The region watered by the Saraswati and Drishadwati rivers in the past yore now occupied by the Haryana State, has been a geographical and cultural entity of undivided Punjab.
This book "Early Medieval Art of Haryana A Study" presents, for the first time, an exhaustive study of the region. It contains the rarest sculptures (study) housed in the Deptt. of Archaeology and Museum, Haryana and author's own findings in Haryana province. It has added to value of the book since they have been brought to light for the first time in the history of the period.
The book provides a study of the art style, forms, art-centres, iconographic, details and the role of Haryana in the field of art activities during the early medieval period in relation with the Indian-sub-continent. It covers the theme, content and iconographic development of religious and secular icons and gives an assessment of the art of the early medieval Haryana. It is an original and significant contribution in the field of early medieval art of Haryana. This book is invaluable for the students, scholars and teachers.
A detailed survey of the sources of the material, make a rich contribution to the study of early medieval art of Haryana.
Dr. Chander Pal Singh was born on 16-04-1950 at Village Bapora, Distt. Bhiwani (Haryana). After obtaining a position in order of merit in M.A. and M. Phil in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from the University of Kurukshetra, he commenced his professional Department career in the State of Archaeology and Museums, Haryana. He has actively participated in the archaeological excavations at Balu, Agroha, Banawali, Kunal etc. in Haryana. As an archaeologist he conducted archaeological survey of all the villages of Distt. Hissar, Fatehabad and Sirsa and maximum villages of Kurukshetra. During these archaeological explorations he brought to light a number of protohistorical and historical sites published in Indian Archaeology - A Review, 1980-81, 1983-84 and 1985-86. A notable protohistoric site at Kunal, Fatehabad, discovered by him, has won appreciation at the International level. He combines in himself the attributes of a field worker in Archaeology and also a researcher in art-history and culture. He obtained his post graduate diploma in Journalism from Bhartiya Vidhya Bhawan, Chandigarh in 1984 and Ph. D. from Kurukshetra University in 1990. He has to his credit a number of research paper in the Journals of National and International repute. He has documented all the stone sculptures and architectural members housed in the Zonal Museum, Hissar and Bhima Devi Museum, Pinjore. His forthcoming book 'Archaeological remains in Distt. Hissar' throws a flood of light on the newly discovered proto-historic and historical sites. Apart from an academist, he has been a sportsman of National level. At present he is working in the Deptt. of Archaeology and Museum, Haryana.
The study of art on a regional basis remains a desideratum for the determination of local stylistic trends as well as their artistic value. In order to bring out the significance and development of the art and iconic forms in the Haryana in the early-medieval period, a study as such was needed. As the art (sculptural, terracotta and other Fine Arts) in question are as numerous as their iconic representations, an all inclusive study would result in a dissertation of enormous size. Consequently, for the purpose of the present thesis we have limited ourselves to the sculptural art and architectural remains in the Haryana belonging to the early-medieval period (8th to 12th century A.D.)
Furthermore, this work is undertaken with an aim at a detailed and systematic study of the Early Medieval art of Haryana, both religious and secular. While selecting the topic of the present study, I was mainly fascinated by numerous stone sculptures housed in the State Museum of Haryana Archaeology, where I am serving. Besides these sculptures some art pieces were already noticed by the researcher during the course of village to village archaeological survey of the region. It was observed that very limited work has so far been done in this field in the Haryana and so an endeavour with a view of detailed study on the subject might bring various facts of art to the light.
The present work is treated in three folds study historical, iconographical and stylistic trends in the art and architectural pieces available in different museums and other places. The material owned for the study of the topic is based mainly on explorations, literary records, previous works done by different scholars on the subject, published in journals, catalogues and books, etc.
The present Haryana as an independent state was bifurcated from Panjab on the 1st November, 1966. Geographically, the boundaries of Haryana may be demarcated as the Sivalik hills and river Ghaggar in the north, the river Yamuna in the east, the outcrops of Aravali hills and a part of the Thar desert of Rajasthan in the south and the Thar desert and the river Ghaggar in the west-north, i.e. at longitude 74 30' to 77° 34' and latitude 27° 36' to 30° to 55'. At present, administratively the state consists of ninteen districts i.e. Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Panipat, Punchkula, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonepat, and Yamunanagar.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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