Rambling Thoughts on the Indian Art and

RAMBLING THOUGHTS ON THE INDIAN ART
AND CULTURAL HERITAGE

Every Culture stands for some noble principles. As Swami Vivekananda said “Each nation has its own part to play and naturally each nation has its own peculiarity and individuality, with which it is born. Each represents, as it were, one peculiar note in this harmony of nations, and this is its very life, its vitality. In it is the bone, the foundation, and the bed-rock of the national life. In one nation political power is its vitality, as in England. Artistic life is another and so on. I have seen that I cannot preach even religion to Americans without showing them its practical effect on social life. I could not preach religion in England without showing wonderful political changes the Vedanta would bring.”

Here in this blessed land of ours the foundation / the bone is religion and religion alone. In India, religious life forms the center, the key note of the whole music of national life.

Historical ground of Indian art and cave paintings 

The history of the art of painting in India can be traced to pre-historic and proto historic times. The earliest specimens are to be seen in the dark recesses of the caves and rock shelters founded amidst hills. Several scholars like Vakankar, D. H. Gordon, H. D. Sankalia, V. N. Misra had explored and studied these paintings and tried to know their cultural setting and periods to which they could be assigned.

Some important places among them are: sites like Bimbetka near Bhopal, Gwalior, Tikla, Agra region, Bhanpura, Rampura, Singhauli, Bhojpur, Admgarh (near Hoshangabad), Delwore (Mount Abu) etc., In Andhra, Mahaboobnagar and Pikhhihal regions. In Kerala, Edakkal hill and on Marayoor rock shelter, Mallapurdi in North Arcot District in Tamilnadu are other examples of Cave Paintings.

The subject matter of the paintings is largely that of animals like the elephant, the bull, the bison, the rhinoceros, the dog, the deer, human figures, hunting scenes, besides many geometrical and floral designs and birds like peacock, swan, etc.

Ajanta and Ellora

The Cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora conjure up in the minds of art lovers the visions of exquisite specimens of Indian art. The Ajanta caves, celebrated for their etherial paintings and equally striking sculptures create a compelling atmosphere of peace and beauty.

Traditional Art Forms

The essential aspect of Indian art is its occupation with things of the spirit. The stories of sculptural art in India spans five millennia and begins with the Indus Valley Civilization in the Punjab and Sind in the third millennium BC.

As a reaction to the strict rituals of Brahmanism, two new religions, Buddism and Jainism were born in India in the sixth century BC. Under Ashoka 273-232 BC. Buddhism became the state religion. The sculpted colossal ‘Yaksha’ and ‘Yakshini’ images at various Centers like Mathura, Bharatpur, Pawaya, Rayghat, Kausambi, Patna, Vidisha, Sisupalgarh belong to this phase. So also do the numerous monolithic, buff stone polished pillars carrying Ashoka’s edicts, adorned with animal capitals of striking craftsmanship, of which the lion capital of the Sarnath Pillar is the crowning achievement.

The female form, in various seductive poses, was a favourite subject and few images can view elegance, delicacy and charm with the beautiful women created by the Mathura Artists.

Contemporaneous with the Kushans and their successors, the Guptas, there flourished in the Gandhara region a separate school, of sculpture with pronounced Hellenistic influence which specialized in the Buddha and Bodhisattva images built mostly of Blue schist stone. Gandharan sculpture gradually became more Indianised and from the fourth century onwards the art in stucco, attained an integrated style of great beauty.

To the Satavahanas of the Andhra (era 200 BC to 200 AD) contemporaries of the northern Sungas and the Kushans owe several monumental stupas adorned with sculptures and bas reliefs of exceptional beauty. The sculptures of Amaravati and Nagarjuna Konda are truly inspired works, which unfold the story of a people who had adopted Buddism as a way of life.

The Gupta period (era 300 to 600 AD) has rightly been called the classical or the Golden Age of Indian Art, idealizing what poet Kalidas aptly called ‘beauty without sin’. The Imperial Guptas encouraged all types of art, paintings, bronzes terracotta’s, gold coins etc.,

At Ellora are sublime sculptures depicting the resurgent spirit of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. However, the artistic activities in the Deccan had begun long before, in the 3rd century B. C.

