CONTENTS:- Acknowledgements; Himachal Heritage by Mulk Raj Anand; Temple Architecture by Suhasini Aryan; Buddhist Monasteries in Himachal Pradesh by O.P. Handa; Wall Paintings by Mulk Raj Anand; Devi Mahatamya Manuscript in the Chaurapanchasika Style from the Kangra Valley by O.C. Ohri; The Pictorial Situation in Pahari Paintings by Mulk Raj Anand; The Vernacular, Colonial and Contemporary Architecture.
DESCRIPTION
In the Valleys of the High Himalayas flourished, away from the troubled land of five rivers, cultures which are not known, specially to new generations of our country. In the 8th century A.D. the Abbot Padmasambhava walked up to the first high range and established a Buddhist monastery on a hill in Mandi, to bring light among darkminded folk who were practising magic. He later crossed over the high Rohtang Pass and established four more abodes for dissemination of words of Buddha in Lahaul. He walked further and, after climbing another high mountain, entered the Spiti Valley, through which river Sutlej courses down towards the plains. In this remote landscape, Padmasambhava gave to the beautiful but darkminded people the light of the Buddha in seven monasteries. The wealth of images and paintings which were created by the monks for the worship of Buddha has seldom been exposed to the art loving public of our country. Earlier, and sometimes coincident with the Buddhist refulgence, were created Hindu shrines, from the monumental stone temple of Masrur above Kangra Valley, Baijnath and in Kulu and Manali, as also deeper in Chamba, Brahmaur and Chattrai.
In this monumental book, Dr. Mulk Raj Anand has got collaboration from enlightened Himachal scholars, to reveal glories of the past which are part of our culture and have to be inherited by new generations.
