Since the dramatic discovery and tragic destruction of the monument in the 19th century, the Amar vat st pa in the south-east Deccan has attracted many scholars but has also left many unanswered questions. Akira Shimada's "Early Buddhist Architecture in Context" provides an updated and comprehensive chronology of the st pa and its architectural development based on the latest sculptural, epigraphic and numismatic evidence combined with the survey of the early excavation records. It also examines the wider social milieu of the south-east Deccan by exploring archaeological, epigraphic and related textual evidence. These analyses reveal that the flowering of the st pa was not a simple accomplishment of the powerful S tav hana dynasty, but was the result of the long-term development of urbanization of this region between ca. 200 BCE-250 CE.

The Art of Darkness is a visually rich sourcebook featuring eclectic artworks that have been inspired and informed by the morbid, melancholic and macabre. Throughout history, artists have been obsessed with darkness - creating works that haunt and horrify, mesmerise and delight and play on our innermost fears. Gentileschi took revenge with paint in Judith Slaying Holofernes while Bosch depicted fearful visions of Hell that still beguile. Victorian Britain became strangely obsessed with the dead and in Norway Munch explored anxiety and fear in one of the most famous paintings in the world (The Scream, 1893). Today, the Chapman Brothers, Damien Hirst and Louise Bourgeois, as well as many lesser known artists working in the margins, are still drawn to all that is macabre. From Dreams & Nightmares to Matters of Mortality, Depravity & Destruction to Gods & Monsters - this book introduces sometimes disturbing and often beautiful artworks that indulge our greatest fears, uniting us as humans from century to century. But, while these themes might scare us - can't they also be heartening and beautiful? Exploring and examining the artworks with thoughtful and evocative text, S. Elizabeth offers insight into each artist's influences and inspirations, asking what comfort can be found in facing our demons? Why are we tempted by fear and the grotesque? And what does this tell us about the human mind? Of course, sometimes there is no good that can come from the sensibilities of darkness and the sickly shivers and sensations they evoke. These are uncomfortable feelings, and we must sit for a while with these shadows - from the safety of our armchairs. Artists covered include Pablo Picasso, Georgia O'Keeffe, Francisco de Goya, Leonora Carrington, John Everett Millais, Tracey Emin, Vincent van Gogh, Barbara Hepworth, Paul Cezanne and Salvador Dali, as well as scores more. With over 200 carefully curated artworks from across the centuries, The Art of Darkness examines all that is dark in a bid to haunt and hearten. This book is part of the Art in the Margins series, following up on The Art of the Occult, which investigates representations of the mystical, esoteric and occult in art from across different times and cultures.

In Cistercian Architecture and Medieval Society Maximilian Sternberg offers an account of the social functions of the built environment in medieval monasticism. Few medieval monuments hold so privileged a place in the modern imagination as Cistercian abbeys, yet Sternberg suggests, it is precisely our own, peculiarly modern fascination with the idea of 'Cistercian aesthetics' that has hindered a full view of the complex social meanings of their architecture. This book draws attention instead to the practical and symbolic means by which architecture helped the Cistercians to negotiate the dense web of relations that, in actuality, bound them to other spheres of medieval society. It explores the permeability of monastic boundaries, and considers their effectiveness in reconciling a simultaneous need for interaction and distance between monastic communities and these other social spheres.

Around 1800, one of the most influential architectural concepts of the last 250 years emerged-that of built spaces as technical devices. Climate, morality, and comfort are the three main themes of this study, and each is vividly examined in separate chapters through synchronous comparison and with the help of examples. The emergence of corresponding metaphors, knowledge, and construction forms is traced over a period of about 70 years. The author focuses particularly on the operative dimension of architecture. Thus, the book provides a historical perspective on a key topic for the future of architecture. The book is aimed at readers interested in architecture, technology or the cultural history of building and living.

Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy illuminates the vibrancy of spiritual beliefs and practices which profoundly shaped family life in this era. Scholarship on Catholicism has tended to focus on institutions, but the home was the site of religious instruction and reading, prayer and meditation, communal worship, multi-sensory devotions, contemplation of religious images and the performance of rituals, as well as extraordinary events such as miracles. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this volume affirms the central place of the household to spiritual life and reveals the myriad ways in which devotion met domestic needs. The seventeen essays encompass religious history, the histories of art and architecture, material culture, musicology, literary history, and social and cultural history. Contributors are Erminia Ardissino, Michele Bacci, Michael J. Brody, Giorgio Caravale, Maya Corry, Remi Chiu, Sabrina Corbellini, Stefano Dall'Aglio, Marco Faini, Iain Fenlon, Irene Galandra Cooper, Jane Garnett, Joanna Kostylo, Alessia Meneghin, Margaret A. Morse, Elisa Novi Chavarria, Gervase Rosser, Zuzanna Sarnecka, Katherine Tycz, and Valeria Viola.

