The Bhumija, a classical style of Nagara temples sprouted and evolved in Malwa dur ing the Paramara period. Eminent scholars like Krishnadeva and Stella Kramrisch have thoroughly studied this style and opined it a native temple style of Malwa Region. The Paramara rulers of Malwa in general and Vakpati Mufij , Bhoja and Udayaditya in particular, scholarly patronised the cultural activities in their vast dominion. Their many sided and many splendored genius appeared in the form of beautiful temples and exquisite sculptures. In such a way, they have left be hind the everlasting (aksunna) art-traditions and engraved the history of aesthetics on the imperishable rock of time. Though the architecture of these temples has extensively been studied by the scholars, its exquisite sculptures delineating social, re ligious and cultural life of the people of Medieval Malwa have not received due attention so far. This attempt of Dr. S.K. Dwivedi fulfils the necessity felt by the scholars and throws light on the socio-cultural aspect exhaustively. The social, religious and secular scenes, costumes, coiffure and ornaments depicted in the sculptures have been studied in detail with ample illustrations. The temples of Bhumija Style found in Malwa region have also been introduced in this context. This book provides a true picture of social and cultural life of Malwa during the Paramara period.
Born in 1958, at village Barara Buzurg, district Raibareli, U.P., Dr. S.K. Dwivedi had his early education at his village itself. He holds an M.A. in Ancient Indian History and Archaeology from Lucknow University, a P.G. Diploma in Museology and a Doctorate from Bhopal University. From 1981-85 he was with the Birla Museum and Prachya Niketan-Centre of Ad vance Studies in Indology and Museology, at Bhopal. Thereafter he joined the Department of Ancient Indian History Culture and Ar chaeology, R.D. University, Jabalpur M.P. He is involved in Post Graduate teaching since 1983. His fields of interest are Art-His tory, Epigraphy, Archaeology and Museol ogy. He has also participated in archaeol ogical excavations (Gilaulikheda and Kakrah ta (M.P.). In an exploration programme of Durg district area (M.P.), approved by the A.S.I., he is associated as a co-Director. Dr. Dwivedi, has to his credit about a dozen research articles. He has also attended national and international seminars. Dr. S.K. Dwivedi, is presently serving the Indira Kala Sangit Vishwavidyalaya, Khaira garh, M.P. the only University of our country devoted to Fine-Arts and Music
The period of nearly six centuries that intervened between the death of Harṣa and shifting of the capital by the Gurjara Pratiharas from Avanti to Kanyakubja (Kanauj) is one of the most eventful epochs in the history of Northern India. Upendra the Malwa Vassal of Rashtrakuta Govinda III laid the foundation of the Paramara dynasty in Malwa around first quarter of the ninth century A.D.
The Paramaras of Malwa became one of the most powerful Rajput rulers of North India. They built up an extensive empire and continued their sovereignty for more than three centuries. The exploits of the great rulers like Vakpati Munja, Udayaditya and Bhoja are well known. They patronised art and culture and introduced a new mode of temple architec ture known as the bhumija. Numerous temple remains of the Bhumija-style are scattered all over their extensive dominion which are witness of their love towards Art and Culture. Similarly, the sculptural art received liberal patronisation. The sculptures of gods, goddesses, demigods and common people were profusely carved at public places and temples. No serious attempt has been made, so far, to study the life depiction in the sculptures of the Paramara period with special reference to the Bhumija temples. Though efforts have been made earlier to study the history of the Paramaras yet they have mainly centred round the political aspect. Thus the cultural aspect remained untouched till now. It was C.E. Luard and K.K. Lele who for the first time presented a book entitled "The Paramaras of Dhara and Malwa." Later on it was followed by the writings of other scholars in the form of political history, like "The Paramaras" by P. Bhatia and "History of Paramara Dynasty" by D.C. Ganguli. Various scholars have contributed significantly in bringing out research papers on various aspects of the art of the Paramaras of Malwa but no comprehensive work has been published till now which may project a complete picture of the social and cultural life of the people of Malwa during the Paramara period. Looking to the importance of this dynasty and the large number of its inscriptions found from various parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Archaeological Survey of India has published one volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum devoted to the Paramara rulers (Vol. VII, Part II). The Volume edited by H.V. Trivedi was published in 1980. Giving an account of the Paramara inscriptions, this volume has attempted to touch some facets of the social life of the people of contemporary Malwa. Besides, Iconographic study of the Paramāra Saiva and Sakta sculp tures preserved in the Central Museum, Indore has been taken up by R.S. Garg, but this work has a limited scope. With a view to fill up this gap a seminar on "Art of the Paramaras of Malwa" was convened at Prachya Niketan, Bhopal, in 1978 by Prof. R.K. Sharma, now Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, R.D. University, Jabalpur. The proceedings are now published in a book form. Among many papers presented in the Seminar the one by Prof. K.D. Bajpai emphasised upon making a thorough study of the Paramara sculptures in the Socio- religious background. This orig inal idea was supported by Shri Krishna Deva and many other participants. This was the source of inspiration for the author of the present work to undertake this project.
For privacy concerns, please view our Privacy Policy
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist