The Torana in Indian and Southeast Asian Architecture.

Brown, Robert L.

The Torana in Indian and Southeast Asian Architecture. By PARUL PANDYA DHAR. New Delhi: D. K. PRINTWORLD, 2009. Pp. xviii + 317, illus. Rs. 4200, $140.

A torana (as defined in the glossary of Dhar's book on the topic) is an "arched portal or festoon." This seemingly simple definition hardly suggests the variety and importance of the torana in the architecture of India and Southeast Asia. Yet any more detailed definition would require hundreds of pages of text illustrated with hundreds of examples, and indeed, this is what Parul Dhar has produced in her book on the topic.

She has divided her study into five chapters: chapter 1 focuses on the earliest toranas (ca. 300-500 C.E.); chapter 2 is a brief chapter on references to the use and types of torana in a selection of literary and textual sources; chapter 3 is a survey of toranas in South Indian architecture; chapter 4 is a survey of wraps in North Indian architecture; and chapter 5 surveys torapas in the architecture of Southeast Asia. The book is an extended typology that traces the development of the torana with representative examples moving from early to later time periods and within these by geographical locations. Such surveys are standard for outlining the general contours of broad art historical periods, including surveys of an entire culture's art history. These broad surveys suffer by being able to include only a small sampling of the art, with the resultant time gaps and lack of artistic relationships, and are limited in the illustrations that can be shown.

The reason Dhar's survey works so well is that it is organized around an enormous number of very nicely printed illustrations. I count some 359 illustrations, and there are in addition some 60 drawings. Thus, she is rarely talking about something that cannot be seen. In this regard the publisher has done an excellent job of laying out the art and the text. The illustration of the object being discussed is usually placed on the same page as the text describing it. The large number of toranas illustrated allows for a continuous developmental series with no chronological gaps. The survey also works because the topic is focused on an architecture element that can usually be illustrated completely.

The text that accompanies the illustrations is clear and well organized. It is almost entirely descriptive. Dhar does not propose any reasons or theories as to why the torana was so important in Indian and Southeast Asian architecture. Nor is there discussion of why the torana maintained some of its features, such as the depiction of the makara, as a primary element in the torana over thousands of years. In the book's lack of analytical discussion it maintains its value as a descriptive survey. Indeed, the extensive fieldwork sets up the topic for others to pursue.

A torana can be freestanding, much as a gateway, simply two upright columns with one or more crossbars. The crossbars of a freestanding torana are usually high enough to allow a person on a horse or elephant, or for carts to pass through, and are placed at entrances of both religious and secular structures. A torana can also be carved in relief on outer walls of a monument, often over a doorway or niche. They can also be placed as separate designs on walls. A torana can also be placed around an image, either as a freestanding frame or carved in relief. These are only some of the forms the torana can take. Likewise, the designs on the toranas are varied. Dhar has identified a number of design types based on references of types she has found in literature, inscriptions, and texts and on her fieldwork of the monuments. She lists fifty-five different torana types in her glossary using Sanskrit terms. These are not, however, all of the types she identifies in her text. For example, she identifies in the book "patra-toranas" (p. 94), which simply means toranas decorated with leaf (patra) designs, but does not list this type in her glossary. It may not have been a good idea to categorize the toranas in so many types using Sanskrit terms, as some (such as the patra-toranas) are merely descriptive and not objective categories. On the other hand, the great number of toranas and their variety require organization into categories. The use of Sanskrit terms will, however, slow the reading for many people.

One overarching trajectory for the development of the Indian wrap was toward increasing complexity and decorative abundance. The architecture of the Jain temples at Mr. Abu (twelfth--thirteenth C. c.E.) in Gujarat has long stood as representative of this trend; but Dhar shows that the intricacy of the toranas is found in architecture across India. The use of what Dhar calls the "free-flying arch," in which the torana arch is cut almost free, appears to defy the nature of stone (see her figs. 4.53, 4.54, 4.57). In fact much of the torana architecture, including that in relief on lintels and walls, treats stone as a malleable and plastic substance. The complete ease and familiarity of the Indian sculptor working with stone is seen over and over, and brings up the often said point that Indian architecture can be seen as a type of sculpture.

I missed very much having a map to indicate where the many sites are that she mentions and illustrates. While I am familiar with most of the earlier sites she mentions, there are many of the later sites (tenth c. and later) that I have not heard of before. This is particularly true for the many sites in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and of sites with a single freestanding torana where the temple itself has disappeared (raising the troubling question of the destruction of north Indian temples). Maps identifying the locations discussed would have allowed a better idea of their interrelationships.

The book's last chapter is a discussion of the torana in Southeast Asian architecture. The makara-torana was one of the first Indian motifs to be discussed by scholars in an attempt to define the interrelationship of Indian and Southeast Asian art and culture (for example, Gilberte de Coral-Remusat, "De l'origine commune des linteaux de l'Inde Pallava et des linteaux Khmers preangkoriens," Revue des arts asiatiques 8.4 [1934]; 235-40). Dhar does not argue what its adoption in Southeast Asia might mean for the spread of Indic culture. Indeed, the relationship between Indian and Southeast Asian culture continues to be debated up until today, and given its complexity and contention, Dhar is wise not to attempt any views as to the theme of Indianization. She does a good job in laying out some of the examples of the torana in Southeast Asian cultures. She relies on the secondary literature for this chapter, unlike the Indian material that she has organized. Perhaps the value of the chapter is for the Indian oriented readers who know little about Southeast Asian art and architecture and might find the Southeast Asian examples, in both their similarity and difference to Indian examples, an interesting surprise.

ROBERT L. BROWN

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES