► V AN AN DA K. COOMAkASWA.Vn • * • r 8a:.;a ~ TRKKUn C : , b 8 WOVlSrC INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART i*v ANANDA K. COOMAKASW AM Y lOMAIMNii TIIIKTY -FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS THEOSOPI IICAL PUBLISHING IRMJSI. Auvak Maukas Iniwa COPYRIGHT (7>flrvs/«fio« mini *htt fi§kt» rumwd by th* fuiUsJkirs) INTRODUCTION ‘ ART in India,’ and 4 art ’ in the modern world mean two very different things. In India, it is the statement of a racial experience, and serves the purposes of life, like daily bread. Indian art has always been produced in response to a demand : that kind of idealism which would glorify the artist who pursues a personal ideal of beauty and strives to express himself, and suffers or perishes for lack of patronage, would appear to Indian thought far more ridiculous or pitiable than heroic. The modern world, with its glorification of person- ality, produces works of genius and works of mediocrity following the peculiarities of in- dividual artists : in India, the virtue or defect of any work is the virtue or defect of the race in that age. The names and peculiarities of individual artists, even if we could recover them, would not enlighten us: nothing depends v INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART upon genius or requires the knowledge ot an individual psychology for its interpretation. To understand at all, we must understand experiences common to all men of the time and place in which a given work was pro- duced. All Indian art has been produced by professional craftsmen following traditions handed down in pupillary succession. Origin- ality and novelty are never intentional. Changes in form, distinguishing the art of one age from that of another, reflect the necessities of current theology, and not the invention of genius : changes in quality reflect the varying, but not deliberately varied, changes in racial psychology, vitality, and taste. What is new arises constantly in Indian tradition without purpose or calculation on the part of the craftsman, simply because life has remained over long extended periods an vi INTRODUCTION immediate experience. Tradition is a living thing, and utterly unlike the copying of styles which has replaced tradition in modern life. No such failure of energy as archaism represents appears in Indian art before the twentieth century. In India, the same qualities pervade all works of any given period, from pottery to architecture, and all are equally expressive : the smallest fragment of a textile portrays the same as the most elaborate temple. In other words, there are no distinctions of fine and applied or decorative art and no unsur- mountable barrier dividing the arts of the folk from the canonical arts. Indian art has always an intelligible meaning and a definite purpose. An ' art for art’s sake,' a * fine ' or useless art, if it could have been imagined, would only have been regarded vii INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART as a monsturous product of human vanity. The modern * fine * or useless arts are un- related to life and speak in riddles —and hence the utter impossibility of inculcating a * love of art ' in the people at large. A race producing great art, however, does so, not by its * love of art,’ but by its love of life. In India, where no one discussed art (there is no Sanskrit equivalent for the modern concept of ‘ art ’) ; where none but philosophers discussed the theory of beauty ; and where sculptures and paintings were regarded, not as ‘ works of art ' but as means to definite ends — there, art was an integral quality inhering in all activities, entertained by all in their daily environment, and produced by all in proportion to the vitality (not the kind) ot their activity. viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS L K uni lu Ajit.Mtru. Sim., b.tfhl 8 ft., 8 in. Circa 815 B.C. Mathura MuiiaB. 2. Yak f im. or Earth G.-ddeae. Stone, height fl ft., 7 in. Pro- Maury an CilnKl Museum. 3. Inscribed Asoka Column. Slone, height 32 (t, 9| ia. Third century 8 C Inunyl Nandengerh. 4. Stufia, railing and torana. Stone. Second end tint cen- tury 8.C. Senci. 5. Inara. Living Rock Circa aecond century B.C. Bhlji 6. Kupiro Yakhn f Kurort). Stone, height 5 ft. Second century 8.C. Barhut. 7. Save L»e.fam. Stone, height 5 ft Firit century 8.C GudlmaJIam 8. Bodhiaattve (Gautama Buddha). Stone, height 2 ft., 3} in. First century A O Mathuxi Museum 9. Gautama Buddha- Stunt. height 1 ft., 5| in. First cen- tury a.D Mathura Muaeum. 10. Kanifha. Slene Pird-iacoad century A.D. Met burl Museum. 1!. Siirya. Sk-ne, height 2 It., 9 in. First century a_d. Mslhurl Museum 12 Buddhist Werahippcrs Stone (marble), width 2 ft. r 8 in. Second century a.d. Anuridhnpura. Ceylon. 13. Two Figures ol Gaufama Buddha. Stone (mnrblej. End of aecond century A D. Amerivati. 14. Gautama Buddha Slone (marhJe), ever life lire. Second to third century A.D Anurjdhepura, Ceylon. IS Gautama Buddha Stone, height 7 ft., 2| io. Fifth can* tury. MathurA Museum. 18. Stela, relief representing Kft na Gorardhana dhara, etc. Stone. Fourth century. Meador. 17. Verahn Avatar Living Keck, ColoaaaL Circe 500 Udaya- giri, Bhopal 18. Bodhisattva (AtaJnk.tcsvara). Freaco Circa SOV- Cave 1, Aianfi IX INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART It. Siva and Pirvati on Ml. Kail it- Living rock. Eighth century. Eluri- 29. Vifnu (Anentsaayin). Living Rock Eighth century. M ImatlapuTam. 21. Bodbiaattva ( Avalekitesvara). Copp er, h eight I ft. NepaL Circa tenth century. Boston Museum. 22. Viaou. Copper. Tenth to eleventh century. Bengal- Sohitya Par.shad, Calcutta. 23. Mira dharsana ftamptatloa of Buddha) Stone. Ninth century Bofoboduf, Java. 24. Army Marching. Stone. Twelfth century. Angkor Wat, Cambodia. 25. Priaia of Dancera. Slone (marble). Tenth century. Dilwirt, Mt. AM. 2S Siva aa Na|ara,a Copper, height 3 It.. 9| In. Sixteenth century ? Madras Museum. 27. Minikka Vfeagar. Copper. Thirteenth century. Polon- niruve. Colombo Museum. 28. Suodara Murli Svrfmi. Copper. Thirteenth century. Peloongruva. Colombo Museum. 29. Dik'd of Mahlvira (Aalfia Sutra MS.). Paper, length. $ in. Circe fifteenth century. Gujarat. Boston Museum. 39. Sri RAgipi. Paper, dimension! 5f x 7 in Rajput, Rajasthim. late sixteenth century. Metropolitan Museum, New York. 31. Megha-MalUra Rflgini. Paper, dimensions 54*7 in. Early seventeenth century. Rajput, Rijaathini. 32. Stage of Lank a (ffernsyona). Paper, dimensions 231 X 33 in. Late seventeenth cenlury. Rajput, Pablp. Boston Museum. 33. Rimayana, Vana-perva. Paper, dimensions 4Jx7| in* Circa 1700? Ra.pul, Pahlp. Collection Arthur B. Davies, New York. 34. Hr 'ns Vequgopala. Paper, dimensions 5|x7 in. Circa 1700 ? Rajput. Pahip* Boston Museum. X CONTENTS PAGE Introduction • V List of Illustrations • ix Skction 1. Vedic Origins • 1 *♦ 2. Prc-Mauryan Sculpture . ♦ 4 n 3. The Great Enlightenment ♦ • 9 M 4. Early Buddhist Art * 15 M 5. Development of Devotional Theism . . . . • 29 H 6. Kus6n and Late Andhra Period • 40 M 7. Gupta Period • • . • 57 » 8. Early Mediaeval Period • 73 H 9. Mediaeval Sculpture . ■ 84 99 10. Southern India • 93 ■9 11. Further India and Indonesia • 102 •9 12. Mediaeval Buddhist Painting • 109 H 13. Jain Painting • 114 99 14. Rajput Painting • • 118 Appendix (Bibliographies) .... • 130 XI INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART BY ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY SECTION THE FIRST VEDIC ORIGINS EARLY VEDIC RELIGION THE RELIGION of the Aryans in Northern India — consisted in the worship of the personified powers of Nature, in particular of Agni, Indra, Surya, Varupa, Vi$nu, Rudra, Yama. These and other powers and beings were anthrnpomorphically conceived, and are described as wearing gar- ments, carrying weapons, and driving in cars ; they were worsbipp< d with hymns anti sacri- fices, that they might bless and protect their worshippers. Magical incantations were em- ployed to the same ends. The spirits of the ancestors were likewise invoked and served with offerings. The ritual grew in complication, and came to lie almost entirely in the hands ot expert priests (Brahmans), amongst whom the INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART sacred texts were handed down orally in pupillary succession. There is no evidence, and little probability, that images of any of the deities were made, whether sculptured or painted.' There existed also aboriginal (Dravidian) cults of various popular divinities, such as the Yak^as, Nflgas, and other nature-spirits not yet received into the BrShmagical pantheon ; of a primitive deity, afterwards identified with $iva, whose followers are referred to in the Rg Veda as worshippers of the Phallus-god (§igna-deva) ; and of the Earth and other female deities. The industrial arts were 1 The golden fiurufa which formed a part of the altar of sacrifice, and the effigy krtya of the magic rites, were probably symbols, and not in any sense representations. Mr. B. C. Bhattacharya, however, has summarised the evidence for the use of imaflos in the Vedic period, and presents an almost unanswerable case — Indian I mates, Calcutta . 1921. 2 VEDIC ORIGINS mainly in the hands of the non-Aryan com- munities. It is possible that rude images were employed in the popular cults. Wood and brick were used for building. Iron, copper, silver, gold and lead were known. Many of the decorative motifs with Iranian affinities which survive in folk art to the present day must already have been in use. The caste system existed only in embryo. 3 SECTION THE SECOND PRE-MAURYAN SCULPTURE THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN sculpture and painting, like that of the drama, appears to have been connected with ancestor cults and hero-worship. The Citra-Lak^apa, an early $ilpa §astra, now known only in its Tibetan translation in the Tanjur, is chiefly devoted to a prescription of the proper manner in which a Cakravartin should be represented : the canon is set * for kings and other beings ’ (the gods). So far as the laksaqa of the Cakravartin are concerned, the sistra probably dates back to pre- Buddhist times. In any case, the apotheosis of kings and the erection of funerary statues seem to have been character- istic of Indian civilization from the age of the earliest surviving monuments onwards. The oldest Indian sculpture so far known appears 4 I. Kunik* Ajftfxtttru. 