About Book
Tejas: 1500 Years of Indian Art follows the development of sculpture in
bronze, stone and terracotta from the 3rd century BCE to the 12th century BCE.
It is illustrated with a selection of nearly 200 of the world's most beautiful
sculptures from the collections of Indian Museums and Archaeological Survey of India.
The book opens on motifs and symbols of water cosmology, the old gods and avatars. It moves into the making of shrines and temples, there underlying symbology, and the making community. The many meanings of Tejas further reflect in the images of Jainism, Buddhism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and ultimately of Surya, the sun.
About Author
Jan Van Alpen
Belgian Indologist, graduate of Ghent University,1976. Post-graduated in Mumbai on 'Natya Shastra'.
He teaches Indian Art at the India Study Centre of the University of Antwerp and at the Royal Academy of fine Arts.
Some of his accompanying catalogues have become much appreciated works, such as Oriental Medicine in 1995(published in 7 languages), Steps to Liberation, 2500 years of Jain Art and Religion in 2000, Buddhist sculpture from the Grottoes of Longmen, China in 2001 and Cast for Eternity, Indian and Tibetan Bronzes in 2005.
Ranesh Ray
Consultant on architecture, design and conservation, and presently a Member of the Indian Goverment Central Advisory Board for Culture, Ray has curated and designed major international and national exhibitions and museums for the Goverment of India and Trusts on subjects such as concept of space in traditional pre-industrial societies, Tibetan Buddhist religious art, craft and craft movements, tribal communities, art-including retrospectives of senior contemporary artists - and eminent personalities.