Description
Om Publications Orissa The Pleasure Garden Of Kamadeva Gods Rsis And Kings by Donaldson, Thomas
India is an ancient culture replete with mythological folklore and its depiction in sculptural art on the walls of temples down South. Images of love-making including the figures of kama, the god of love and Siva and Parvati, the eternal couple dominate the iconography and decorative patterns on the walls of Orissan temples. Drawing material from several ancient epics and scriptures, Donaldson goes into the lives and loves of Kama in detail, eaxplaining his origin his amatory dallianceas and above all his frolics as the god with arrows. The life of Siva after he married Parvati afear having lost to her in dice and his leasing Parvati about her 'dark'complexion. The Orientalist will savour the passages detailing Tantric rituals and praces. The last chapter is devoted to a graphics account of the imageary of these eroti proclivities in Orissan sculpture. The plates and photographs given at gthe back of the book are particularly delightful. The succulent and erudite sstyle coursing throughout the book makes it intensively worthy of perusal. About the Author: Thomas Donaldson (b.1933) is a senior academician and a scholar of note. His qualifications for pronouncing on the subject of Art and History are impeccable. He is working as a professor in Cleveland State University in the Art Department after having served as an Instructor of Art History in the University of North Dakota. Grand Forks. A savant man of letters, he has several articles in reputed journals.