Vaisnava Agamas and Visnu Images [Photo gallery]
Art in India was always inseparable from other aspects of life. This is very much evident from the literary and archaeological evidences throughout the history of India. The continuity could be maintained only because the tradition itself had an inbuilt paradigm of facilitating change, constantly adjusting itself to a contemporaeneity of time, and place while adhering to certain underlying principles that were perennial and immutable through the ages.
South India is famous for its artistic bronzes and sculptures. The fine features carved on them and the mode of casting are considered the high watermarks of Indian technology and skill. Their faces reflect the mood of the deities realistically. This reflects their modelling perfection. T hey are the acme of aesthetic perfection.
The treatise of both the Pancaratra and Vaikhanasa Agamas extensively deal with the technical features on temple art and architecture. Sometime , they detail certain stance or pose but do not mention the technical term: the same way. they do mention the technical term but hardly describe them. For instance, the Padma-samhita, a detailed work of Pancaratra tradition. describe the band holding the attribute cakra and sankha. The hand-pose is obviously kartarimukha but the term “kartarimukha” is not found therein in the particular context. The term “katyavalambita” (kati-hasta or uru-hasta) is found in the texts but details are not provided.
Gallery: 9 images
Click each photos to see detailled description, exif-information and high-resolution:
