The present dissertation concentrates on the study of construction rituals of the Hindu tradition, with special attention to the prathameshtakaanyaasa (the laying of the first stones), the... Show moreThe present dissertation concentrates on the study of construction rituals of the Hindu tradition, with special attention to the prathameshtakaanyaasa (the laying of the first stones), the garbhanyaasa (the placing of the consecration deposit) and the muurdheshtakaanyaasa (the placing of the crowning bricks). The basis for the study is formed, on the one hand, by Sanskrit texts on architecture and ritual, dating from ca. the 7th to the 15th centuries AD, and, on the other hand, by the archaeological material. The chief textual source is the Kaashyapashilpa, a South Indian treatise on art and architecture and ritual, usually dated 11 – 12th century AD. Three chapters from the Kaashyapashilpa, which deal with the three aforementioned construction rituals, have been critically edited, translated and provided with a commentary. In order to answer the questions whether construction rituals mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit treatises were ever performed and if so, whether they were performed according to the textual prescriptions, the information given by the Sanskrit texts have been compared with the material traces of construction rituals originating from various regions of South and Southeast Asia. Show less