2. Y&kshi: Besaagar Mat burn Muvum Calcutta Muicum PRE-MAURY AN PRE-MAURYAN SCULPTURE to be the well-known ' Parkham Statue ’ of the Mathurfl Museum (Fig. 1), which bears, according to recent readings, an inscription referring to Kunika Ajatasatru, of the Sai?un3ga dynasty, who died in 618 B.C. Closely related to this image is the female figure, perhaps a Yak§I, from Besnagar, now in the Calcutta Museum. Two statues found at Patna bear the names of other Saisunaga emperors, Udayin and Nanda Vardhana, both of the fifth century B.C. The female cauri- bearer lately found at Didargnnj, and now in the Patna Museum, may bo equally early. With the same series may be associated the archaic five-legged bull in the Calcutta Museum. The group of figures above referred to, while implying a long anterior development in wood or other impermanent material, represents the genuinely primitive aspect of INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Indian art. The sense of this early art is not imaginative, but powerfully material. These human figures, over life-size, resting their immense weight firmly on the earth, are immediate and affirmative expressions of physical energy. Life is accepted without question or analysis : the solid flesh is not idealized. Neither philosophic introspection nor passionate devotion have yet affected art : there is no trace of romanticism or refinement. At the same time, this pre-Mauryan Indian art is not, like early Egyptian art, complete within itself, bounded by its material and representative achievement and of altogether mortal essence : it is not yet spiritual, rather than unspiritual. Mr. Jayaswal’s researches in the field of pre- Mauryan art have pointed the way to the most fruitful and the least explored sources for the 6 PRE-MAURYAN SCULPTURE origins of Indian art : this early sculpture in an absolutely pure mode, springing directly from the earth it stands upon, alone supplies the key to subsequent developments. Here, for example, lies the explanation of the almost complete submergence of Hellenistic formula* in the unified national schools of the Gupta age : we can follow from the seventh century B.C. to the sixth or seventh century A.D., and thence on, a continuous tradition ; and we realise that this clear current flowed too powerfully and too immediately from native sources to have been seriously deflected by the foreign formulae which it adopted and moulded to its own ends. The immediate evidence offered for the new interpretations of what were formerly regarded as works of Mauryan date is palaeo- graphical, and still to some extent a matter of 7 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART controversy; but the conclusions are amply supported by the internal aesthetic evidence, which clearly demands an earlier dating of the primitive sculptures. It would be indeed surprising if the most powerful and original elements of this art, destined to remain pre- potent for a millennium and a half, had not already found expression in the age of the great spiritual crisis. No lesser material force than this, no less complete and pure an acceptance of physical existence could have been a sure foundation for the Great Enlighten- ment — a term used here to designate, not merely the Maha Sambodhi of the Buddha, but the awakening of the race from innocence to consciousness implied in the passage from Vedic to Vedantic thought. 8 SECTION THE THIRD THE GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT BY THE EIGHTH CENTURY B.C. PHILO- sophical speculation had advanced ; the doctrines of karma and samsSra had come to be generally accepted ; and, by contrast with the merely temporary advantage of rebirth in a heaven, salvation (nwksa, nirvana) from the conditions of mortality was recognised as the highest good. This salvation or spiritual freedom could only be attained with the immediate experience of spiritual truth, not through the Vedic ritual nor by works. The meaning of life was only to be found in the knowledge of the Self, in the identification of all that is known with the knowing subject. This was a revelation that determined the whole subsequent development of Indian civilisation, alike in content and form. As such, it finds its first and purest expression in the Upanisads and, later, in Buddhism and 9 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Jainism and other individual systems. Histori- cally, it is of K$attriya rather than of Brahman origin. Its expression in the Upani$ads, afterwards formulated as the Vedanta, how- ever, was early accepted by the Brahmans as the consummation and goal of the Vedic tradition, and constitutes the spiritual back- ground for the whole subsequent development of the monotheistic faiths and of the Hindu social order. Buddhism and Jainism, develop- ing on parallel lines, although in formal opposition to Hindu systems, long survived as heterodox persuasions — the former in Southern India until the seventh century, and in Bengal until the end of the twelfth, the latter to the present day. It will be convenient here to summarise the formulation of truth according to the leading systems of the Enlightenment : 10 THE GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT Upani^ads : Identity of the individual con- sciousness (not the empirical ego) with the unknowable Supreme Self or Brahman which is * not so,’ the innermost principle of the Universe ; unreality of the latter as extended in time and space, and consequently merely relative truth of doc- trines of creation, transmigra- tion, etc. Buddhism : Association of existence with suffering; impermanence and causal origination of all pheno- mena ; non-existence of any ego. S&rhkhya : Illusory association of plurality of knowing subjects (Puru$a) with Nature, actual and po- tential (Prakrti) ; the three factors, sattva, rajas , and tamas, of the objective world. 11 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Jainism : Soul ( ilva ) and non-soul (ailva) linked by karma. SannySsa (asceticism), Tafias (penance), and Yoga (concentration of thought) are favored by all these systems, in so far as they accommodate themselves to the concept of causality, as practical * means ’ tending to realization. None of these systems, in their origin, im- plied a cult of personal divinities, still less did they require a use of images. Even the Yoga mentions the Lord (I;vara) only as one among other suitable objects of meditation. For another reason, it was impossible that im- mediate effects of the Enlightenment should have been recognized in art : the mode of life at first associated with the conception of spiritual freedom is ascetic; and the explicit and impli- cit tendency of all the philosophic systems at 12 THE GREAT ENLIGHTENMENT this time is to regard the arts (which had never yet been thought of as media for the expression of spiritual ideas) exclusively in their sensual aspect as means of enjoyment — and as the Marka'/dcya Pur Una later expresses it, ‘ Nothing should be done by a Brihmaij for the sake of enjoyment.’ Capakya classes musicians and actors with courtesans ; Manu forbids the householder to dance or sing, and reckons architects and actors amongst unwor- thy men who should not be invited to sacri- fices. In early Buddhist literature the painter is compared to the purveyor of aphrodisiacs ; the Buddha even condemns the presentation of the Dhamma in an attractive literary form. And, in fact, the actual themes of artistic re- presentation in this age cannot have been such as to invite the approval of those whose faces were turned away from the world. Only at a 13 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART much later period was there a conscious expression ol spiritual ideas through plastic- art, and only later still a distinction drawn between the sympathetic value and the spiri- tual content even of literary works. 14 Plate II j. Asokan 4. StCjpa rail and gate: Sftftri pillar MAURYAN AND EARLY ANDHRA SECTION THE FOURTH EARLY BUDDHIST ART-MAURYA, §UNGA AND EARLY ANDHRA’ ART OF THE MAURYAN PERIOD MAY BE said to exhibit three main phases, (I) the con- tinuation of the pre-Mauryan tradition, now applied in some instances to the representation of Vedic deities. The most striking illustration of this development is afforded by the sculptur- ed reliefs of Surya and Indra (figure 5) in the veranda of the ancient vihara at Bhaja, (2) the court art of A$oka, typically seen in the monolithic columns (figure 3) on which are □scribed his famous Edicts, and in which foreign (Iranian) elements predominate, and (3) the beginnings of brick and stone archi- tecture, as in the case of the original stupa at Sand, the small monolithic rail at Sand, and 1 For literature referring to Section Four see Appendix. 15 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART the Lomas R$i ‘ cave,’ in the Bar&bar hills near Bodh GayS, with its ornamented facade, reproducing the forms of wooden structure. The beginnings of Buddhist art appear to be associated with the memorial monuments {caityas) erected on the sites of the Four Great Events of the Buddha's life, and in other places. Funeral mounds {stupas) were, indeed, already erected over the divided remains immediately after the cremation of the Buddha’s body ; and he himself, before his death, is recorded to have spoken of * four places which an Aryan worshipper should visit with religious emotion Each of the Great Events and sites was represented by a symbol ; and these symbols, taken collectively, relate in a kind of pictorial shorthand, the whole story of the Buddha’s life. Most of them occur abundantly on the punch-marked coins 16 EARLY BUDDHIST ART of the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., a few appear for the first time at Barhut and Sahel, and the majority survive in Indian Buddhist art to the end, side by side with the later developments. In the following table are given the sites, significant events, and symbols : Place Event Symbol ( Conception Elephant Kapilavastu Nativity Lotus, bull (Going Forth Gate, horse Bodh Gaya Great Enlighten- Bodhi tree with ment rail Sernath First Preaching Wheel, often with deer Kusinagara Final Nirvana Stupa (Death) To the Suhga period (185 — 80 B.C.) must be assigned (approximately in chronological order), the sculptured railings and gateway at B&rhut, the stone casing, ground balustrade and plain railing at S&ncl, the sculptured 17 s INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART railings at Bodh Gaya, certain fragments at MathurS, the earliest sculptures at Amaravatl, and also the caitya-halls or churches at Guntupalle, Bhaja, Kondane, Pitalkhora, Ajapta (cave X), Bedsa, Ajapta (cave IX), and the early Jain caves at Udayagiri in Orissa. Taken collectively, the total amount of relief sculpture at these sites is very considerable. Sculpture in the round is hardly represented. Except at B&rhut, however, the greater part of the sculpture seems to be secular or decorative, rather than definitely religious, particularly so in the case of the Jain caves in Orissa (where, however, there occur repre- sentations of SQrya and of Maya Devi or Gaja Lakqml) ; but this may be due to our inability to recognize the subject matter. At B&rhut the most important Buddhist sculptures are the numerous medallions illustrating J&taka 18 EARLY BUDDHIST ART stories, each with an identifying inscription ; reliefs illustrating historical episodes of the Buddha’s life ; and pillars bearing in relief the figures of guardian yaksas and yaksis, nOga kings and dcvafds — the nature spirits