- For research and teaching interests, and complete list of publications see: https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff30688.php
Crispin Branfoot
SOAS University of London, History of Art and Archeology, Faculty Member
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This handbook is a comprehensive study of the archaeology, social history and the cultural landscape of the Hindu temple. Perhaps the most recognizable of the material forms of Hinduism, temples are lived, dynamic spaces. They are... more
This handbook is a comprehensive study of the archaeology, social history and the cultural landscape of the Hindu temple. Perhaps the most recognizable of the material forms of Hinduism, temples are lived, dynamic spaces. They are significant sites for the creation of cultural heritage, both in the past and in the present. Drawing on historiographical surveys and in-depth case studies, the volume centres the material form of the Hindu temple as an entry point to study its many adaptations and transformations from the early centuries ce to the 20th century. It highlights the vibrancy and dynamism of the shrine in different locales and studies the active participation of the community for its establishment, maintenance and survival. The illustrated handbook takes a unique approach by focusing on the social base of the temple rather than its aesthetics or chronological linear development. It fills a significant gap in the study of Hinduism and will be an indispensable resource for scholars of archaeology, Hinduism, Indian history, religious studies, museum studies, South Asian history and Southeast Asian history.
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In around 1912 Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil, a young science teacher from French colonial Pondicherry in South India, visited the nearby town of Cuddalore in order to inspect the construction of a new Hindu temple. Since arriving in South... more
In around 1912 Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil, a young science teacher from French colonial Pondicherry in South India, visited the nearby town of Cuddalore in order to inspect the construction of a new Hindu temple. Since arriving in South India in 1909 he had been travelling to many temples and archaeological sites in order to understand the history of South Indian art. The modern temple that he visited in a suburb of Cuddalore at Tiruppappuliyur was not in fact new but a wholesale renovation of a nine-hundred-year-old shrine on a site sacred to Tamil Shaivas. This was just one of the many temples substantially rebuilt from the 1890s to the 1930s under the patronage of a wealthy merchant community, the Nattukkottai Chettiars, at a time of religious revival and growing Tamil cultural nationalism. The Nattukkottai Chettiars came from the villages and towns of Chettinadu, an arid region in southern Madras Presidency. This region was significant not only for being the provenance of the most prolific patrons of South Indian temple architecture in colonial Madras Presidency but also their builders, for many of the architects and craftsmen working on the temple at Tiruppappuliyur were from villages in Chettinadu. One of these men, M. S. Swaminathan of Pillaiyarpatti, was Jouveau-Dubreuil's chief informant, one of the many 'natives' who were a critical and inextricable element of colonial knowledge production. The understanding of formal composition and terminology that Jouveau-Dubreuil learnt from contemporary architects and craftsmen and his observations of the evolution of architectural design contributed towards the first study of the Tamil temple for both a scholarly and wider public audience from the very earliest monuments of the seventh century through to those currently under construction. This article explores this architectural 'renaissance' in colonial Madras Presidency under Chettiar patronage and evaluates modern temple design through the pioneering scholarship of Jouveau-Dubreuil and his contemporaries.
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This article explores the repeated renovation of south Indian temples over the past millennium and the conception of the Tamil temple-city. Though the requirement for renovation is unremarkable, some “renovations” have involved the... more
This article explores the repeated renovation of south Indian temples over the past millennium and the conception of the Tamil temple-city. Though the requirement for renovation is unremarkable, some “renovations” have involved the wholesale replacement of the central shrine, in theory the most sacred part of the temple. Rather than explaining such radical rebuilding as a consequence of fourteenth-century iconoclasm, temple
renovation is considered in this article as an ongoing process. Several periods of architectural reconstruction from the tenth to the early twentieth centuries demonstrate the evolving relationship between building, design and sacred geography over one millennium of Tamil temple history. The conclusion explores the
widespread temple “renovations” by the devout Nakarattar (Nattukottai Chettiar) community in the early twentieth century, and the consequent dismay of colonial archaeologists at the perceived destruction of South India’s monumental heritage, in order to reassess the lives and meanings of Tamil sacred sites.
