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Rám Ráz, Essay on the Architecture of the Hindús, London: John William Parker, for the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1834

pp. xiv, 64, [2 (errata)], with 42 lithographic plates by Day & Haghe (many folding or double-page), engraved vignette to title; rebound half leather bound with 4 raised bands and gilt text at the spine, retaining the original publisher's printed wrappers inside, complete with the Royal Asiatic Society’s engraved vignette on the title.
13 x 10 in (33 x 25.5 cm)

FROM SHILPASASTRA TO STONE: RÁM RÁZ’S ILLUSTRATED ESSAY ON HINDU ARCHITECTURE, 1834 - A Foundational Contribution to South Asian Architectural Studies

This landmark volume by Rám Ráz (1796–1833), an Indian judge, magistrate at Bangalore, and corresponding member of the Royal Asiatic Society, is one of the earliest and most authoritative treatises on Hindu temple architecture to be written by an Indian scholar in English. Essay on the Architecture of the Hindús, published in London in 1834 by the Royal Asiatic Society, stands as a foundational text in the early study of Indian art and architecture. Notably, the work was published posthumously—Rám Ráz passed away in 1833 before the volume could go to press.

The preface, written by James Prinsep, then secretary of the Society and an eminent orientalist, explicitly acknowledges the author’s death and pays tribute to the singular scholarly value of his manuscript. Under Prinsep’s editorial oversight, the Royal Asiatic Society undertook to publish the work as a memorial to Rám Ráz’s erudition and commitment to indigenous knowledge systems. The publication thus serves as both a scholarly contribution and a rare early instance of institutional recognition of Indian authorship within colonial academic frameworks.

Drawing upon Sanskrit architectural treatises such as the Mánasára and Mayamata, Rám Ráz systematically reconstructs the principles governing sacred architecture in the Hindu tradition. The essay is augmented by forty-two finely engraved plates—including folding and double-page illustrations—detailing the plans, elevations, and ornamental profiles of temples, as derived from textual prescriptions and corroborated by local knowledge. These visual supplements are integral to understanding the text and offer invaluable documentation of pre-modern Indian architecture through the lens of silpasastra.

The plates which follow the text depict various pedestals, columns, entablatures, multistorey vimanas and gopuras, and ground plans, ending with a particularly fine large folding plate showing ‘the pagoda of Tiruvalur.

Rám Ráz’s Essay is not merely a technical manual but a pioneering effort to interpret indigenous knowledge within a comparative and accessible framework. As such, it occupies a unique position at the intersection of Indian traditional scholarship and the emerging discourse on archaeology, architecture, and ethnography in early 19th-century colonial India.

Copies retaining all 42 plates and original wrappers, as here, are increasingly scarce. The volume remains a key reference for historians of South Asian art, architectural theory, and colonial-era knowledge production.

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