of popular cults embraced by Buddhist mythology and regarded as defenders of the faith. The Jdtaka reliefs are excellent pieces of condensed story- telling, the representation of trees and land- scape full of interest and decorative beauty, the animals and human figures well understood and placed, whether singly or in groups. The §uhga sculptures at Sand, on the other hand, are mainly decorative. That of the early caves, though always in relief, is exceedingly massive in character, and very clearly related to pre- Mauryan art. It has been remarked of Mauryan and Suftga art by Sir John Marshall that the 19 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART sculptor was still bound by the law of front- ality considering the composition from only one point of view), and that " the * memory picture * had not yet given place to direct observation of nature The first remark is obviously true as a fact of technical pro- cedure ; the second involves a certain misinter- pretation of Indian aesthetic psychology, and deserves a longer discussion. The memory picture — or rather, a synthetic image based on past experience— is from first to last the essential foundation of Indian art : we cannot recognize here any such innate striving towards realism as that which becomes apparent, soon after the primitive developments, in Greek and Christian art- The Indian method is always one of visualization— uncon- scious in primitive, systematized in the mature art. Indian art is always a language 20 EARLY BUDDHIST ART employing symbols, valid only by tradition and convention. The symbol may be little more than a geometrical design, as in the case of the lotus rosette denoting miraculous birth, or anthropomorphic as in the later Nativities, where Maya Devi is represented as a woman, either with or without the infant Bodhisattva. In both cases equally, there is definite and comprehensible statement ; but the form of the statement is always that of the art language of the day (we may illustrate this by pointing out that perspective representation is a part of the art language of our own times, while it does not by itself make modern art superior to ancient art) ; and this language is never one of ‘ direct observation of nature It is true that a tendency to realism is evident in the Gandhara sculptures, but there it is of Western origin, and it does not prevail in Indian or 21 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Chinese art which preserve the formula alone, and not the intention of Greco-Buddhist sculpture. On the other hand, we do recognize in Indian art of certain periods, and miss at other times, a certain virtuous and moving, indeed, an essential quality, which is often spoken of as truth to Nature : the development of this truth we describe as progress, the loss of it as decadence, but it must not be confused with the assimilation of the symbol to natural appearance, which, by itself, is a technical and not an aesthetic progress. The point to be made is that this truth is not the result of observation (of models) but of feeling (empathy, eirtfuhling, sddkSrana, with reference to the artist in the first instance, rather than the critic). If we are impressed by the truth of a movement in sculpture or painting, this means, not that the craftsman has observed 22 EARLY BUDDHIST ART the movement (however familiar he may be with it in daily life), but that at the time of the conception and execution of his work, he has felt the corresponding tensions in his own flesh. The ‘awkwardness,’ then, of primitive art, is that of undeveloped consci- ousness (self-awareness), progress, the evidence of increasing consciousness, and decadence of apathy. It is in this way that a nation’s art reveals the various stages of its spiritual history. Technical perfection, on the other hand, is a matter of knowledge and skill, rather than of vitality : aesthetically neither good nor bad, it need not and often does not coincide with the perfection of art. The splendid gateways of the Sand st&pa were erected under the patronage of Andhra kings, probably between 70 and 50 B.C. Their surfaces are covered with reliefs illustrating 23 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART historical scenes from the Buddha’s life, a few Jataka stories, and with representations of guardian yaksas and yaksis (some in relief, some in the round), animals, Buddhist symbols, and decorative designs. An exquisite terracotta plaque from Bhita, probably from an ivory die, is identical in style with the reliefs of the SancT gateways. The SdncT reliefs present a very detailed and animated picture of Indian life, invaluable to the student of culture, even apart from their value as art. The sculptors — technically carvers in wood and ivory, though working now in stone— are far more skilful and experienced than heretofore; that is to say, their knowledge and facility are greater, the cutting of the reliefs is deeper, the composition more sophisticated, the sense of perspective and depth much more convincing. But the spiritual quality of the art remains 24 EARLY BUDDHIST ART unchanged. Even when the theme is altogether Buddhist, the art remains innocent, untroubled, and even sensuous, and neither intellectual nor idealistic. Mediaeval Buddhist art is often the work of Buddhist monks; but early Buddhist art is the art of the people, used for the glorification of religion, telling the story of Buddhism in the clearest and simplest possible way, and never attempting the embodiment of spiritual ideals in terms of form. When the theme is less precisely Buddhist— as in the representations of yaksas and yaksis at B&rhut and Sahel, and on the railing pillars of the Jain stupa at Mathura (also of the first century B.C.) — the inherent sensuousness, and even sensuality, of the art becomes more obvious still : an interpretation of spiritual love as a manifesta- tion or symbol, and of the whole physical world as a theophany, belongs to a much later 25 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART phase of thought, and we cannot be surprised that Buddhist monks were warned to turn away their eyes from ' conversation ’ pictures, which must have been love scenes of the sort we find amongst the paintings of Ajapfa and in later Hindu sculpture. Only in the devoted gesture of worshipping figures kneeling before the Mki- trees or empty thrones is there any trace of spiritual passion. No Buddha image appears in early Buddhist art ; and even in the historical scenes, the Buddha’s presence is indicated, not by a human representation, but by the formal symbols already mentioned, together with a few others, particularly the footprints (/a duk3) or umbrella ( chattra ). In the B&rhut ' Descent from the Tu;ita heaven,’ for example, we see only the threefold ladder, with one footprint at the top, another at the bottom. In the 26 EARLY BUDDHIST ART elaborate scene of the 4 Going Forth ’ at SSAcT, Siddhartha’s presence is indicated, at five successive stages of the outward journey, only by the honorific parasol borne beside the riderless horse ; remaining in the forest, his presence is indicated by footprints ; attaining Enlightenment, by the railed Tree of Wisdom. The Nativity is illustrated by the lotus, bull or elephant, and in another way (also at BSrhut) by the seated figure of Maya Devi, with the two elephants pouring water from inverted jars — a picture of the bathing of the new-born child, in which the child is not seen. On the other hand, in Jataka representations, the sculptors are perfectly well able, and do not hesitate, to represent the Bodhisattva in human shape where the story requires it. The explanation of the absence of the human Buddha figure from the historical scenes appears to 27 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART lie, not in any inability to represent the Master in an appropriate manner, but in tbe existence of an already familiar method of indicating the Great Events of the Buddha’s life by means of symbols. The sculptors of BSrhut and Sdncl had large spaces to cover : they fill their story by the method of con- tinuous narration (the representation of successive scenes in which the same actors appear again and again), with abundant detail and perfect logic— but only, as it were, by filling in the spaces between the already well- known symbols. And as regards the separate image, it is evident that the apotheosis of the Buddha had not yet, at least in orthodox circles, proceeded so far as to necessitate the use of an icon. 28 SECTION THE FIFTH DEVELOPMENT OF DEVOTIONAL THEISM THE DEVELOPMENT WHICH WE HAVE SO far followed in Buddhism and Buddhist art is a special phase of the contemporary evolution of Indian thought and religion as a whole. The apparent predominance of Buddhist art is mainly due to special circumstances of patron- age and consequent abundant production in certain centres, and not to any real submerg- ence of the Brahmapical tradition. To take a concrete case, which really covers the whole ground (‘ since what is not to be found in the Moh Hbh&rata is not to be found in India’), the development of the Epics must have been con- tinuous from the days of their existence in ballad form (1000 to 500 B.C.) to that of their final recension about the fourth century A.D. 29 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART The first expansion of the Mahabharata, for example, in which $iva and Vi$o u i *>de by side with Brahmfi, are already regarded as the supreme gods, Hindu temples as well as Bud- dhist stOpas are mentioned and the Bhagavad - Gita appears, belongs to the three centuries between the Mauryan and Ku^an periods : the final stage, with its complete statement of Hindu dharma and social organization, belongs to the Ku^an and early Gupta periods. In the same way the law books, particularly Manu, and the technical literature, such as the Bha- rataya Nafyu Sastra, imply development long preceding the final recensions. And in just the same way the appearance of Hindu sculp- ture and architecture in the Ku$An and early Gupta period, even in the absence of all other evidence, would prove a lengthy previous development. The sum of Indian culture in the 30 DEVOTIONAL THEISM Gupta period, already essentially Hindu rather than Buddhist, is so rich, so fully organised, and so conscious, that we can hardly fail to regard the preceding half millennium as the period of highest creative activity in the whole development of Hindu civilisation — an activity to be regarded as the formal and material embodiment of the Great Enlightenment. We observe, meanwhile, the gradual emer- gence of §iva and Vispu as the supreme powers, followed by the recognition of aboriginal and local deities, including the goddesses, as aspects of one Overlord (I^vara), the ultimate object of all devotion. In the Bhugavad-GUH we find, in the words of Krishna : ‘ Abandoning all duties, come unto Me ’ ; and of devotees who worship other gods, says Krishna, * they also worship Me.’ The fundamental characteristic of the embodiment, 31 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART determination or interpretation of the spiritual impulse, is, in fact, to be recognized in the rise of the theistic cults, with their doctrine and practice of devotion (bhakti), and here lay the immediate necessity determining the development of a religious art. This is not the place in which to trace in any detail the beginnings of the theistic cults. It need only be remarked that in the time of the Buddha the most honoured name is that of Brahmd, and in Buddhist literature the Br&hmaoical pantheon is represented almost exclusively by Brahma and Indra, while the latter appears no less frequently in Jaina literature and art. Brahma and Indra are the only deities represented in the Graeco- Buddhist art of Gandhara, and the forms of certain of the Bodhisattvas appear to be derived from these Indian prototypes. Neither 32 DEVOTIONAL THEISM of these gods is the object of any widespread cult in later times : there we find only the great gods Siva and Vi§rju, and the goddess Devi, in their innumerable forms and mani- festations. Surya is the only one of the old Vcdic deities who remains an exalted power, with an extended cult and iconography. The germs of almost all later forms of Hindu thought are to be traced in the Upanisads, which have been interpreted by each school in its own way ; and, just as the process of formulation and definition of Hindu systems was going on side by side with the doctrinal development and sectarian subdivision of Buddhism, so is it clear that Hindu art was developing under similar conditions. Monu- ments were erected in honour of particular deities ; an example of this is afforded by the inscribed pillar at Besnagar erected by 33 3 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Heliodora in the second century B.C., where Vasudeva is described as the God of Gods. It is evident that the religion of the Bh&gavatas was by this time fully established : but that, just as in Buddhism, the deities were first represented by symbols (here the Garudadhvaja) rather than by images. We gather, however, from Patanjali, commentator on Pinini in the second century B.C., that images of $iva, Skanda and Vi^akha were already exhibited and sold. We have already spoken of the early Vedic reference to linga worshippers ; and we may well suppose that phallic symbols, particularly the erect pillar, were made use of as cult objects at an early date. The lihgam was now adopted into orthodox faith and has remained to this day the general avyakta symbol of §iva. The stone lingam discovered by the late T. A. Gopinatha Rao at Gudimallam, a five foot 34 Pl.ATE III 5. I »df*: BKlji 6. Kuvtra: Itftrbut early Andhra 7. Siva lingam; Gudiroallam DEVOTIONAL THEISM monolith consisting of the lingam proper and an anthropomorphic image, is not only the earliest known (first or second century B.C.) image ol a Hindu deity and thus of the highest historical interest, but a sculpture of amazing force and extraordinary technical accomplishment (Fig. 7). The figure of the deity stands upright in high relief against the under side of the erect phallus, his feet supported by a crouching yaksa or raksasu : he wears a thin muslin dhoti clearly revealing the form beneath, and heavy jewels, including earrings, necklace, bracelets, and anklets. There is no sacred thread. The hair is inter-braided with strands of flowers, and wound about the head like a turban. The eyes slant rather upwards, and the cheek liones are high — a Dravidian rather than an Aryan type. The material is a reddish igneous rock, the surface highly polished. The deity is 35 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART two-armed, holding in one hand a ram, in the other a water-pot and an axe [parasu), whence the lihgam is known as the Para$uramesvara lihgam. It will be seen at once that this is a work in the immediate tradition of older Indian art, pre-Mauryan and B&rhut : the drapery recalls that of the figure of Kugika Ajflta$atru (Fig. 1), the yak$a v Sharnam is almost identical with the yak$a of the B&rhut Kuvera pediment (Fig. 6). The head-dress and jewellery too are reminiscent of Barhut. But this is a more fully developed art ; there is greater muscular tension and consequently a more evident activity, while the facial expression latent in early sculpture is now intentional. An early mukhalitigam from Bhl(&, now in the Lucknow Museum, bears an inscription in characters assignable to the first century B.C. The top of the pillar is shaped as the head and 36 DEVOTIONAL THEISM shoulders of a male, holding a vase in his left hand, while the right is raised in abhaya hasta. Below this bust are represented on the shaft of the liAgam four heads in low relief. The sense of devotion to a personal god is a general tendency, by no means exclusively Hindu, but affecting equally the forms of Buddhist belief, and to a less extent the Jain. A veritable transformation of Buddhism had been taking place in the Mauryan, $urtga and early Andhra periods. Whereas in primitive Buddhism the Buddha was a man who had attained enlightenment and who after death was no longer subject to the conditions of existence, he came to be regarded in the Mahay&na as the embodiment or incarnation of a principle. He comes, in fact, to be regard- ed as a god, and with what passionate 37 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART devotion be is adored may be judged from the worshipping figures of the Amaravatl reliefs. Not only is the Buddha thus deified, but a pantheon of Buddhist deities arises, over and above the already well known Buddhist forms of the Hindu BrahmS and Indra, and the Yaksas and N&gas who are admitted to the cult of Buddhism at an early period as protectors and assistants. These new Buddhist gods include the previous human Buddhas, the Dh'yfini Buddhas of the Four Quarters (later so prominent in Chinese Buddhism), their spiritual sons, the Bodhisattvas (of whom Maitreya alone was known to the Hlnay&na), and ultimately the feminine divinities (Taras) associated with the latter and as saviouresses ranking with them. Additional to these are the many deified spells and mantrams ; and the deities already mention- ed are multiplied indefinitely by the recognition 38 DEVOTIONAL THEISM of an infinite variety of forms, peaceful and militant. Thus we are prepared for the development of the succeeding centuries, when Indian genius, impelled by the necessity of service of the devotional cults, created an iconography adequate to the portrayal of all those spiritual and physical powers and forces which are deified in the Hindu and Buddhist pantheons. 39 SECTION THE SIXTH KU$AN AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD 1 BEFORE DESCRIBING THE ACTUAL ART OF the Ku$ag and later Andhra periods in India proper, we must consider the great production of Buddhist sculpture associated with the monuments and monasteries of Taxila.andof the Gandh&ra provinces of the North-West Front- ier. These sculptures date for the most part between A.D. 50 and 300 ; in even the earliest the type is already fixed. The themes without exception are Indian Buddhist. The Buddha figure occurs abundantly both as the central figure of historical compositions and in separate seated and standing images : the ancient symbolic formulae are very rarely seen. Forms and composition of Western (provincial Hellen- istic) origin are everywhere conspicuous in 1 For literature referring to Section Six see Appendix. 40 Vlatk IV to. KtnUhJia . Mathurl ll Sftryt: MafHurft KUSIlAN r < KUSAN AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD Gandh2ra art, side by side with other elements of Indian origin. The quality of the art is effeminate and sensual, its intention realistic. It appears to be the work of craftsmen of foreign origin or descent, familiar with late Greek models, adapting their stock motifs to the requirements of Buddhist patrons, the Indo-Scythian and Ku«iij kings of the North- West: there is nothing to suggest that Indian artists from the plains had any part in it. On the contrary, Gandhftru art exerted a considerable influence on the contemporary school at Mathura, and to a less degree elsewhere in India proper, even extending to the South. But we must not misunderstand the nature of this influence. The genius of Hellenistic art is foreign to Indian psychology. Western art at all times tends to representa- tion, Indian to symbolism: the influence of 41 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Gandhara, hardly recognizable after a.d. 300, constitutes an episode, and not a stage in a continuous development. We must pause, however, to consider at greater length the origin of the Buddha image. It has been argued from the Gandhara Buddhas of the Apollo type that the Buddha image is of Greek origin and first came into being at Gandhara. There do not exist either in Gandhara or in India proper, Buddha images known to be earlier than the first century A.D. In both areas they appear simultaneously, in Hellenistic types at Gan- dhara, and in the tradition of ancient Indian art at Mathura. It is agreed that the earliest Gandhara figures are ' already stereotyped ’ and that Buddha figures must have been made as early as the first century B.C. Were then these prototypes of Hellenistic or of Indian 42 KUSAN AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD origin ? We shall tabulate the arguments for either view and leave the question undecided. For the Greek origin : J l) It is admitted that Buddhist figures in hara are adaptations of Western types. A certain amount of originality, or rather novelty, is proved by the occurrence of such types as those of the realistic emaciated Buddhas, which have no part even in later Indian Buddhist art. Early Indian religious art, on the other hand, makes use of primal symbols without anthropomorphic icons. (2) The admitted fact that formqlse of Hellenis- tic art are adopted to a greater or less extent in India proper, and can be recognized in Indian art for several centuries. Moreover, such phenomena are not altogether new: Western (Iranian rather than Greek) motifs are already to be recognized in Early Buddhist art, and are conspicuous in the court art of A$oka. and in decorative motifs. (3) As no Indian Buddha figure older than the Gandhdra sculptures is certainly known, it is at least possible that the first Buddha images were made in Gandhara, and formed the models of later Indian Buddhist art. (The apocryphal legends in Buddhist literature cannot be accepted as evidence that images 43 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART of the Buddha were made already in the fifth century B.C.) For the Indian origin : (1) The purely Indian attitudes of the GandhAra figures, the use of the lotus seat, often awkwardly represented, the characteristically realistic trans- formation of the ufitisa (which appears already in Indian art at Bodh Gaya) would seem to imply the