renovation is considered in this article as an ongoing process. Several periods of architectural reconstruction from the tenth to the early twentieth centuries demonstrate the evolving relationship between building, design and sacred geography over one millennium of Tamil temple history. The conclusion explores the
widespread temple “renovations” by the devout Nakarattar (Nattukottai Chettiar) community in the early twentieth century, and the consequent dismay of colonial archaeologists at the perceived destruction of South India’s monumental heritage, in order to reassess the lives and meanings of Tamil sacred sites.
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... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ISSN: 0266-6030. ID Code: 3263. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:50. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59.... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ISSN: 0266-6030. ID Code: 3263. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:50. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
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... Anna Dallapiccola and Anila Verghese's article in this volume confirms that the myth of Bhima and Purusamirukam comes from a regional, south ... 1. Taylor (1835 volume II, p. 116); Devakunjari (1979, p. 243), presents further... more
... Anna Dallapiccola and Anila Verghese's article in this volume confirms that the myth of Bhima and Purusamirukam comes from a regional, south ... 1. Taylor (1835 volume II, p. 116); Devakunjari (1979, p. 243), presents further evidence for the construction of this mandapa in the ...
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Bhatkal's period of greatest prosperity,a result of the growth of internal and international trade. Amongst them is the Khetapai N?r?yana temple, one of the finest Hindu temples built in the Kanara ... Vaisnava imageryat the Khetapai... more
Bhatkal's period of greatest prosperity,a result of the growth of internal and international trade. Amongst them is the Khetapai N?r?yana temple, one of the finest Hindu temples built in the Kanara ... Vaisnava imageryat the Khetapai N?r?yana temple comes as a ...
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The Nayaka period from the middle of the sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries was the most active period of temple-building in Tamilnadu after the decline of Chola power in the thirteenth century. Many of the large temples that are... more
The Nayaka period from the middle of the sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries was the most active period of temple-building in Tamilnadu after the decline of Chola power in the thirteenth century. Many of the large temples that are a feature of Tamil towns today were founded ...
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This handbook is a comprehensive study of the archaeology, social history and the cultural landscape of the Hindu temple. Perhaps the most recognizable of the material forms of Hinduism, temples are lived, dynamic spaces. They are... more
This handbook is a comprehensive study of the archaeology, social history and the cultural landscape of the Hindu temple. Perhaps the most recognizable of the material forms of Hinduism, temples are lived, dynamic spaces. They are significant sites for the creation of cultural heritage, both in the past and in the present. Drawing on historiographical surveys and in-depth case studies, the volume centres the material form of the Hindu temple as an entry point to study its many adaptations and transformations from the early centuries ce to the 20th century. It highlights the vibrancy and dynamism of the shrine in different locales and studies the active participation of the community for its establishment, maintenance and survival. The illustrated handbook takes a unique approach by focusing on the social base of the temple rather than its aesthetics or chronological linear development. It fills a significant gap in the study of Hinduism and will be an indispensable resource for scholars of archaeology, Hinduism, Indian history, religious studies, museum studies, South Asian history and Southeast Asian history.
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Modernity is easy to inhabit but difficult to define. If modernity is to be a definable, delimited concept, we must identify some people or practices or concepts as nonmodern.
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In around 1912 Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil, a young science teacher from French colonial Pondicherry in South India, visited the nearby town of Cuddalore in order to inspect the construction of a new Hindu temple. Since arriving in South... more
In around 1912 Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil, a young science teacher from French colonial Pondicherry in South India, visited the nearby town of Cuddalore in order to inspect the construction of a new Hindu temple. Since arriving in South India in 1909 he had been travelling to many temples and archaeological sites in order to understand the history of South Indian art. The modern temple that he visited in a suburb of Cuddalore at Tiruppappuliyur was not in fact new but a wholesale renovation of a nine-hundred-year-old shrine on a site sacred to Tamil Shaivas. This was just one of the many temples substantially rebuilt from the 1890s to the 1930s under the patronage of a wealthy merchant community, the Nattukkottai Chettiars, at a time of religious revival and growing Tamil cultural nationalism. The Nattukkottai Chettiars came from the villages and towns of Chettinadu, an arid region in southern Madras Presidency. This region was significant not only for being the provenance of the most...