Dear reader, if you are holding in your hands the book "Legends of the Phoenix" by A.V.Trehlebov, then in just a moment a magnificent journey awaits you filled with fascinating knowledge about the hidden history of our world and some of the most fascinating societal processes to ever occur. If you have already read a few dozen books on the subject but are still asking yourself the questions "Who am i?" "What is my purpose here?" or "Why do we die?" then this book will become a treasure within your library. If you are still searching for the answers to the age old questions of the origins of life on earth, the origins and evolution of our modern civilization, the origins of different races, the true history of the people on earth, our spiritual growth as humans, or the universal laws of the universe, then this book has come to you at the right time. Through years of scientific study, this non-fiction tractate is written in a simple yet fascinating manner and is suitable for all readers. The phoenix, as in the title of the book, is an ancient Russian symbol symbolizing the rebirth of Russia and the Slavic people. From folk tales it is written that these birds rise from their ashes, are then reborn in a magical flame and appear in a purer form. Since history has always been written by, and for the benefit of the current rulers, disregarding any previous facts or knowledge, we use the experience and heritage of our ancestors which have been laid out in the "Legends of the Phoenix." "Legends of the Phoenix" is devoted to the revival of the ancient, million year old culture and heritage of the Slavic people. The information in this book has deep roots from the Slavic Vedas dating back hundreds of thousands of years with knowledge not yet fully discovered by our modern civilization. Consisting of two parts, the first part "Origin of the Slavic-Aryans" discusses the root origins of the Slavic people, the ancient texts and archaeological monuments, the eon old Slavic ancestry, our beliefs, morals, commandments, and the answers to the mysterious wise tales of the Slavs. The second part called "The Path to Light" discusses the connection and meaning of the Slavic and Hindu Vedas, the stages of the ancient Slavic spiritual belief "Rodoveriye," the meaning of spiritual development, the paths and goals of our ancient societies, the wisdom behind each stage of life and how to get ready for and create virtuous offspring, the nature of divine and demonic entities and their purpose, the importance of understanding your inner self and past lives, the structure of all our energy bodies, the origins of the Vedas, what it means to have a non-dualistic view of the universe, and the secrets of the Golden Path.

"Seeing the Insane" is a richly detailed cultural history of madness and art in the Western world, showing how the portrayal of stereotypes has both reflected and shaped the perception and treatment of the mentally disturbed. Covering the Middle Ages through the end of the nineteenth century, Sander L. Gilman explores the depictions of mental illness as seen in manuscripts, sculptures, lithographs, and photography. With artistic renderings and medical illustrations side-by-side, this volume includes over 250 visual displays of the mentally ill. These images capture society's reliance on visual motifs to assign concrete qualities to abstract ailments in an attempt to understand the marginalized. Gilman's collection of images demonstrates how society has relegated the mentally ill to a state of "otherness" and portrays how society's perceived realities concerning the insane have morphed and evolved over centuries.

Sander L. Gilman, PhD, is a distinguished professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as Professor of Psychiatry at Emory University. A respected educator, he has served as Old Dominion Visiting Professor of English at Princeton; Northrop Frye Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto; Mellon Visiting Professor of Humanities at Tulane University; Goldwin Smith Professor of Humane Studies at Cornell University; and Professor of the History of Psychiatry at Cornell Medical College. He has written and edited several books including "The Face of Madness" and "Sexuality: An Illustrated History."

""Seeing the Insane" is a visual history of the stereotypes that have shaped the perception of the mentally ill from medieval through modern times. The result is nearly as heartbreaking as a visual history of the Holocaust. In picture after picture, the book portrays centuries of intolerance for deviance, mindless cruelty, unthinking prejudice, and self-righteous abuse of the weak and ill."

-"American Journal of Psychiatry"

"As extraordinary in concept as it is in its execution. . . . This remarkable book helps laymen as well as specialists to see the insane, but it does far more. When we study the past, we understand the present. When we see the conventional stereotype images of insanity, we find they still color our concepts of madness. Through these pictures of the insane, we see all humanity. We look, not through a glass darkly, but through a multiplicity of media, brightly."

-"Antiquarian Bookman"