Newest Assignments and Dates (If assignment is online it shall be stated below)

  • 03-17-2008 - 03-21-2008 -Spring Break (FREEDOM)
  • 03-21-2008 -Art History Outline and images
  • Still during spring break: Read Lord of the Flies for techniques/devices, 3 allusions due.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Art History -Chap 9 -Vocab

Mohenjo-Daro: Best preserved site in Indus Valley

Trefoil: Three-lobed

Veds: Body of sacred writings that took shape over these years

Upanishads: Metaphysical texts which examine the meaning of earlier Vedic hymns

Atman: Individual soul

Brahman: Universal soul

Samsara: Relentless cycles of birth, life, death, and rebirth

Buddha: "Enlightened One"; formed basis of Buddhist religion

Mahhavira: Founder of Jain religion

Pathfinder: Highly purified super-human beings

Dharma: Divinely ordained moral law believed to keep world from falling into chaos

Yakshi: female spirit associated with the productive forces of nature

Yakshas: Male counter part of yakshi

Ashokan Pillar: Monuments dedicated to Buddha, built by Ashoka

Axis Mundi: Axis of the world, joins the earth with the cosmos

Abacus: Slab forming the top of capital

Chakras: One of the seven centers of spiritual energy in the human body

Stupas: Religion monument enclosing a relic chamber

Dressed stone: Highly finished cut block of stone

Toranas: Stone gateways

Nirvana: Liberation from rebirth

Mandala: Diagram of the great cosmos

Viharas: Buddhist monastery

Mandapas: Halls

Garbhagriha: Houses an image of the temple deity; has a flat stone ceiling and windowless walls

Shikharas: Towers on stupas designed in the north

Amlakas: Crown shikharas; circular, cushion-like element

Vimanas: Towers on stupas designed in the south

Capstones: Crown vimanas

Chaitya: Meaning "sacred" usually an enshrined stupa

Sun window: Horse-shoe shaped window

Chaitya window: see sun window

Mithuna couples: Amorous male and female figures that evoka harmony and fertility of life

Mahayana: Result of the evolution that Buddhism went through during the Kushan perion

Iconography: Basic visual language

Sanghati: Monks robes

Lakshana: Two distinguishing marks on the Buddha

Urna: Tuft of white hair between eyebrows

Ushnisha: But or topknot

Mudras: Type of sign language used to get certain messages in art

Bodhisattva: Enlightened beings who postpone nirvana to help others achieve enlightenment

Finial: Sculpted ornament in the shape of a leaf or flower at the top of a gable, pinnacle, or similar structure

Lingham Shrine: A place of worship centered on an object or representation in the form of a phallus, which symbolizes the power of Shiva

Shakti: Divine energy understood as feminine

Bhakti: Devotional

Bkagavad Gita: Sanskrit text xomposed of 700 verse from the Mahabharata

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