existence of purely Indian prototypes. (2) Bodhisattva and Buddha figures of the first century A.D. do actually occur at MathurA, in a style at Mirpur Khfls in Sind. (3) Negative evidence holds good as much in one sense as the other, particularly in a period of still uncertain chronology. (4) The yogi seated beneath a tree, in fiadmasana, 'gazing upon the end of his nose,' in profound meditation, was then, as now, a familiar spectacle. Once the need of an image had been felt (and we have recognized the sources of such a need in the general development of Indian religious experience), the choice of the meditating or teaching yogi figure must have been inevitable. What other form could 44 KU$A$J AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD have been appropriately set beneath the Mb' tree, which had hitherto stood alone as the sign of the Great Enlightenment ? It is certain that no Western prototype of a seated figure with crossed legs and hands in dhyAna or thumi-sparsa mudrd can be cited or imagined. (5) Regarded simply as works of art, there is no suggestion of primitive inspiration in Gandh&ra sculpture. In other cycles of art, creative energy finds immediate expression in powerful and simple forms. Are we to consider Gandhara a case unique in the history of art ? It will be seen from these considerations that it may be regarded both as a priori likely and as historically possible, that the Buddha image wherever found is based on Indian prototypes : just as the images of Bodhisattvas and those of Hindu deities are derived in direct descent from Indian sources. The most important remains of Buddhist sculpture of the Ku$ag period are those of Mathura, Amar&vati and Ceylon. The former, 45 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART now for the most parf in the Mathura Museum, include the oldest Buddha figure so designated in an inscription. As this seated Buddha, from Apyor, is headless, we have reproduced (Fig. 8) the inscribed Katra Bodhisattva, the pose and general appearance of which are identical with those of the Apyor Buddha. It will be observed that the right hand is raised in abhaya mudri, the left hand rests on the thigh, the elbow being raised : this position of the left arm scarcely recurs in Indian art, but survives or reappears in a characteristic seated pose of Javanese actors. Another Buddha, of the same school and period, the robe in this case covering both shoulders, is shown in (Fig. 9.) It will be remarked that these images are far more energetic than those of the Gandhara school, and belong to the old tradition of Barhut and pre-Mauryan sculpture. 46 KU§AN AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD Very remarkable are the Bacchanalian groups of MathurS, perhaps representing Kuvera, and in any case connected with Yak^a cults absorbed into popular Buddhism. Figures of Yak$as and Nkgas, both in the round and as reliefs on railing pillars, are commonly found. The Naga cult seems to have flourished at MathurS, and it is noteworthy that the later images of BalarAma are identical with and no doubt derived from these Naga types. Mathura has also yielded a number of inscribed funerary (?) statues of Ku$fiq kings (Kanaka, Fig. 10:) these show no signs of Hellenistic influences, though the costume, like that of the Ku$an kings on the coins, a coot with long skirts, and high boots, is rather central Asian (Yueh Chi) than Indian. Buddhist sculptures of the MathurS school have been found at Sarnath and Sahefh 47 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Maheth ($rSvasti), the latter a part of a Bodhi* Battva figure, with an inscription, probably older than the Aqyor Buddha, and before Kaqiqka. The standing Bodhisattva in the Calcutta Museum is a massive and realistic figure of the old Indian type. The Buddhist sculpture of Peshawar and Taxila in the time, of Kaqi^ka, in the inscribed * Kaqiqka casket * with seated Buddha figures, is altogether in the Grasco-Buddhist or Indo-Hellenistic style of the North-West. We have not described these works in detail, as they fall without the the central tradition and direct evolution of Indian art. A Jain stupa has been excavated at Mathurft, and has yielded many railing pillars decorated with nude Yakuts associated with trees, the woman and tree motif which recurs so con- stantly in Indian art from the Barbut period 48 KU$AN AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD onwards. A * tablet of homage* ’ with a relief of a Jain stupa shows that the Jain monu- ments were identical in form with the Buddhist. Coins of the period are interesting, both for their improved technique and for the variety of subjects represented. Two-armed figures of Siva have already appeared on the coins of the Parthian Gondophares and the Great Yueh Chi; those of Kagi$ka show the deity sometimes with two, sometimes with four arms. The Kaiji^ka coins bear representations of a varied assemblage of Zoroastrian, Greek, Mithraic and Indian deities: Buddha is represented standing in a costume of Greek aspect, and seated in Indian fashion. Remains of Hindu sculptures of the Malhurfi school will no doubt be recognized when the sculptures are studied in greater 4 49 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART detail from this point of view, A threc-headed Ku$an sculpture, for example, in the Ma- thura Museum still awaits identification. The oldest known Brahmanical temple, of the first century B.C. or A.D. and adorned with $aiva reliefs, exists at Ramnagar in the Bareli district. The oldest Sanskrit inscription occurs on the sacrificial posts of Isapur. Contemporary with the Kus&n sculpture of Northern India is the Buddhist art of the later Andhra dynasty of the Deccun, best known by the remains of the magnificent stupa, of Amarivatl. The original eaityn dates from about 200 B.C., and some reliefs are of the first or second century B.C. : the casing slabs and the great railing, and also the few Buddha figures, date from the latter part of the second century A.D., or at any rate not later than A.D. 250. The railing is the most elaborate 50 KUSAI? AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD known of its kind ; about six hundred feet in circumference, it stood some thirteen or fourteen feet above the pavement level. As usual, it consisted of pillars connected by crossbars, standing on a plinth. Each upright was decorated with full and half lotus rosettes, infinitely varied in treatment, and with reliefs in the intervening spaces. Each crossbar bore another full lotus rosette on each aide. The coping and plinth were elaborately ornamented, the former with a long undu- lating garland carried by men, the latter with boys and animals. The casing slabs for the most part represent scenes from the life of Buddha treated in accordance with the old tradition in which the Buddha figure is omitted. It is estimated that a total surface of nearly seventeen thousand square feet was covered with sculptured reliefs : it is very 51 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART possible that these were originally covered with a thin coat of fine plaster, and painted. The sculpture is very vigorous and full of movement, sometimes passionately devotional (Fig. 12J, sometimes humorous, always voluptu- ous and decorative. The whole is a master- piece of pure design, charming in every detail. On the other hand, the Buddha figure is still intensely ascetic and severe, representing pure thought rather than design ; sculpture in the round is not yet perfectly absorbed by or attuned to the rhythm of the social order, but has a slower tempo and more restricted scope. The Amar&vati and Sinhalese Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the second and third century A.D. are unsurpassed as pure sculpture ; but it is only in the Gupta period that sculpture in the round, the cult figure, is perfectly 52 I'l.ATfc V \mutu\.iti llu«lilha ii. HiiiMhi: Ctyl-in I.XTK AXIIHRA KUSAN AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD assimilated to the ensemble of the architecture and reliefs, and shares their decorative qualilies. We may put it that before the third century each image is an individual achieve- ment, and iconography is not yet rigidly defined. It is only in the first rentury A.D. that deities are represented with four arms, and many-headed and many-armed forms are still later: about the second or third century the old Buddhist representation ot the Nativity (Maya Devi with the elephants) is being taken over into Hindu (Pauriijic) iconography as Gaia Laksml. while the development of Ganesa from Jumbhala (the mongoose of the latter becoming thr rat of the former) may hr- still later. The compilation of the earlier Silf'n Silsfms may be dated in a general way as late Kusan or early Gupta, the • yamt uuiuh\>ms ot personal worship hccoming the •.,iJlnmns ot INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART the imagers’ handbooks: thereafter, image- making becomes a craft inseparable from architecture and all other crafts. The earliest of the innumerable references to painting in Indian literature, occurring in the Epics and early Buddhist texts, bespeak a highly developed art : paintings on cloth, on wooden panels, and on walls, and the painted halls of royal palaces are mentioned. To Buddhist monks the representation of the human figure was forbidden, and only that of wreaths and creepers permitted. How soon this rule was neglected may be seen not only from the literature, but also in the paintings of cave temples Nos. IX and X at Ajanta, ranging from 100 B.C. to A.D. 200. Here there are representations of Jataka scones, and of seated and standing Buddhas. The fine ex- ample of a standing King or Yak^a reproduced 54 Plat* VI 1$. Buddha: Anuridhapura (Ceyldte) LATE ANDHRAi KUSAN AND LATER ANDHRA PERIOD by Professor S. Taki in (he J Kokka ’ No. 355, closely parallels the sculptures of Barhut and Sand, and the early work of the Mathurfl school. Like the sculpture, the painting is static and enormously dignified, rather than elegant or facile. Technically it is far advanc- ed, the face and figure being shown in three- quarter profile with thorough understanding of the problems involved ; the draughtsmanship is able and unhesitating, but quite without the bravura and the sweetness of Ajapja painting of the Gupta period. The Buddha figures in the same caves are not likely to be earlier than the second century A.D. The poorly preserved and much restored frescoes of the Joglmara cave in the Ramgm h hill (Orissa) arc probably of the first century H.C., possibly somewhat earlier : seated and standing figures and caitya halls, and decorative work with mu kurus and INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART other marine monsters are represented, but the whole is too badly effaced to admit of exact identification. 