Gandhinagar
Subtitle: Building National Identity in Postcolonial India
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: August 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 165
ISBN-13: 9781570035449
Subjects: City & town planning - architectural aspects; Social conditions; Gåandhåinagar (India); Gandhinagar; Sociology - General; Social Science; Architecture; Sociology; India; History - General; Asia - India; International Architecture - Asian; City planning; Urban policy; Gandhinagar (India); Gåandhåinagar
First sentence: GUJARAT, CALLED THE melting pot of India and treasure trove of architectural styles, derives its name from Gujjara-ratta, the form the name takes in Prakrit, the old Indic dialect: the Sanskrit term is Gurjjara-rastra-literally, the "country of the Gurjjaras."
Description: "Exploring the impact of modernist architecture on India as a whole, Kalia suggests that the style gained acceptance because its parsimonious designs and unadorned spaces never represented a threat to a religiously pluralist country anxious to create a secular identity. He explains how two competing versions of Indian history and ideology - Gandhi's and Jawaharlal Nehru's - employed modernism's ideals for their own separate ends. Serving two masters, as Kalia illustrates, created constrictions and tensions evident in the building of Gandhinagar and in the careers of many Indian architects, including Doshi, Charles Correa, and Achyut Kanvinde."--BOOK JACKET.