Constructing Kanchi : City of Infinite Temples.

This book traces the emergence of the South Indian city of Kanchi as a major royal capital and multireligious pilgrimage destination during the era of the Pallava and Chola dynasties (circa seventh through thirteenth centuries). It presents the first-ever comprehensive picture of historical Kanchi, locating the city and its more than 100 spectacular Hindu temples at the heart of commercial and artistic exchange that spanned India, Southeast Asia, and China. The author demonstrates that Kanchi was structured with a hidden urban plan, which determined the placement and orientation of temples around a central thoroughfare that was also a burgeoning pilgrimage route. Moving outwards from the city, she shows how the transportation networks, river systems, residential enclaves, and agrarian estates all contributed to the vibrancy of Kanchi?s temple life. The construction and ongoing renovation of temples in and around the city, she concludes, has enabled Kanchi to thrive continuously from at least the eighth century, through the colonial period, and up until the present.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Illustrations -- Introduction -- All Streets Lead to Temples -- An Ancient City -- Layers of Time -- Kanchi Known and Unknown -- 1 Sandstone and the City -- Building Pallava-Kanchi (circa seventh through ninth century) -- From Brick to Stone (the Seventh Century) -- Sandstone Temples in the City (the Eighth Century) -- The Temples of Pallava-Kanchi -- Everywhere but Kanchi (the Ninth Century) -- Conclusion: Foundations Laid -- 2 Realignment -- Kanchi in the Chola Era (circa tenth through thirteenth century)

Orienting the Gods -- Pilgrimage and Processions -- From Ancient Village to Temple Town -- Local Style -- Conclusion: Urban Logic -- 3 The City and its Ports -- Part 1: KṢETRA -- The River Networks -- Over the Hills -- The Coast -- Part II: KṢATRA -- Kanchi in a Buddhist World -- The City and its Mirrors -- Conclusion: From Kanchi to the Sea -- 4 Kanchi Under Colonialism -- What Happened in Kanchi while those Towering Gateways Arose? -- Embattled Territory -- William Daniell's Most Considerable Temple -- James Wathen's Soaring View -- Henrietta Clive's 'Hindoo Gods and Monsters'

Colonel Colin Mackenzie's Search for the Jains -- Surgeon George Russell Dartnell -- James Fergusson's Downward Spiral -- Prince Alexis Soltykoff's 'City of Infinite Temples' -- Conclusion: Plastered Pasts -- Epilogue -- The Living Temple -- Encounter -- Expansion -- Continuation -- Bibliography -- Abbreviations -- Primary Sources -- Epigraphic and Archaeological Sources -- Secondary Sources -- Index -- List of Illustrations -- Illustration 1 Ekāmbaranātha Temple and Sannathi Street, Kanchi, seventh century -- the present

Illustration 2 Map of Kanchi Temples (map by Emma Natalya Stein and Daniel Cole, Smithsonian Institution) -- Illustration 3 Kailāsanātha Temple, Kanchi, circa 700-725 CE -- Illustration 4 Buddha, Kanchi Police Station, twelfth century -- Illustration 5 Sīteśvara Temple, Kanchi, tenth century -- Illustration 6 Festival at Kāmākṣī Ammaṉ Temple, Kanchi (July 2014) -- Illustration 7 Panel 4, Tāṉtōṉṟīśvara Temple, Kanchi, seventh century -- Illustration 8 Lakṣita cave-temple, Maṇṭakappaṭṭu, circa 580-630 CE -- Illustration 9 Brick shrine in quarry area, Ārpākkam

Illustration 10 Ekāmbaranātha Temple, Kanchi, Left to right: Roof of Kacci Mayāṉam shrine (tenth century), Pillared Hall (twentieth century), Gateway (seventeenth century), Vṛṣabheśvara Shrine (ninth century), Gateway (sixteenth century) -- Illustration 11 (Vṛṣabheśvara Shrine at far right) Archaeological Survey of India, A view of the tank from the east, Ekambreswaraswami Temple, Conjeevaram, 1897, photographic print, 21.1 × 25.6 cm, British Library, Photo1008/3(325) -- Illustration 12 Panel 1-4 (and see Illustration 7), Tāṉtōṉṟīśvara Temple, Kanchi, panels seventh century

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