Studies in Indian Art

Language: English
Pages: 288 (B & W Illus: 165,)

About the Book:Indian art has a long history and is a subject of great importance as expressing the soul of Indian civilisation. Its value is equal to that of Indian religion, philosophy and literature, which are all to be tapped as perennial sources for the understanding of Indian art-forms.
Indian art is to be studied at two different levels, viz. the external form and the inner meaning. Up to now it has been usual to approach Indian art from the external point of view, i.e. the objective description of images, statuary, architectural buildings and monuments. That is quite correct and essential as the primary basis of approach. But there is also the other side of the medal, viz. the esoteric side which consists in the study of meaning and purpose of art of which the roots lie hidden in Indian religion and philosophy. By looking at these two with equal insight one may be able to recover the true and full significance of the Indian mind as expressed in the creations of art.
Indian artists were, no doubt, interested in beautiful forms and aesthetic problems. They handled a vast and varied repertoire of geometrical, floral, arboreal, animal and human forms but their greatest interest or appeal was to the divine figures, a rich pantheon of gods and goddesses who filled the centre of the picture and whose endless glory and great splendour was of real interest to human beings. Nothing affords greater pleasure to the Indian art critic than to feel divine presence of great gods like Rudra-Siva, and Vishnu, of goddesses like Sri-Lakshmi and Parvati or such divine personages as Buddha and Tirthankara. This calls for a new approach both in the art connoisseur or the sculptor or painter. The papers collected here just make the first attempt to invoke this point of view.