Unreconcilable contradictions: the poetry of Aditya Prakash

Abstract

Is it possible that Anglophone Euro-American scholarship surrounding the Indian city, Chandigarh, focuses too heavily on certain figures associated with its design -such as Swiss-French architect and paragon of architectural modernism- Le Corbusier? With this question in mind, the following article focuses on the Indian architect Aditya Prakash- who worked alongside Le Corbusier during the design of Chandigarh-and the two poetry volumes he produced with Indian writer Mulk Raj Anand. This article contributes to an emerging body of research that suggests the need to de-emphasise Le Corbusier and to better understand the role of the Indian team in the design of Chandigarh. Through the analysis of hitherto under-researched poetry devoted to Chandigarh, this article offers a more nuanced understanding of Chandigarh, Aditya Prakash, and his relation to Le Corbusier.

Keywords

• chandigarh
• aditya prakash
• le corbusier
• modernism
• india
• architecture
• post-colonial
• periphery
• imposition
• secular
• modernity