
Constructing Kanchi
City of Infinite Temples
Emma Natalya Stein(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 1. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
300 pages
978-1-041-17743-2 (ISBN)
Description
Constructing Kanchi: City of Infinite Temples traces the emergence of the South Indian city of Kanchi as a major royal capital and multireligious pilgrimage destination during the era of the Pallava and Chola dynasties (ca. seventh through thirteenth centuries). The book presents the first-ever comprehensive picture of historical Kanchi, locating the city and its more than 100 spectacular Hindu temples at the heart of commercial and artistic exchange that spanned India, Southeast Asia, and China. The author demonstrates that Kanchi was structured with a hidden urban plan, which determined the placement and orientation of temples around a central thoroughfare that was also a burgeoning pilgrimage route. Moving outwards from the city, she shows how the transportation networks, river systems, residential enclaves, and agrarian estates all contributed to the vibrancy of Kanchi's temple life. The construction and ongoing renovation of temples in and around the city, she concludes, has enabled Kanchi to thrive continuously from at least the eighth century, through the colonial period, and up until the present.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Academic
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
560 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-041-17743-2 (9781041177432)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€60.99
Available for download

E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€60.99
Available for download

Book
10/2021
Amsterdam University Press
€147.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Emma Natalya Stein (PhD, Yale) is Assistant Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. Her research investigates the relationships among sacred architecture, urban space, and tropical landscapes. Dr. Stein has conducted fieldwork throughout South and Southeast Asia.
Content
Acknowledgements, List of Illustrations, Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Illustrations, Introduction: All Streets Lead to Temples, An Ancient City, Layers of Time, Kanchi Known and Unknown, 1 Sandstone and the City: Building Pallava-Kanchi (ca. seventh through ninth century), 2 Realignment: Kanchi in the Chola Era (ca. tenth through thirteenth century), 3 The City and its Ports, 4 Kanchi Under Colonialism: What Happened in Kanchi while those Towering Gateways Arose?, Conclusion: Plastered Pasts, Epilogue: The Living Temple, Bibliography, Index