| Temples & Legends Of Kerala |
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| Temples & Legends Of India |
INTRODUCTION |
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in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal are major efforts being made to restore and conserve
wooden architecture. In Kerala, the medieval environment of temples in wood, stone, and
tile is still alive, as in Nepal, and this situation is important to the history of art in
India. "It has already been remarked that the geometric impact of Kerala temple structures, particularly their roofs, is unique. Other buildings in India make strongly geometrical visual statements - Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya, Lad Khan at Aihole, the tower of Rajarajeshwara at Tanjore-but nowhere else is the structure so straightforward and abbreviated as in Kerala. It is as if the temple iti Kerala has been distilled to its purest ingredients. "And so the temples of Kerala, gently
harmonizing with lushly forested settings, earthy in materials and scale, seem to grow
naturally from the environment. A family of Hindu gods has been adopted into their new and
gentle world, and the family has grown and matured into Numerous now personalities,
Similarly Kerala's own artistic identity hasdeveloped and modified through thousands of
years; it is not compromised but enriched by contact with the traditions of the sub -
continent as a whole.
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About Introduction |