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One of the most remarkable artistic achievements of the Mughal Empire was the emergence in the early seventeenth century of portraits of identifiable individuals, unprecedented in both South Asia and the Islamic world. Appearing at a time... more
One of the most remarkable artistic achievements of the Mughal Empire was the emergence in the early seventeenth century of portraits of identifiable individuals, unprecedented in both South Asia and the Islamic world. Appearing at a time of increasing contact between Europe and Asia, portraits from the reigns of the great Mughal emperor-patrons Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan are among the best-known paintings produced in South Asia. In the following centuries portraiture became more widespread in the visual culture of South Asia, especially in the rich and varied traditions of painting, but also in sculpture and later prints and photography. This collection seeks to understand the intended purpose of a range of portrait traditions in South Asia and how their style, setting and representation may have advanced a range of aesthetic, social and political functions. The chapters range across a wide historical period, exploring ideals of portraiture in Sanskrit and Persian literature, the emergence and political symbolism of Mughal portraiture, through to the paintings of the Rajput courts, sculpture in Tamil temples and the transformation of portraiture in colonial north India and post-independence Pakistan. This specially commissioned collection of studies from a strong list of established scholars and rising stars makes a significant contribution to South Asian history, art and visual culture
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Kotai was a 9th-century Tamil Vaishnava poet and mystic, and the author of two poems, the Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli. Today, she is worshipped as the goddess Andal or Goda, all across southern India, and her arresting poetry finds... more
Kotai was a 9th-century Tamil Vaishnava poet and mystic, and the author of two poems, the Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli. Today, she is worshipped as the goddess Andal or Goda, all across southern India, and her arresting poetry finds expression in ritual, music, dance and the visual arts. Her most important temple is in Srivilliputtur, a small town in Tamil Nadu, and believed to be the place of her birth. In Andal’s Garden takes the reader to Srivilliputtur to explore Andal’s temple, her visualization in painting, sculpture, festival ritual and performance, and the history and sacred landscape of southern Tamil Nadu under the Pandyas and later Nayakas of Madurai. In combining the architectural, literary and theological, this book offers up possibilities of new, interdisciplinary ways of seeing the temple as a living, changing and dynamic space.
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... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3276. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:59. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3276. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:59. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
Research Interests:
M any of the towns of Tamilnadu are dominated by the high stone walls and towering gateways ... Tanjavur. The general conception of temple development after this date is that temples spread out-ward with the main shrine (vimdna)... more
M any of the towns of Tamilnadu are dominated by the high stone walls and towering gateways ... Tanjavur. The general conception of temple development after this date is that temples spread out-ward with the main shrine (vimdna) diminishing in architectural importance in ...
Research Interests: Religion, Archaeology, Art, Ethnology, Sculpture, and 4 moreForm, Historical Studies, Plan, and door
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... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ISSN: 0266-6030. ID Code: 3263. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:50. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59.... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ISSN: 0266-6030. ID Code: 3263. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:50. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
Research Interests:
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3268. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:56. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3268. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:56. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
Aspects of a Hindu temple founded at Krishnapuram in southern India in the 1560s, under the patronage of the Madurai Nayakas, governors of the Vijayanagara Empire, are resonant with meaning. Conservative design features and the... more
Aspects of a Hindu temple founded at Krishnapuram in southern India in the 1560s, under the patronage of the Madurai Nayakas, governors of the Vijayanagara Empire, are resonant with meaning. Conservative design features and the temple's status as an architectural "copy" ...
