Chalukya Splendours in and around Gadag and Lakkundi
Forthcoming Guidebook
Unfamiliar to most tourists, the area around Gadag and Lakkundi in central northern Karnataka is exceptionally rich in historical monuments, most of them associated with the Late Chalukya kings who ruled this part of the Deccan during the 11th and 12th centuries. Highlights include the magnificent stepwells at Lakkundi and Sudi; the Shri Trikuteshvara Temple in Gadag with its trio of linga shrines; the Mallikarjuna Temple at Kuruvatti overlooking the Tungabhadra, erected by Someshvara II in memory of his father; the Mahadeva Temple at Ittagi with its intricately wrought carved exterior; and the Doddabasappa Temple in Dambal laid out on a 24-point, star-shaped plan.
All of these and more will be described in Chalukya Splendours by specialist scholars, who will also offer an historical introduction to the Late Chalukyas and their successors in this part of Karnataka. As in previous Deccan Heritage Foundation guidebooks, Nidhi Sah will devise the beautiful layouts, and Surendra Kumar will be commissioned to take the splendid photographs.
Details
Author(s)
Amita Kanekar
Amita Kanekar is an architectural historian and novelist, based in Goa. She has published on the Ikkeri Nayakas of Malnad-Canara in western Karnataka, neighbours and sometime associates of the Portuguese in Goa. Her novel about the Buddha, A Spoke in the Wheel, was published in 2005 by HarperCollins; a second edition was released in 2014 by Navayana, Delhi. She is currently working on the architecture of Portuguese Goa, also on a novel set in the Mughal period, and a monthly column on history and politics for the local press. She also teaches at the Goa College of Architecture, Panjim.
Anirudh Kanisetti
Anirudh Kanisetti is a public historian specialising in ancient and early medieval India. He is the author of Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas; and Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire. He writes the Thinking Medieval column for ThePrint and hosts two podcasts: Echoes of India and YUDDHA: The Indian Military History podcast. Anirudh has won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman, and Tata Literature Live’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award. He was an Open Mind of 2022, and on the New Indian Express‘ 40 Under 40. Anirudh was formerly Editor at the MAP Academy, where he worked on the Encyclopedia of Indian Art. Prior to this, he was Associate Fellow at the Takshashila Institution. His work has received grants from Princeton University, MAP Academy and the India Foundation for the Arts.
