The Indian Temple: Production, Place and Patronage

Temples dominated the landscape of India between the 7th and 13th centuries. Protected by kings and widely supported by endowments, temples were centres of religious life, socio-economic power and artistic production. The main team members exploring this important phenomenon are Dr Adam Hardy (The Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University). Dr Oaud Ali (School of Oriental and African Studies) and Dr Michael Willis (The British Museum).
Established experts in aspects of Indian history and culture, the team are addressing the following questions: (1) How were temples designed and built? (2) What was the king's role as a patron of architecture and Sanskrit letters? (3) What was the social and political role of temples in medieval society? Our objective is to achieve an integrated understanding of these questions, establishing thereby a new model of interdisciplinary research in the field.
The interdisciplinary approach combines architectural history with a study of medieval patronage and the role of religious institutions in the medieval state. These issues have not been adequately examined in the Indian setting. The interrelationships between them have not been explored, the architectural, political and religious histories of medieval India having long been compartmentalised. This project has been organised specifically to bridge disciplinary divides, with an organisational structure drawing team members from different fields and institutional backgrounds.
The project centre-piece is the temple at Bhojpur. a massive structure in central India, left unfinished in the 11th century. It is associated with King Bhoja, one of India's most notable monarchs. Around the temple are quarries with rock drawings and unfinished architectural parts, a unique survival providing insights into medieval processes of design and construction. Adam Hardy is exploring these processes. The builder of the unfinished temple was King Bhoja, a renowned polymath who composed important works on art, philosophy, yoga and poetics. Daud Ali is examining Bhoja's literary output, his motivation for patronising the arts and his post-medieval reputation as an ideal king. Temples of this period received land and other revenue as endowments. Michael Willis is studying the geographical distribution of temples and their endowments, as documented by Sanskrit inscriptions, shedding light on the place of the temple in the society and economy of the medieval state.
Each team member is preparing a monograph on his respective topic, the studies being thematically interlinked and published as a set. These will be complemented by monographs by collaborators in India on the agrarian systems of central India during the medieval period, and on the goddess lies of the region. The team will be joined by research assistants attached to Cardiff University and SOAS. The Cardiff RA will produce a catalogue e British Museum's medieval sculpture collection for online publication. The SOAS RA will edit and translate King Bhoja's treatise on architecture, also for online publication. All electronic outputs will be disseminated through the project website. A PhD student at Cardiff will research 11th century temple architecture.
While the project is carefully focused, its material is paradigmatic for the study of medieval India as a whole. An interactional seminar will address the theoretical implications of this, exploring parallels between India and Europe in medieval times. The proceedings will be published online.
Through its analysis of traditional design principles, the project will contribute to the continuing search for culturally appropriate architectures in South Asia and its diasporas. Through its analysis of the social and political context of medieval temples, the project will help to counter projections of the temple as a symbol of an idealised and ahistorical Hindu past.