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... Item Type: Chapters in Books. Authors/Creators: Branfoot, Crispin. Editors: Branfoot, Crispin and Barnes, Ruth. SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ... Deposited By:... more
... Item Type: Chapters in Books. Authors/Creators: Branfoot, Crispin. Editors: Branfoot, Crispin and Barnes, Ruth. SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ... Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:57. ...
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3277. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 10:00. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3277. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 10:00. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
... Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ISBN: 81-85026-45-9. ID Code: 3269. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:56. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
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... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ISSN: 0571-1371. ID Code: 3258. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 15 Feb 2008 16:58. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59.... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ISSN: 0571-1371. ID Code: 3258. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 15 Feb 2008 16:58. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
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Page 2. Page 3. 1ND1AN ART WORLDS 1N CONTENT1ON Page 4. ... 1ND1AN ART WORLDS 1N CONTENT1ON Helle Bundgaard 81. CONSTRUCT1NG THE COLON1AL ENCOUNTER Niels Brimnes 82. ...
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3266. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:53. Last Modified: 04 Apr 2008 15:06. Repository Staff... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3266. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:53. Last Modified: 04 Apr 2008 15:06. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 10253. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 20 Sep 2010 15:12. Last Modified: 20 Sep 2010 15:12. Repository Staff... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 10253. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 20 Sep 2010 15:12. Last Modified: 20 Sep 2010 15:12. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
Aspects of a Hindu temple founded at Krishnapuram in southern India in the 1560s, under the patronage of the Madurai Nayakas, governors of the Vijayanagara Empire, are resonant with meaning. Conservative design features and the... more
Aspects of a Hindu temple founded at Krishnapuram in southern India in the 1560s, under the patronage of the Madurai Nayakas, governors of the Vijayanagara Empire, are resonant with meaning. Conservative design features and the temple's status as an architectural "copy" ...
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Page 1. CRISPIN BRANFOOT 'EXPANDING FORM': THE ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE OF THE SOUTH INDIAN TEMPLE CA. 1500-I700 INTRODUCTION ntering the Antal temple in Srivilliputtur after sunset... more
Page 1. CRISPIN BRANFOOT 'EXPANDING FORM': THE ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE OF THE SOUTH INDIAN TEMPLE CA. 1500-I700 INTRODUCTION ntering the Antal temple in Srivilliputtur after sunset is an eerie experience. ...
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... Regional Pasts, Imperial Present: architecture and memory in Vijayanagara- period Karnataka. Branfoot, Crispin (2007) 'Regional Pasts ...
Page 1. CRISPIN BRANFOOT 'EXPANDING FORM': THE ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE OF THE SOUTH INDIAN TEMPLE CA. 1500-I700 INTRODUCTION ntering the Antal temple in Srivilliputtur after sunset... more
Page 1. CRISPIN BRANFOOT 'EXPANDING FORM': THE ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE OF THE SOUTH INDIAN TEMPLE CA. 1500-I700 INTRODUCTION ntering the Antal temple in Srivilliputtur after sunset is an eerie experience. ...
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M any of the towns of Tamilnadu are dominated by the high stone walls and towering gateways ... Tanjavur. The general conception of temple development after this date is that temples spread out-ward with the main shrine (vimdna)... more
M any of the towns of Tamilnadu are dominated by the high stone walls and towering gateways ... Tanjavur. The general conception of temple development after this date is that temples spread out-ward with the main shrine (vimdna) diminishing in architectural importance in ...
Research Interests: Religion, Archaeology, Art, Ethnology, Sculpture, and 4 moreForm, Historical Studies, Plan, and door
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3275. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:59. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3275. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:59. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3274. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:58. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff... more
... SOAS Departments & Centres: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Department of Art and Archaeology. ID Code: 3274. Deposited By: Crispin Branfoot. Deposited On: 18 Feb 2008 09:58. Last Modified: 19 Feb 2008 11:59. Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...