This attractively produced and profusely illustrated volume presents a highly individual contribution to an understanding of the stylistic evolution of the Indian temple. Hardy is a trained architect, and the drawings and schematic diagrams that he himself has prepared go a long way towards underscoring his argument. The author is the chief propagator of the “aedicular” school of analysis. In his opening chapter Hardy defines the aedicule as an architectural unit, complete with basement, columns, parapet and tower. These units are employed at different scales, in full and in part, as well as in different combinations, to create the complex forms that are such a characteristic of mature Indian temple architecture. The use of aedicules characterizes both the northern and southern temple styles, known in local terminology as nagara and dravida. As the author demonstrates, aedicules often appear as “embedded” elements in the building fabric, but their overall purpose is to express the expanding form of the temple, in parallel to the expanding influence of the deity who receives worship within. This lends the sacred monument an inherent symbolism that has been interpreted in different ways by scholars. However, the author cautions against an approach that constantly seeks for overriding “perennial ideas”, recommending instead a concern to understand better the method by which these buildings were actually designed.

To begin with Hardy offers an historical introduction to the chronology of ancient kingdoms and empires in India, outlining the role of powerful dynasties and individuals as temple patrons. From this overview the author proceeds to an analysis of the principles that underlie temple design, both nagara and dravida. Here he proposes a series of design processes, which he categorizes as “projection”, “staggering”, “splitting”, “bursting of boundaries”, “progressive multiplication” and “expanding repetition”. Each of these processes is illustrated with an explanatory diagram, which should help the reader to decode the architectural complexities of temples such as the Teli-ka Mandir at Gwalior and the Mahadeva at Khajuraho (both in Madhya Pradesh). In the chapters that follow Hardy explores the philosophical, cultic and ritual aspects of Hinduism. He draws these general concerns into the orbit of the temple by considering the iconographic programmes by which sculptural imagery is organized within an architectural setting. His claim that these programmes may accord with a specific philosophical system, such as the Pancharatra or Siddhanta school, may indeed be true, but is not fully explored here. More convincing is his discussion of the actual building practice, the subject of the next chapter. Here Hardy touches on the role of the master architect, or sthapati, and the division of work into different groups of specialists. He makes the point that in spite of prescriptive shastras there was “ample scope for invention”, especially with regard to those designs that reconcile fusion with the dynamics of what he calls “emergence”, “expansion” and “proliferation”. While these concepts are essentially subjective, the author is able to offer diagrams that give persuasive visual expressions for them (as, for example, figure 6.4).

Fortified with this historical, religious and aesthetic background the reader is now well equipped to follow Hardy's surveys of the different temple traditions. His chapters on early Buddhist architecture and rock-cut monuments address the development of the arched chaitya form, which later becomes the gavaksha, a diagnostic element of the nagara idiom. Hardy then proceeds to analyse the typical temple plan, demonstrating the evolution of different staggered, stepped diamond and complex stellate configurations, as well as the variant ways in which shrines are combined with mandapas, or even multiplied to achieve complicated plan types. Then comes an exposition of the nagara style, tracing the evolution of the latina and bhumija modes, as at Chittor (Rajasthan) and Sakegaon (Maharashtra). This chapter is followed by a comparable one that deals with the dravida style, and which classifies the varieties of aedicular compositions that characterize this mode. Though both the nagara and dravida styles tend towards ever increasing complexity, they never lose their underlying geometry. It is therefore appropriate for Hardy to devote a whole chapter to this subject. Here he stresses the role of rotated squares in generating stellate plans. The use of intersecting circles seems to be another such device, as is evident from his analysis of the Lakshmi-Narasimha temple at Bhadravati (Karnataka). From these generalities Hardy progresses to particular architectural details, especially basement mouldings, or adhishthanas, columns, ceilings and gavakshas. His diagrams explaining the geometric structure of complex gavaksha designs are the clearest ever to be published (figures 16.10 to 16.14).

The chapters that follow offer brief histories of the principal variants of the nagara and dravida idioms. Hardy believes that only by understanding the manipulation of the aedicular components of the buildings is it possible to characterize the different temple styles. Readers should be encouraged to scrutinize carefully his complicated, though helpful, diagrams. The discussions here are particularly insightful when it comes to following a stylistic path that leads towards complex compositions, such as those of temples at Taranga (Gujarat), Jagat (Rajasthan), Bhubaneshwar (Orissa) and Ittagi (Karnataka). The volume concludes with a summary investigation of later temples down to the present day, not only in India, but even beyond, as in the Hindu shrine at Casselberry (Florida, USA). Here Hardy makes a plea for a better understanding of a great architectural tradition, so as to guarantee the quality of Hindu temple building in the future. We can only hope that his book will reach the right audience!