Vakataka Gupta Age Circa 200 550

Many text on music dance and drama continued to be written in different parts of India until the 17th century. Between the 12th and the 16th century regional styles emerged. Medieval texts have been discovered in all parts. One amongst these is the Srihastamuktavali belonging to the eastern tradition.

The beautiful rock-cut Siva temple on Elephanta Island in Bombay Harbor is one of the finest monuments of Indian religion and art. Until now, interpretation of its magnificent sculptured scenes has been neglected. In this book, Collins systematically surveys the pertinent Vedic, Epic, and early Puranic literature as well as the contributions of India's foremost poet and dramatist, Kalidasa, to reveal sources for and interpretations of the subjects of the relief sculptures. This survey shows strong associations with areas formerly controlled by the classical Gupta dynasty in northern India. This book provides the first detailing of this link, intimated by others before, which helps to explain the grandeur of style found in the colossal reliefs. By applying certain aspects of ritual texts of the Lakulisa-Pasupata, the sect that probably used Elephanta originally, exceptional clarity is revealed for the worship of the sculptures in a counterclockwise sequence, quite unusual in India, but appropriate to this particular sect. Lakulisa-Pasupata texts are invoked in Collins' theory of how the cave-temple at Elephanta was used. This area of investigation has been virtually untouched by other scholars for any early Hindu shrine in India.

Includes section "Reviews and notices of books".

INDIA DECODED is a comprehensive commentary on the history of India from the point of view of an emerging new model of historical exploration which is based on the theory of civilization cycles. This work deals with the story of man in the subcontinent from the very beginning of his existence to our own time. The original sub-continental civilization, which today stands fragmented as the territorial states of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, is considered as a single unit with recurring ups and downs in order to understand its history in the right spirit. This work which critically analyzes various events, ideas and institutions of the great landmass in the past reassures that a new historical vision can enable the fractured polities of the subcontinent to stand together once again as a great civilization in the future.