The intention of this book is to explore, through photographs
and illustrations, the architectural spaces that were conceived to transcend
space and time. Historians have traced their origins as also the rulers who
helped build them while photographers have presented them in beautiful imagery.
It was necessary, however, to understand the architectural nuances of these
fine monuments, and the quality of light and space the designers were trying to
achieve. It was also the discovery of James Fergusson’s original version of
Illustrations of the Rock-cut Temples of India, published in 1845 when he and
his team had to travel around the subcontinent without the railways, proper
places to stay, or even medical help. He captured in his lithographs the
essence of such architecture and maintains that there is an expression of
grandeur, and of quasi eternity, in a temple cut in the rock, which is far
greater than can be produced by any structural building of the same dimensions.
In Cosmic Dance in Stone, there is an attempt to rediscover
the quest for eternity and the relationship with the cosmos through the
creation of stone structures that give a glimpse of a world beyond this one.
The designers, artists, and craftsmen of a bygone age manifested qualities in a
building that are rarely seen today.
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