ARTS 344A: Hindu Temples: Architecture and Sculpture, Architecture as Sculpture (Spring '16)

From rock-cut halls carved into cliffs to elaborately ornamented constructions with multiple interior spaces, the buildings that have housed worship of the Goddess Shiva, Vishnu, and other deities of the Hindu pantheon honor the ideals of the divine palace and of the silent caves embedded in a mountain. This course explores what characteristics the wide range of Hindu temples share, how they vary from one region to another, and how they changed from the 3rd century BCE to 12th century CE. What do they share with structures for Buddhist, Jaina, and Muslim worship? How did ritual shape buildings and sculpture, and can we reconstruct ritual from material remains?