BOOKS

5. Woodcarving in the Himalayan Region, O.C. Honda, Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi. Price Rs. 1250

In this book an attempt have been made not to study the woodcarving as a fossilized antiquity so as to prove into its artistic or the technical aspects, but to deal with it as a living and thriving reality, as an integral and unalienable part of the socio-cultural system of the people of this region. To that end, not only woodcarvings, but also the biophysical environment, which has nurtured this art, and the people, who have been practicising and patronizing it with utmost religiosity, have been discussed in this book. The present study is spread into eight chapters. The first chapter outlines the religious, therapeutic and structural uses of the deodar wood, the principal woodcarving medium. In the second chapter, the geo-physical setting and the biophysical zones are discussed in the context of the Himalayan flora culture. The third chapter is devoted to the carvers and patrons of the art of woodcarving - their ethnicity, socio-cultural aspects, belief-system, etc. the fourth chapters deals with the woodcarving found in the wooden temples of the Himalayan interiors. In the fifth chapter, the woodcarving found in the residential houses and ancient places of the region have been discussed. In the sixth chapter, the influences that the art of woodcarving has registered on it from various sources - foreign and indigenous - since the earliest times, have been outlined. Seventh chapter is devoted to the case studies of woodcarving in the classical and folk wooden temples. In the eighth chapter, the modern trends that have been reflected on the art of woodcarving during the post independence decade have been brought out, and the utilitarian carved woodwork discussed.

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