56 Pl.ATF VII SECTION THE SEVENTH THE GUPTA PERIOD* THE GUPTA PERIOD IS THE GOLDEN AGE OF India, the age of maturity when Bharatavar$a attained the fruit of her birth. Political power and abundant wealth inevitably provide the physical medium for that unique mastery of life which marks the culmination of Indian civilization. The combination or brilliant intellectual and spiritual development with the utmost sensuousness of experience and ex- pression more than justify the Indian tradition of the court of Vikramaditya. Close relations with the West by way of Bactria in the North and the Roman trade in the South have now been broken : India’s foreign relations are now, and for a thousand years to follow, with the Far East by way of Central Asia, and with 1 For literature relating to Section Seven see Appendix. 57 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Further India and Indonesia by sea. It ia under Indian influence that the Unity of Asia (a unity to which the later culture of Islam is foreign) came into being. India herself is now for the first time spirit- ually and intellectually one, the normal rhythm of life is established in and by the Epics, and a fundamental unity of experience and character transcends all political, racial, linguistic and sectarian distinctions. Vedic ritualism, a survival from a remote past, and primitive Buddhism, correctly interpreted by mediaeval Hindu thought as a kind of heresy or treason against the social order, are no longer state religions : Vai$oavism, $aivism, Sfiktism and Mah3y§na Buddhism, the religions of devotion to Visiju, Siva, Devi, Buddha or Bodhisattva, are patronised impartially. Images and temples appropriate to each of these persuasions of 58 THE GUPTA PERIOD Hinduism appear in profusion, and determine the leading forms of all later imagery and archi- tecture. Iconography and the theory of music and dancing are codified. In the art of the Gupta period all earlier tendencies converge : an identical quality appears not only in art of diverse sectarian application, but in the art of every province, from the Himalayas to Ceylon. We no longer meet with primitive qualities or naivete in Indian art— its character is self- possessed, urbane, at once exuberant and formal. All foreign influences have been ab- sorbed and Indianised. There is no divergence of feeling between doctrine and expression — it has come to be understood that the forms and experiences of finite life are revelations of the infinite : in this age. we can truly say that the five senses are the chief inlets of soul. Philosophy and faith possess a common 59 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART language in this art that is at once abstract and sensuous, reserved and passionate. Buddhism is now completely fused with the national life ; the Buddha figure, still extraneous at Amar&vatT, has become an integral part of the architecture. The paintings of AjaqtS reflect the same abundant, exquisite, sophis- ticated and brilliant life that forms the theme of B&pas Kfldambari. This was an age which could afford to permit to itself the fullest possible enjoyment of life, by right of innate virtue. In this connection it is worth while to remark that now for the first and only time in Indian history we meet with a practice of the arts as a personal achievement, side by side with the vocational and hieratic production. Individual men of letters, — the ‘nine gems of Vikramaditya’s court * — who are not by immediate profession religious teachers, 60 THE GUPTA PERIOD attain to fame ; painting is an accomplish- ment of kings and queens (portrait painting is a common device of the classical drama) ; and there are indications here, and in the erotic literature, that secular painting was regarded, like music and poetry, as a source of the experience of rasa. 1 Samudragupta’s musical skill is commemorated in the gold 1 The Ultara Kama Cartia of Bhavabhuti, 1, 39, speaks of the queen receiving a latent impression (hhivund) by looking at the pictures. Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra, a compilation of older material, perhaps made in the early Gupta period, mentions painting as one of the sixty-four arts belonging to an elegant education. Yasodhara’s later commentary enumer- ates the Six Limbs ($ad-ah£a) of painting as follows : Rufia-bheda, distinction of forms (i.e., knowledge of the lakfanas of persons to be represented!. Pramanam, proportion (i.e., knowledge of the canons of proportion, talamana). Bhdva, mood, technically the rise of emotion in a mind previously at rest, here the corresponding quality in a work of art. e>i INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART coins where he is represented as playing the vlija. The great excellence of the Gupta coinage must be attributed to the cultivated taste of the kings. But these personal achievements should scarcely be regarded, like those of a modern genius, as aberrations from life or the exploitation of a personality : they are the ornaments and pinnacles of the structure of the race, perfectly in harmony with all its architecture. Earlier Indian art is, so to speak, a pro- duct of nature, rather than of artifice, and Lavanya-yojanam , infusion of saltness (lAvanya, in a human being means beauty, charm, grace, allure, hero the like quality in painting). Sddrtfva . likeness (perhaps with reference to portraiture). Varrjiko-bharita, distribution of pigments (i.e. p knowledge of the colours proper to each subject). Yasodhara adds, 'These arts avail to awaken passion in others and for pastime.’ 62 THE GUPTA PERIOD characterised by naturalism and simplicity. Gupta art is the flower of an established tradi- tion, a polished and perfected medium, like the Sanskrit language, for the statement of thought aod feeling : and having thus become an order- ed language with a grammar and vocabulary of its own, its forms are by hypothesis conventioned (‘agreed upon’) and ideal — its truth of utterance does not depend upon, though it may include, a visual resemblance to natural forms. We shall now refer to the most important surviving monuments of the period. At Bhltargfion there exists an ancient brick temple, square in plan with a high tower, probably of the sixth century; it is decorated with carved brickwork and brilliant terracotta panels of $aiva themes. There are cave temples at Udayagiri near Besnagar in Bhopal, one of 63 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART which bears an inscription dated equivalent to A.D. 401. Here the principal sculptures are the great relief fa?ade representing the Raising of Earth from the waters by Vi^iju as Varaha, a Paurfnjic subject, and the representation of rivef goddesses, common in Gupta art, in the Candragupta cave. A large relief at Patharl, also in Bhopal, represents the nativity of Kpgga. The temple of Deogajrh, Jhansi District, (sixth century) has relief panels of Vai^gava subjects, including the Birth of BrahmS, and the salvation of the King of Elephants, a theme that recurs much later in Rajput painting. Fragmentary sculptures of the fourth century at Magdor near Jodhpur show scenes from tho Kpsga enfances , including the raising of Mt. Govardhana. The Calcutta Museum has a fine $iva and PSrvat! group from Kosam near Allahabad, dated equivalent to A.D. 458-9. Plate VIII 1$. Yarftha AviUr IMayapn, Bbopftl GUPTA THE GUPTA PERIOD There is a three-headed Vi$ou of the fifth or sixth century in the Boston Museum, and a four-headed copper or bronze image of Brahma, of early Gupta date, from Mlrpur Khas, in the Museum at Karachi. The Dancing Siva type appears in the decoration of the Durga temple at Aihole. This temple, of fifth century date, is remark- able for its apsidal plan ; it is like a structural Buddhist church, with a Hindu shrine in place of the itupa. Two old Buddhist churches, with apsidal plan and barrel roof respectively at Ter (the ancient T agar a, in Haidardbid) and Chezarla (Kistna district) have been converted to Vaisrjava and Saiva uses and so preserved. A series of ancient temples at Aihole, Lad Khan and Durga temples, fifth century, Meguti and Huccimalli Gurii temples, sixth century, and others of the same period with fine INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Vai$oava reliefs as ceiling panels are closely related to the excavated architectural forms of the neighbouring Bidiml caves. The latter include Cave I, a $aiva temple with a Taodava sculptured relief, Caves II and III which are Vai;gava temples, and a Jaina cave, No. IV, with relief sculptures of the Jinas ; the first three of the sixth century, the latter of the seventh. Caves XVI, XVII and XIX at Ajagta date from the close of the fifth century, Cave XXVI from about A.D. 600. Cave XIX has a very richly sculptured facade, with many Buddha figures. Related to this is the Vi$vakarm3 Buddhist cave at Eldra, of the sixth .or early seventh century, where, as at AjaqtS, the front of the stupa is occupied by an immense Buddha, in this case seated, with two attendants. At SSmith, the DhSmekh stbpa and a richly carved lintel with J&taka 66 THE GUPTA PERIOD subjects illustrate the wealth of architectural remains, while the site has also yielded many well-preserved Buddha figures. The Buddhist temple at Buddha Gaya, founded by A^oka, dates in the main from the sixth century, with restorations up to the twelfth, and modern restorations. A Bodhisattva torso from Sahel in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is amongst the finest surviving examples of late Ku§aij or early Gupta art. The great standing Buddha (fig. 16) at Mathura (fifth century) is even more impres- sive : the beautifully decorated sirascakra is typical of the Gupta style, and contrasts with the plainer types of the Kusap period. Many fine Buddhist bronzes have been found at Buddhapad in the Bezwada district : a seated Buddha of similar character from Badulla is now in the Colombo Museum, and a standing 67 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART image, said to have been found in Burma, is now in the Boston Museum. The finest of the stone sculptures of Anuradhapura already referred to (figs. 13 and 15) are probably of late Ku$Ap, and many others are of early Gupta age. Of other Buddhist sculptures the most important are the Buddha and Bodhi- sattva figures from Mathura (standing Buddha, fig. 16), Sana, and S&rnath (amongst others the well-known torso in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) ; the colossal copper statue of Buddha from SultAnganj, now in the Birmingham Museum, dating about A.D. 400 and weighing over a ton ; the seated Buddha of M&nkuwar, dated equivalent to A.D. 446-8, with webbed hands ; and the Kaftgr& brass Buddha of the sixth century, inlaid with silver and copper, now in the Lahore Museum. Re- mains of the Gupta period will no doubt be found 68 Plate IX IQ. Ikidhisattva: Ajanti GUPTA THE GUPTA PERIOD at N&landa as the excavation proceeds. The seals and gold coins of the Guptas are master- pieces of design, the coins superior to those of any other phase of Indian art. There is a small gold standing image of Buddha, of the Gupta