Truly has it been said by Roger Fry in his book. ‘The art of Painting and Sculpture’, that the Indian artist had an extraordinarily developed plastic sense. No other people in the world have ever dreamed of sculpting such great temples out of the solid rock as he has. Indeed Indian architecture proceeds, not as ours according to the principles of construction; it is rather conceived as an object cut out of a solid material as ivory figure might be. According to Hindu Philosophy, the divine has both personal and impersonal aspects. Symbols of the personal aspects satisfy the philosophic sense of the devotee, yet make easy the grasping of the absolute.

A symbol is a sign or an identifying mark. Symbols are signs for expressing the invisible by means of visible or sensuous representations. We think in symbols, we act in symbols, we live in symbols, we learn in symbols. The Universe is but one vast symbol of God, man himself is but a symbol of God. Symbols are used for the easy transmission of culture. Symbols are representations of abstract ideas in Hinduism, each deity has his own set of symbols which not only identify him but also become a devotee’s means to spiritual salvation, his way of communicating with God. The linga, trisula or trident, bhasma or ash, tripundra, rudraksha and bell are the symbols of Siva. Each is expressive and invested with a deep mystical meaning and significance.

Polytheism is for all outward appearance the characteristic feature of Hinduism. But they know that the truth is one though the sages call it by different names. There are other scholars who have given a purely mystical explanation of the vedic lore. Some of the words have been pointed out as ‘the perceptible outer image or symbol of a truth, an idea of an object of the inner world’. Thus, the esoteric meaning of the cow, is the inner illumination, asva (horse) is the symbol of strength, life force, water, symbolizes the shape of life. So, when we speak of symbolism in Hinduism, we must include all these.

Vedanta systematizes the heterogeneous deities by viewing them as symbols of Brahman, and different rituals and faiths as ways leading to the Divine. Thus, the entire superstructure of Hindu worship is built on this idea of symbolism.

When human beings are in need of gain or comfort, they invent gods according to their own needs and temperaments. The group mind then stylizes the forms as well as the rituals connected with these several gods who are but created by humans.

The devotee knows that the image of a god is a mere art, fact and toy, unless it is properly consecrated. Rituals are naturally important for transforming an artefact into an icon. Human devotion can flower out in the light of god that is reflected through the icon.

The icon must evolve into a verbal image, a concept. God as a verbal concept (Mantra) is subtler than the material icon (Murti). But subtler still is the thought complex (Yantra) in which speech is transformed into essential ideas that ultimately merge in a paint (Bindu), where Gods presence is focused.

Artist and Sculptor in Society

Stone is not sculpture, paints are not paintings, nor words are a poem unless and until they are given a form by a person of creative talent and power of imagination.

Every piece of stone is an uncarved sculpture, every lump of clay is an unmoulded figure, every human being is a talented artist and he was the unmanifest figure, concealed in the raw stone or in the psyche of the artist. He was the unpainted picture dormant in the paints of the painter.

The Craftsman whose job is to fashion icons, fulfills the needs of the devotees. He must be naturally acquainted with the relevant Mantras and Yantras. But more importantly he must be familiar with the descriptive mantras, known as dhyana­slokas, which specify the posture, the mood, the number of hands, the weapons, decorations and other formal details of the particular icon meant for worship. The training of the traditional sculpture necessarily included connecting of these dhyana-slokas to memory, so that he would be ready to translate any stylized verbal image into an equally stylized icon stone, metal or wood.

Mathura, which was at one time situated on the trade routes of the country and was therefore a busy commercial metropolis, became the place where icon-makers also gathered. Traders and political agents, who belonged to different religious groups visited Mathura.

Indian philosophy and life which is explicit in their day to day living or their manifestations in artefacts every where, bear testimony to their feelings of sublimity and uniqueness. The temple, sculpture, festivals, ceremonies and day to day life of an average Hindu always believes in continuity of the theists external values to posterity. Thus, the artistic and cultural values of India are external not only in the context of India but the world at large. They have spiritual significance along with artistic beauty.