Arts in the Puranas (study)

by Meena Devadatta Jeste | 1973 | 74,370 words

This essay studies the Arts in the Puranas by reconstructing the theory of six major fine arts—Music, Dance, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, and Literature—from the Major and Minor Puranas. This thesis shows how ancient sages studied these arts within the context of cultural traditions of ancient India....

5. Materials for Painting

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In the success of the art of the painter, the delineation of colours and shades and also a well-prepared background and painting material have a lion's share. Visnudharmottara has enumerated the proper material in order to know how and with what aids the artist should provide his beautiful pictures. It gives subtle hints about the colours, their preparation and mixing. "A painting firmly drawn with a magnificient hairy brush (lit.tail) on a canvas dipped in the juice of the best Durva grass cannot be destroyed and remains intact for many years though washed by water. describes the preparation of fluid also. further says that by proper selection and distribution of 35 colours paintings become delightful. given guidance about how to paint with colours. "The learned artist should draw (outlines) with unoozing black and white brushes in due order and fix them on the duly measured ground. 34 Vismudharmottara It Visnudharmottara has These then should be filled with colours in appropriate places. *36 COLOURS As for the employment of colour we get detailed information from chapters twenty seven and forty of the

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261 Visnudharmottara. They give five primary colours which are of white, yellow, black, blue and colour of the myrobalan in chapter forty; while chapter twenty-seven gives white, red, yellow, black and green. Natyasastra gives the same set of colours. Silparatna, a later treatise, mentions white, red, yellow, soot, and syama (darkblue or black). The A bhilasitartha-Cintamani recognises as pure colours, white made of conch shell, red (prepared from red lead or from Alaktaka juice, i.e. lac or from red chalk-Gairika), green brown (haritala), and black from Kajjala (soot used as eye black). The outline drawing of the Ajanta painting was in brown, deep red or black. The principal colours in use were red, yellow, blue, black, white and green. The mixing of the colours is left to the ingenuity of the artist by the Visnudharmottara. Therefore, the artist should mix the primary colours according to his own logic and 37 imagination and make them thousandfold. The texts on painting, give a list of the various shades obtained by mixing primary colours. Dark (black) and white colour possesses great suitability for getting mixed with other different colours. They give a twofold colour when mixed with all colours i. e. the light and dark shades of every colour. Visaudharmottara says that in the case of all colours, the exudation of the sindura tree is desirable. The colouring substances are gold, silver, copper, mica, deep coloured brass, red lead, tin, yellow orpiment, yellow myrobalan, lac, vermillon

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262 and indigo. It further states that there are many other similar colouring substances in every country. They should be prepared with an astringent. Prescriptions for the preparation of these vegetable and mineral colours are given in the Silparatna (Ch. 46 vs. 119 - 130). 38 The fluid for colours should be made of iron leaves. A mica defile placed in iron should serve as a distiller. In this context Vismudharmottara gives the testimony of the work called Surasendrabhumija. In this way iron becomes suitable for painting. The Visnudharmottara describes the various shades of the colours giving examples of various objects. Visnudharmottara further states that the colour of things seen, should be painted resembling their natural 39 colouring. The range of colours must be wide enough to render with subtlety the local colour of the objects. The colour has partly descriptive and partly suggestive significance. The different tribes and castes of India are distinguished by their different colours. For instance, Pulindas and the people of the Deccan are mostly dark in colour so also the sick, the evil doers, family men engaged in hard physical work should be dark. While the Sakas, Yavanas, Pallavas should be white. The twice born should be painted in the colour of the moon and the Kstriyas, the kings and prosperous people are of the colour of the Padma (white lotus). Vaisyas should be slightly light in colour while the Suudras should be dark.

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