The Indian Temple: Production, Place and Patronage

从7世纪到13世纪，寺庙占据了印度的风景线。寺庙受到国王的保护，并得到捐赠的广泛支持，是宗教生活、社会经济权力和艺术生产的中心。探索这一重要现象的主要团队成员是亚当·哈代博士(加的夫大学威尔士建筑学院)。Oaud Ali博士(东方和非洲研究学院)和Michael Willis博士(大英博物馆)。在印度历史和文化方面建立起来的专家团队正在解决以下问题：(1)寺庙是如何设计和建造的？(2)国王作为建筑和梵文字母的赞助人的角色是什么？(3)寺庙在中世纪社会的社会和政治角色是什么？我们的目标是实现对这些问题的综合理解，从而建立该领域跨学科研究的新模式。这种跨学科的方法将建筑史与中世纪的赞助和宗教机构在中世纪国家中的作用研究结合在一起。在印度的背景下，这些问题没有得到充分的审查。它们之间的相互关系还没有被探索，中世纪印度的建筑、政治和宗教历史长期以来一直被分割开来。这个项目是专门为弥合学科分歧而组织的，其组织结构吸引了来自不同领域和机构背景的团队成员。该项目的核心是博伊普尔的寺庙。印度中部的一座巨大的建筑，在11世纪未完工。它与印度最著名的君主之一博贾国王有关。寺庙周围是采石场，上面有岩画和未完工的建筑部分，这是一个独特的幸存者，为人们提供了对中世纪设计和施工过程的洞察。亚当·哈代正在探索这些过程。这座未完工的寺庙的建造者是博贾国王，他是一位著名的博学者，创作了关于艺术、哲学、瑜伽和诗学的重要著作。Daud Ali正在研究Bhoja的文学作品，他赞助艺术的动机，以及他作为理想国王的后中世纪声誉。这一时期的寺庙接受土地和其他收入作为捐赠。迈克尔·威利斯正在研究梵文铭文记载的寺庙及其捐赠的地理分布，揭示了寺庙在中世纪国家社会和经济中的地位。每个团队成员都在准备一本关于他各自主题的专著，这些研究按主题相互关联并作为一套出版。作为补充，印度合作者将出版关于中世纪印度中部农业制度和该地区女神谎言的专著。加的夫大学和美国国家航空航天局的研究助理将加入这个团队。卡迪夫博物馆将制作一份大英博物馆收藏的中世纪雕塑目录，供在线出版。SOAS RA将编辑和翻译Bhoja国王的建筑论文，也将用于在线出版。所有电子产出将通过项目网站传播。加的夫的一名博士生将研究11世纪的寺庙建筑。虽然这个项目被仔细地聚焦，但它的材料是作为一个整体研究中世纪印度的典范。一个互动的研讨会将探讨这一点的理论含义，探索中世纪印度和欧洲之间的相似之处。通过对传统设计原则的分析，该项目将有助于继续在南亚及其侨民中寻找适合文化的建筑。通过对中世纪寺庙的社会和政治背景的分析，该项目将有助于反对将寺庙作为理想化的和不具历史意义的印度教历史的象征的预测。

Temples dominated the landscape of India between the 7th and 13th centuries. Protected by kings and widely supported by endowments, temples were centres of religious life, socio-economic power and artistic production. The main team members exploring this important phenomenon are Dr Adam Hardy (The Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University). Dr Oaud Ali (School of Oriental and African Studies) and Dr Michael Willis (The British Museum).Established experts in aspects of Indian history and culture, the team are addressing the following questions: (1) How were temples designed and built? (2) What was the king's role as a patron of architecture and Sanskrit letters? (3) What was the social and political role of temples in medieval society? Our objective is to achieve an integrated understanding of these questions, establishing thereby a new model of interdisciplinary research in the field. The interdisciplinary approach combines architectural history with a study of medieval patronage and the role of religious institutions in the medieval state. These issues have not been adequately examined in the Indian setting. The interrelationships between them have not been explored, the architectural, political and religious histories of medieval India having long been compartmentalised. This project has been organised specifically to bridge disciplinary divides, with an organisational structure drawing team members from different fields and institutional backgrounds. The project centre-piece is the temple at Bhojpur. a massive structure in central India, left unfinished in the 11th century. It is associated with King Bhoja, one of India's most notable monarchs. Around the temple are quarries with rock drawings and unfinished architectural parts, a unique survival providing insights into medieval processes of design and construction. Adam Hardy is exploring these processes. The builder of the unfinished temple was King Bhoja, a renowned polymath who composed important works on art, philosophy, yoga and poetics. Daud Ali is examining Bhoja's literary output, his motivation for patronising the arts and his post-medieval reputation as an ideal king. Temples of this period received land and other revenue as endowments. Michael Willis is studying the geographical distribution of temples and their endowments, as documented by Sanskrit inscriptions, shedding light on the place of the temple in the society and economy of the medieval state. Each team member is preparing a monograph on his respective topic, the studies being thematically interlinked and published as a set. These will be complemented by monographs by collaborators in India on the agrarian systems of central India during the medieval period, and on the goddess lies of the region. The team will be joined by research assistants attached to Cardiff University and SOAS. The Cardiff RA will produce a catalogue e British Museum's medieval sculpture collection for online publication. The SOAS RA will edit and translate King Bhoja's treatise on architecture, also for online publication. All electronic outputs will be disseminated through the project website. A PhD student at Cardiff will research 11th century temple architecture. While the project is carefully focused, its material is paradigmatic for the study of medieval India as a whole. An interactional seminar will address the theoretical implications of this, exploring parallels between India and Europe in medieval times. The proceedings will be published online.Through its analysis of traditional design principles, the project will contribute to the continuing search for culturally appropriate architectures in South Asia and its diasporas. Through its analysis of the social and political context of medieval temples, the project will help to counter projections of the temple as a symbol of an idealised and ahistorical Hindu past.