Publisher's Synopsis
With surveys of diverse 'Buddhic' and 'Hindic' temples in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and even Malaysia, the book shows how the basic element in their architecture: the plan, was fraught with iconographic import and input, necessitating the guidance of an authoritative compendia, the arcane knowledge of the sthapati (priest-architect), and other complex procedures steeped in symbolism.