is one of the oldest cities in South

India (about 2,000 to 2,500 years old), and

although no historical evidence yet exists to

support the claim, it is believed that this

temple dates to the same period.

Art, Architecture & Sculpture Of India : Part 4

Divinity, mysticism, innovation and magnificence are the best ways to define Indian Art , Architecture & Sculpture.

 

 

With twin minarets framing its central

arch, the Jamid Masjid in Delhi welcomes

Muslims for Friday prayers. India’s largest

mosque (the legacy of Emperor Shah Jahan

from 1656) features a courtyard that can

accommodate up to twenty thousand worshipers.

Beyond these calm waters sits

the Golden Temple, spiritual home of the

Sikh religion in Amritsar, Punjab.

Punctuated by a lotus-shaped dome, it is a

unique blend of Islamic and Hindu architectural

styles, erected between 1589 and 1601.

Art, Architecture & Sculpture Of India : Part 3

Divinity, mysticism, innovation and magnificence are the best ways to define Indian Art , Architecture & Sculpture.

 

Close up view of a stucco figure in the

Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

The figures represent deities from Hindu

mythology and are sculpted onto the towering

gateways (called gopura) of the temple.

 

Site of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

Built by the Pandyas between the seventh and

tenth centuries,the temple complex is enclosed

within high walls beyond four gateways (like the

one shown here) with distinctly ornate stucco detailing.

 

Art, Architecture & Sculpture Of India : Part 2

Divinity, mysticism, innovation and magnificence are the best ways to define Indian Art , Architecture & Sculpture.


  

In Rajasthan, vibrant colors and patterns

come together seamlessly, as the

façade of this home in Jaipur attests.

In Jaipur, Rajasthan, site of the Jantar Mantar, one of five monolithic observatories constructed at the behest of Sawai Jai Singh between 1728 and 1734. Within this sculptural setting, some of the observatory’s original weather-forecasting instruments remain in use.

Constructed in 1784

as part of a famine relief project, in an

effort to foster employment, the perfectly

symmetrical exterior of the Bara Imambara

ceremonial hall. Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

   

Art, Architecture & Sculpture of India : Part 1

Divinity, mysticism, innovation and magnificence are the best ways to define Indian Art , Architecture & Sculpture.

Serene Maitreya (“Future Buddha”), a contemporary

idol once consecrated by the Dalai

Lama. In the fifteenth-century Thikse

Monastery near Leh, the capital of Ladakh.

  

Illuminated manuscript, c. eighteenth

century, of the Gita Govinda, India’s last

great devotional text. Written in Sanskrit as

an allegorical lyric poem six centuries earlier,

it describes through the recounting of

Krishna and Radha’s love the union of a

human soul with God. In the Maharaja

Sawai Man Singh II Museum, also known as

the City Palace Museum, in Jaipur,Rajasthan.

The majestic white marble carvings

of Dilwara, a Jain temple built on the

order of Vimala Shah, trusted adviser to

Gujarat’s kings, in 1031.

  

  


With the Himalaya Mountains

beckoning in the distance, tourists file to and

from the Bhimkali palace and temple, in

Sarahan, Himachal Pradesh. A monument to

India’s Rampur Bushahr rulers, the stone and

timber complex’s exact date of construction

is unknown, but its age has been estimated at

eight hundred years.