BODY, HISTORY, MYTH

The first major exploration of the mural tradition in early modern South India An astonishing variety of murals greet visitors to the temples and palaces of southern India Beautiful in execution and extensive in scope murals painted on walls and ceilings adorn the most important spaces of early modern religious and political performance Scene by scene histories of holy sites portraits that incorporate historical figures into mythic landscapes and Tamil and Telugu inscriptions that evoke the imagined topographies of devotional poetry unfold before the mobile spectator Body History Myth reconceives the relationship between art and devotion in South India by describing how the extraordinary sensory experience of a viewing body in motion unfurls a sacred narrative exquisitely designed to teach impress and inspire Anna Lise Seastrand offers new insights into the arts of early modern southern India bringing to life one of the most culturally vibrant yet least understood periods in Indian art She shows how temple visitors become active participants in the paintings through their somatic engagement with visual stories and devotional landscapes Seastrand highlights the significance of textuality in early modern South Asia by examining the status of professional s