age, in the British Museum. We must not omit a reference to the well-known Iron Pillar of Delhi, erected about A.D. 415 by Kumfira- gupta I. The frescoes of Ajanfa preserve an infinitely precious record of the golden age of Indian painting. The greater part, excepting those in Caves IX and X already referred to, are to be dated between A.D. 550 and 642, those in Cave I being latest, and contemporaneous with the related paintings at Bagh in Malwa. This is the picture of a halcyon age, where renunciation and enjoyment are prefectly attuned, an art at once of utmost intimacy and reserve. Every 69 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART gesture springs in godlike fashion directly from the natural dispositions of the mind : this is not the self-betrayal of innocence, but utterance in terms of a supreme courtesy— the language of gesture had already its lexicons, the analysis of feeling had been made in learned treatises. All this is comparable only with the virtue still to be recognized in Indian and Indonesian dancing and music, where learned form is the natural medium of expression of the deepest feeling. It is of no importance that we know nothing of the painters’ names : all India was richly painted in these days, and the art is the art of a race, and not of any individual. The subjects treated by Ajagta painters are those characteristic of Buddhist art at all times — scenes from the life of Buddha, find Jfltakas. The following are amongst the most important compositions : 70 THE GUPTA PERIOD Cave I j Mara Dharjana, Great Bodbisattva (Plate IX), ‘ lndra and Saci,‘ ceiling with love scenes, and ' Persian Embassy ’ (really a Bacchanalian Pahcika). Cave II : Great Miracle at SrAvaati, Kjdntivadin Jataka, Indraloka scenes, decorated ceiling. Cave XVI : Buddha triad. Great Renunciation. Dying Princess. A fragment from this cave is in the Boston Museum. Cave XVII : Seven Buddhas. Wheel of Causation. Mahahumsa, Matrpojaka, Saddanta, S»b‘ (with inscription), and Viyvantara Jatakas, Apsarases, decorated ceiling. Contemporary with some of the Ajant& paintings are the similar (fifth century) frescoes in a rock pocket at the Slgiriya fortress in Ceylon, representing Apsarases (the lower part of the body in each case is concealed by clouds, indicating that celestial beings are intended) in the likeness of princesses accompanied by maid-servants carrying trays of flowers. Jain paintings, evidently of great importance and beauty, have been recently discovered at 71 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Sittanavasal near Pudukottai, and assigned by M. Jouveau-Dubreuil to the time ol Mahendra- varmam I (600-25). 72 Platt X if. V’Uhnu: Mamallap^ram KARLY MEDLEY A I. SECTION THE EIGHTH EARLY MEDIEVAL 1 THE PERIOD FOLLOWING THE GUPTA AND covering the transition from ancient to mediaeval India, is one of even more abundant and elabor- ate production. The themes to be represented are more varied, in accordance with the full development of the mythology and cosmology, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain. A technique had now been evolved and well established, fully adequate not only to the representation of the various Pauraoic legends but to express the multifarious concepts of a very intricate theology. The imager had at his command not only craft traditions, but formulae [sad/w- tins, dhyUna mnntrams, etc.) proper to all the diverse aspects and manifestations of the One Supreme Power who takes the forms imagined 1 For literature relating to Section Eight see Appendix. 73 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART by his worshippers and appropriate to their needs. Early mediaeval sculpture has great dramatic force, and freer movement than in the Gupta period. The national taste (the broad shoulders and the lion waist of the hero, the heroine’s heavy breasts, and so forth) is fully conscious and determines the character of works of which the details are ritually prescribed : there is a tendency to an increas- ing elegance and slenderness of form. The types of mediaival architecture seem to spring into being suddenly, because the earlier development through wooden prototypes has inevitably been lost. Everywhere, too, there must have been painted walls, external and internal, of which no trace could be preserved. Were it possible to put back the hands of the clock, and revisit ancient India, it is perhaps 74 EARLY MEDIAEVAL to the eighth century that wo should turn, choosing for our pilgrimage a moment when temple-building and sculpture were in the fullest tide of their activity, and but little of the work of former centuries had yet been destroyed. As it is, the monuments of the eighth century, particularly those of Elur&, Elephants and M5mallapuram, are better known to modern students than any others, and some, not without reason, have regarded this period as representing the zenith of Indian art. At ElGrS the most renowned monument is the Kail&sa. This great shrine is not an interior excavation, like the earlier cave temple, but a model of a structural temple, cut from the living rock and standing free from it, though sunk, as it were, in the sloping side of the hill from which it has been 75 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART excavated. Here the type of South Indian (Dravidian) architecture, with its flat roofs, enormous curved eaves, and domed vimSna or sikhara is fully developed. The main temple and most of its chapels are Saiva. The best known relief (Fig. 20) represents $iva and PArvatT upon Mt. Kailasa, RAvatja below attempting to shake the mass from within, $iva steadying it with the pressure of his foot— a magnificent dramatisation of the forces of strain and resistance at work in the earth’s crust (we must not forget that Indian mythology is as much a natural philosophy as an art). On the north wall of the excavation is a shrine devoted to the three river goddesses, with colossal reliefs of Gartga, Sarasvatl and YamunA. A powerful relief, occupying an angle of the outer wall, represents Siva des- troying the triple city of the Asuras : a relief 76 EARLY MEDIAEVAL in the Laftke^vara section, perhaps a century later, represents a six-armed dancing $iva. Traces of painting can be seen on the roof of the main temple, which must be dated about A.D. 775. The Das Avatira cave, on the same hill slope, may be dated about 700 : it contains some important and powerful reliefs, of which perhaps the finest represents the death of Hirapyakajipu, where Vi$iju appears in man- lion form, emerging from a pillar to lay a fatal hand upon the shoulder of the impious king who had denied his omnipresence. The excavated $aiva temples at Elephants, near Bombay, preserve, besides many other sculptures of great importance, the well-known colossal * Trimurti ’ (Mahesjvara-ra&rti) ; a relief representing the marriage of $iva and INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART In the South, the most famous monuments of Pallava art consist of excavated shrines ; imitated structural temples ( rat has ) cut in the living rock and known as the Seven Pagodas ; the great relief composition known as Arjuna’s Penance ; and the slightly later structural * Shore Temple,’ all at Mamallapuram, a little south of Madras. Structural temples (Kaila- sanatha and Vaikuijtha Perumal) of the seventh century are to be found at Kahcipbram (Conjeevaram). The monuments at MSmallapurfim are assigned to Narasidihavarman I [circa] 625-650 : those of his predecessor Mahendra- varman I (600-625) are all * caves The earlier excavated shrines include the two in which are found the representations of Kr$pa raising Mt. Govardhana, and the great DurgiS-Mahi$a- sura and Vi$i>u-Ananta$ayin compositions, 78 EARLY MEDIAEVAL the latter illustrated in Figure 21 ; the later group consists of the seven pseudo- structural temples (‘ Seven Pagodas *), in a pure Dra vidian style, some preserving the design of ancient Buddhist Viharas, and one with a curved roof preserving the form of bamboo architecture as it may still be seen in Eastern India. The structural ‘ Shore Temple ’ belongs to the time of Rajasirhhavar- man, or is at any rate not later than the ninth century. In Orissa, mainly at Bhuvane^vara, Pari and Konarak, the continuous development of the northern style of architecture with slop- ing-sided sikhara crowned by an amalaka, may be followed from the flat or nearly flat- roofed Parasuramesvara temple of the seventh or eighth century onwards. Similar to the ParasurSmesvara temple is the great Pflpanatha 79 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART temple at Paftakadal, and a little earlier is the Hucchimalligudi temple at Aihole in the west. In the north, in the K&ng;& and Kulu valleys respectively, are found the rock-cut temples of Masrur, and the structural temples of Baijn&th and Bajaura. The famous and picturesque Sun temple at Mart&nd in Kashmir, with its pointed arches, belongs to the very different local Kftshmlr school [A. D. 600-1100), and preserves a Western (classical) appearance. Isolated sculptures of early mediaeval date are comparatively few or little known. The school of Mathura seems to have produced nothing after the sixth century. Of the Buddhist remains at N&landd, Sarn&th, and other Magadha and Orissan sites, some must be older than A.D. 900, but little has been done towards their accurate classification. 80 EARLY MEDIEVAL Buddhist bronzes from Ceylon (the well-known Avalokiteqvara and Jambhala in the Boston Museum) are undoubtedly of the eighth century, and in the style of the EltirA reliefs. The best illustration of the sculpture, however, is found in the reliefs at Eluri and Elephanta, already mentioned, and in the composition called Arjuna’s Penance at MSimallapuram. This covers a vertical rock surface' about 96 by 43 feet in area, divided into two parts by a cleft. The key to the meaning of the composition is to be found in the shrine and yogi worshipper on the left of the cleft. Two interpretations have been offered. According to that implied in the popular name “ Arjuna's Penance," the emaciated yogi is Arjuna, who thus propitiated §iva in the high Himalayas, in order to obtain the boon of the use of the miraculous arms of India. $iva appeared in the form of 81 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART a hunter, engaged Arjuna in combat (the KiratUrjunlya) and, after overcoming him, bestowed on him the weapons of Indra. According to another interpretation, the whole composition represents the Descent of Gahga, in which case the yogi must be identified as Bhagiratha : the nZga figures occupying the cleft are cited in support of this suggestion ; but it is hardly possible that water should ever have actually flowed from above, as the advocates of this theory have supposed. In any case, we have before us a magnificent representation of a cosmic event, acclaimed by all orders of beings, approaching the scene on either side. The effect is most impressive, and must have been more so when the reservoir below was filled with water. The represent- ations of elephants, deer and other animals are masterpieces of sympathetic interpretation, 82 EARLY MEDIAEVAL and with these figures must be grouped the remarkable ‘Monkey Family’ which occurs as an isolated sculpture, some distance to the north. 