Cross-Cultural Comparisons between the Mughal Tomb Garden of Taj Mahal in Agra (India) and the Dry Landscape Garden of the Ryoan-Ji Zen Monastery in Kyoto (Japan): An Analysis of Cultural and Religious Layers of Meaning in Two Cases of Classical Garden Landscape Architecture

Gardens have always meant a lot to people. Gardens are as much about nature as they are about culture. The extent to which gardens carry and embody both similar and different layers of meaning will be demonstrated by comparing two classical gardens, the Taj Mahal tomb garden of the Mughal rulers in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Minnema, Lourens 1960- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2019]
In: Worldviews
Year: 2019, Volume: 23, Issue: 3, Pages: 197-229
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Tadsch Mahal (Agra) / Park / Ryōanji (Kioto) / Landscape architecture / Meaning / Religion / Culture
IxTheo Classification:AA Study of religion
AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AG Religious life; material religion
BJ Islam
BL Buddhism
KBM Asia
ZB Sociology
Further subjects:B nature-culture
B Ryoan-ji
B landscape garden
B Landscape architecture
B tomb garden
B Mughal garden
B Zen garden
B Taj Mahal
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Summary:Gardens have always meant a lot to people. Gardens are as much about nature as they are about culture. The extent to which gardens carry and embody both similar and different layers of meaning will be demonstrated by comparing two classical gardens, the Taj Mahal tomb garden of the Mughal rulers in Agra, India, and the Ryoan-ji dry landscape garden of the Zen monks in Kyoto, Japan. Parallels will be drawn by offering a (diachronic) analysis of the historical accumulation of layers of meaning associated with each one of these two gardens, and (synchronic) structural comparisons will be drawn by raising two thematic issues in particular, the inside-outside relationship and the nature-culture relationship. The roles that Islam and Zen Buddhism play in the religious meaning making of these two classical gardens turn out to be strikingly similar, in that they confirm rather than transform other layers of cultural meaning.
ISSN:1568-5357
Contains:Enthalten in: Worldviews
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685357-02302005