RWFG
Cartographer
Reged: 01/20/07
Posts: 415
Loc: California, USA
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Hariti and her children. Greco-Gandharan sculpture, 300 AD.
Photo from Jennifer Gowan, U of Oregon
Few cultures have as long a history of their artistic expression as India and even fewer have shown a comparable resilience: Over five millenia India has successively absorbed the creative impulses of the Indus Valley Civilization, the Indo-European and Vedic tribes, of the Greeks who followed Alexander of Macedonia, Kushans, Parthians, Mongols, and.Turks and melded them into a syncretic artistic idiom which eventually even turned 400 years of Islamic influence into an thoroughly Indian product: When we think of India today it is the Taj Mahal and 1001-Nights that come to mind.
The Indian icon, the Taj Mahal in Agra, 17th cent.
Photo Wikipedia
An examination of the sculptural record of this development shows another pecularity of Indian art. In no other culture does the female play a comparable role: from the early Greek-Gandharan depictions of Hariti and the temples of Kajuraho to the Taj Mahal woman is celebratated with a sensous voluptuousness and an explicit power, that may well be the chief characteristics of Indian art - and its secret source of strength.
The western side of the Kandariya Mahadev Temple, Kajuraho, 1050 AD.
Photo by RWFG.
It was left to the British Victorians to turn this Indian exuberance into a narrow-minded Christian morality in exchange for economic success and a Western education. Cricket replaced the Kamasutra....
This post traces the development of Indian art and architecture across the subcontinent, shows their varied sources and the up and downs of their development. I primarily tried to present pictoral evidence and avoid loaded arguments about Aryan vs. Dravidian styles or the non-identity of Indus, Harappan and Vedic cultures. I also tried to find dates for all objects, buildings and periods - which is not the greatest strength of Indian archeology and art history.
Edited by RWFG (09/01/08 11:52 AM)
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bebop
Master Guide
Reged: 08/11/05
Posts: 2555
Loc: Florence, Ita
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Hi RWFG 
Impressive work!
Five globes from me and a permanent place on my HDD. 
Thanks for sharing.
Bye
b
EDIT:
Quote:
It is even further removed from your beloved, restrained Florentine Renaissance than the Islamic post.
Rolf,
you are mentioning three (this post included) brilliant examples of an excellent, informative and educative use of Google Earth.
I tried to push my nephew to learn something with your Frescoes and Painters of Tuscany but he seems to be somehow allergic to English language. 
Ah, lazy youngster... 
All the best
b
Edited by bebop (05/14/08 10:45 AM)
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RWFG
Cartographer
Reged: 01/20/07
Posts: 415
Loc: California, USA
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Thank you B for the compliments and the globes (which I now realize do make a difference!) . But I am more honored and intrigued that you downloaded this post to a favourite place on your computer. It is even further removed from your beloved, restrained Florentine Renaissance than the Islamic post. I'll have to think about that.
Greetings
Rolf
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Noisette
Master Guide
Reged: 01/14/06
Posts: 5975
Loc: Belgium
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Another fascinating post Rolf. Clearly a lot of work, and with some beautiful photos, the ones from Nepal brought back some happy memmories
 from me too.
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Forum "Do"s and "Don't"s - How to add a placemark - How to use folders to group your placemarks - How to add paragraphs to your placemarks - How to add pictures to your placemarks and posts - How to make your post more interesting - Useful tools
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syzygy
Master Cartographer
Reged: 10/06/05
Posts: 1496
Loc: Hungary
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great work! detailed, informative, nice style!
let me thank you with 5s!
keep up the good work!
about the Scythian-Hun-Avar-Magyar ethno-linguistic continuity
you can read some related in the Hungarian Language - Magyar Nyelv thread.
cu,
g
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geveN
Cartographer
Reged: 03/08/07
Posts: 278
Loc: New Zealand
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I am very sorry to see some inaccuracy in this post; normally, it would not be nice to pick faults with such a very impressive post, but the inaccuracy I found is rather glaring for a Post that is in the moderated section.
The placemark, in Google Earth, over the Hawa Mahal at Jaipur is correct, with the correct header "Jaipur."
However, the subject matter in the placemark is a brief description of the Jaisalmer Bhatti dynasty founded by Rao Jaisal, and has nothing to do with the Jaipur princely state and dynasty. Links: history of Jaisalmer dynasty
Jaisalmer, some 485 kilometers to the west of Jaipur, was the capital of Jaisalmer princely state, with the Bhatti dynasty as rulers..................the Jaipur princely state was founded by Rao Dulha at Dausa in 1093, and the city of Jaipur by his descendant Sawai Maharaja Jai Singh II in 1727. Whilst Jaisalmer state had the Bhatti clan as rulers, the Jaipur state rulers were the Kachhawas.
lnks : Jaipur Princely State and history of Jaipur city
The Jaipur placemark is inadvertently mixed with Jaisalmer history, and needs to be corrected.
geveN
Edited by geveN (07/27/08 02:03 AM)
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RWFG
Cartographer
Reged: 01/20/07
Posts: 415
Loc: California, USA
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Post deleted by RWFG
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geveN
Cartographer
Reged: 03/08/07
Posts: 278
Loc: New Zealand
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Hi Rolf !!!!
Sorry if I sounded anything but calm, civilised and any of the better part of me......................
actually, I was just browsing and came accross your placemark and, wrongly assuming this was a part of an everyday-run -of -the -mill post, shot off the reply asking you to correct the error.
After I did this, on a hunch I said, lets see the whole post and, believe you me. I got so immersed in reading your bubbles/information..............you have done a marvelous superb superb job...........I thought I would rephrase my reply but it was by then 12 midnight here in NZ and thats a bit too much for me.........and I went to bed. This post is stupendous and huge and I was getting a lot of new information!!
This morning I read your reply and here I am.
You might not remember but in your post on Islamic Architecture, where your "leader/main" photo was the Sher Dar madressa in Samarkand, I had pointed out the irony that the builder of this Islamic madressa had used non-Islamic/Zoroastrian-mithraic images on the sides of the main arch!!! I am the same guy!!
Your bubble on Sassanids, being placed on the very eastern edge of that empire, and the dates upto 300 A.D. , should then have been titled as Indo-Sassanids ..........the "main" Sassanid dynasty, further west, ruled from 226 A.D. well upto 636 or 651 A.D. and in geo extent and lenght of rule exceeded the Seleucid empire which you have placemarked!!! Have you seen my post on the Sassanids?
The placemark on the Karla caves in maharashtra, west of Pune, should be a few kilometers west, but the area is, in any case, in low res.
I will try and get you the photo/image on the Khajuraho temple.
Sincerely,
Geve
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geveN
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RWFG
Cartographer
Reged: 01/20/07
Posts: 415
Loc: California, USA
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After updating this post, I lost its content file for several days. I apologize to all readers who downloaded an empty post.
The problem has now been corrected. Please try once more!
RWFG
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Santosh_K_Rao
First Post
Reged: 08/16/08
Posts: 1
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The site Mundaragi [15º 13.169'N 75º 53.911'] is mentioned as a historical place. I am unable to find any further information on it.
Can you or anyone help me.
There is information on Lakundi [32km NW of Mundaragi], but none on Mundaragi.
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