GLOSSARY OF INDIAN ART AND CULTURE

1.Agate:

·        A fine-grained variegated chalcedony, its colours arranged in stripes, blended in clouds, or showing moss like forms

2.Amalaka :

·        Ribbed, lenticular or globoid part resembling the amalaka (Indian gooseberry fruit) crowning the top of the North Indian style shikhara.

3.Anda :

·        Semi-circular dome.

4.Arabesque :

·        An ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, leaves and flowers.

5.Ardhmandap:

·        Semi-hall in front of the temple

6.Ashtadikpalas:

·        Guardians of the eight directions

7.Bosses:

·        Circular embossed decorations, usually in stone of contrasting colours located on either side of an arch and within the spandrels

8.Burin:

·        A pointed tool of flint or stone with a transverse edge made by the removal of one or more flakes.

·        Used for working bone, antler, and ivory, and, perhaps, for engraving

9.Calligraphy :

·        The art of producing decorative handwriting.

10.Chhatra :

·        Umbrella like structure on top of the stupa.

11.Chhatri :

·        Cupola resting on four pillars with a dome or pyramid-shaped roof.

12.Chahar Bagh :

·        A square, walled garden divided into four by intersecting water channels.

13.Chaitya : (2013 prelims)

·        Place of congregation and worship.

14.Chevron Patterning :

·        V- shaped patterns.

15.Corbel :

·        The stone or wooden bracket laid horizontally to support a cornice or an arch.

16. Dado panel :

·        Lower part of the interior wall when it is finished differently from the rest of the wall.

·        Some excellent examples are Jamali Kamali tomb in Mehrauli and Turkish Sultan’s palace in Fatehpur Sikri, Agra.

17. Intaglio :

·        The process of cutting a design into the surface of a small hard stone or gem.

18.Dhammachakrapravartan :

·        First sermon by Buddha at Sarnath near Varanasi .

19.Encaustic tile work:

·        Inlay in ceramics .

20.Faience :

·        Blue-coloured artificial glass-like material.

·        Faience was used in a variety of ornaments and pieces of jewellery.

21.Gahapati :

·        Big land-owner or big farmer involved in farming and trade

22.Garbhgriha:

·        Sanctum sanctorum

23.Gopuram:

·        Main gateway; the storeyed structure over the entrance or entrances through the enclosing walls to the premises of a temple, palace, or city

24.Hamam :

·        Turkish public bath for massage and sauna .

25. Harmika :

·        Small square fencing about the anda or semicircular dome of stupa.