83 SECTION THE NINTH MEDIAEVAL SCULPTURE 1 850—1200 THE COURSE OF INDIAN TEMPLE BUILDING and sculpture continues uninterruptedly until the end of the twelfth century in Northern, Western and Central India, to the end of the thirteenth century in Orissa and Ceylon, and up to the present day in Southern India. The crest of the wave which rose to its highest in the Gupta period, and advanced serenely during the two succeeding centuries, is now breaking into foam. We see an increasing complication, heightened emphasis, and a superb technical accomplishment and patience that are apt to overreach their end, as, for example, in many of the Hoysala (Chalukya) temples of the 1 For literature relating to Section Nine sec Appendix. 84 RAMA VARMA RESEARCH INSTIT UT- TRICHUR. COCHIN STATE- a. B NQthfliHM Pt^r* XI 22 . AvaJokitesvara: Nepal *3. Vishnu: Rental MID- MEDICAL MEDIEVAL SCULPTURE Deccan, where, it may be noted, many figures are signed by the Kanarese artists, a thing practically unknown in earlier periods, when the artist’s name is only mentioned when he himself is the donor. The lavish use of decora- tive detail, going hand in hand with an attenu- ation of the actual elements of design, and of the figure, take the place of ihc essential rich- ness of the Gupta period : the erotic sculptures of Kanarak are not one half so voluptuous as the Gupta Buddhas, or even the reliefs at Elephanta and Mamallapuram. But it is only by reference to what :s past that we can speak in this fashion; if we accept, as we should accept, the mediaeval buildings and sculptures in and for themselves, and wholly in relation to their own environment, we cannot fail to recognize their charm and intinite variety, the marvellous skill which uses stone like metal. INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART and covers whole ceilings with wreaths of dancers (Fig. 26), or with frozen lace. The great Liftgaraja temple in Orissa has been called the finest example of a purely Hindu temple in India ; it dates from the ninth or tenth century, with later additions. The great tower is imposing beyond words, and the sculptured detail full of beauty. The somewhat similar Jagann&tha (* Juggernaut *) temple at Puri, dating from the latter part of the eleventh century, has a world-wide celebrity through the annual car festival. The Black Pagoda at Kan&rak, nineteen miles north-east of Purl, is assigned to the middle of the thirteenth century, and now forms one of the most magnificent ruins in India. The temple was dedicated to the Sun, and closely connected with the cults of Vi$nu. The main temple is in the form of a 86 MEDIAEVAL SCULPTURE car ( ratha or vimSna) borne on immense wheels drawn by horses. Much of the sculpture may be described as a detailed illustration of the Kama S&stra. This rich external decoration reflects the life of the world and the energizing power of the Sun : within, as in the majority of Hindu temples, all is plain. Of the external decorations of the later Hindu temples generally, we may say that there is represented, offered and dedicated to the deity, all the forms of life and all the activities that constitute the universe through which he manifests, and by which he is known to us ; and in such a dedication, essential to the religious life, the exclusion of any aspect of life, even on grounds of human convenience, would amount to a denial of God. Next in interest to the Orissan temples are those of Khajurfiho and Gwaliar, Jaina, 87 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Vai$gava and §aiva, ranging from the tenth to the eleventh century. The Kandikrya Mah§deva temple at Khajuraho is a most imposing pile : the external aspect very clearly reflects the interior construction, which rises step by step, and terminates in the immense sikhara, which is gracefully supported by smaller replicas of itself on its sloping sides. Here too there are remarkable erotic sculptures, and more beautiful than those of Kanirak. At Gwali&r the Caturbhuj temple dates from the ninth century, the Sas Bahu and Telikd Mandir temples from the tenth or eleventh. The latter has no sikhara, but has a barrel-vaulted roof with caitya windows at each end. One of the most famous of all Indian build- ings is the Saiva temple at Somnath, which was destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni about 1025 and rebuilt by Kum&rapala in 1168. 14- Mira darsKaaa: Bon>bodur (Java) a6. Dancer*, ceiling: Mt. Aby MID-MEDIEVAL MEDIEVAL SCULPTURE Perhaps the most remarkable mediaeval temple groups of Western India, however, are those of the Jains, at Mt. Abu, Girnar, and Palit&na. All three sites are sacred hills, where an aggregate of temples forms a city of the gods, not used by men. Those of Mt. Abu are justly famed for the delicacy and intricacy of their decorative sculpturo : they are built entirely of white marble, transported from a distance of twenty or thirty miles, and carried up a hill four thousand feet in height. The most notable temples are those built by Vimala in 1031 and by Tejapala in 1230. Tejapala’s temple is even more elaborate : a detail from a domed ceiling, a band of dancers, is reproduced in Figure 26. The Girnar site, sacred to Neminith, is a city of temples built on the ledge of a cliff some six hundred feet below Ihc summit of the hill, mostly erected or 89 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART restored in the fifteenth century. It will be observed, too, that at Ahmadfib&d and else- where in Gujarat there are many beautiful mosques, built by craftsmen of the Jain tradi- tion, and hardly differing from Jain work save in the omission of all sculptured figures. The architecture of the Hoy$alaa has already been referred to. The style can best be seen in the Dharwfir district- The Saiva temple at Ittagi, the Some^var and Trikute?vara temples at Gadag, and a group of old temples at Lak- kundi near by, are the oldest. In Mysore proper the most remarkable temples are found at Beltir (about 1117) and Halebld, where temple building was stopped by the Mussalmans about 1310. The Hoysale$vara temple at Hilebld is one of the most richly ornamented in all India : almost the entire field of Indian mythology is illustrated, and the decorative 90 MEDIEVAL SCULPTURE motifs are superimposed in frieze upon frieze. It is incomplete, as work was stopped by the Mussalman invasion in 1311. There scarcely exist intact remains of any of the Buddhist monasteries and temples erected at Sarnath, Nalanda, and elsewhere in Bihir, Bengal and Orissa during the mid- mediseval period ; but, on the other hand, the Buddhist and Hindu sculptures of the Pfila dynasty (740-1197) are abundant and well preserved. The Calcutta Museum has a large series, and others may be seen at RSiicT, Sarnath, and in the larger European and American museums. Usually in a fine black slate, they are executed with great precision of detail and smoothness of surface, but without deep feeling- The usual subjects recur : in Buddhist art, scenes from the life of the Buddha (the Eight Great Miracles is a favourite subject), 91 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART and representations of Bodhisattvas, T&r&s, and other divinities ; in Hindu art, a wide range of Saiva and Vai$pava images. The metal figures on the whole are superior to those in stone : those in the Bengal Sahitya Parishad collection in Calcutta, and those from Rangpur (partly in the Calcutta Museum) are of exceptional beauty, and so too a number of smaller Hindu bronzes now in the Boston Museum, and the small Buddhist bronzes which have lately been found at N&IandA. The names of Dhiman and his son Bitp&lo are mentioned as those of famous master-founders of Varendra in the eighth and ninth centuries. 92 Plat* XIII 27 . XaUrljl: Madru LATE MEDIEVAL SECTION THE TENTH SOUTHERN INDIA 10th- 18th CENTURY' IN SOUTHERN INDIA. THE MOST IMPORTANT of the earlier medieval temples is the great $aivashrineat Tanjore, an imposing and consist- ently planned building, with a high pyramidal tower rising over the main shrine : it was in process of construction by Rajaraja Deva about the end of the tenth century. Remains of other Dravidian temples earlier than the middle of the fourteenth century are very few. By the middle of the thirteenth century, however, the style is fully evolved : its leading characteris- tics include the great gateways [fiopuraw), pillared halls [bt/yiiiia mcjiltif'iuii), the recurved cornices, elaborate monolithic columns, and column brackets of rearing horses or monsters ' For literature relating to Section Ten see Appendix 93 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART [yJUis or lions), and the great processions! corridors. Most of the South Indian shrines, from 1350 to 1750, consist of an accumulation of erections about a small and inconspicuous central shrine of greater antiquity, the enor- mous gateways rising high above everything else, and giving their distinctive character to the great cathedral cities. Farts of the temple at Cidamharam, one of the most sacred of all Southern shrines, and dedicated to Nafarfija, are as old as the tenth or eleventh century, the Nptya Sabha, or Dancing Hall, of thirty-six pillars about eight feet high, being the oldest and most beautiful element. The Pfirvatl temple ia of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the great gates still later. There is an early (fourteenth century) maydapaw in the great temple at Vellur. The greater part of the temples at Srlrangam, T&dpatri, Kumbakonam, 94 SOUTHERN INDIA Ramesvaram, etc., belong to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The ruins at Hampi must be specially men- tioned; Hampi, or Vijayangar, was founded in 1336, attained its zenith under Krishna Deva Raya (1509-1530), and was sackdO and destroyed in 1565. Krishna Deva R&ya, to whom the beauty of the city was mainly due, was a veteran soldier and a polished gentleman and a patron of literature : with his two queens, he is worthily commemorated in the beautiful brass figures of the §r1 Nivasa Perumal temple, Tirumalai, Tirupati. To him, and to his queens, is due the most splendid building in the city, the Vitthala temple, the finest building of its kind in southern India, and, in the words of Fergusson, marking the extreme limit in florid magnificence to which the (Dra vidian) style advanced. The Kadailaikallu temple (Gape^a), 95 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART on the other hand, has plain stone walls and a flat roof line, which lend a peculiar dignity to the pillared matjfiafam before it. There is also an important group of Jain temples, and several remarkable monolithic Brahmagical sculptures (Narasirhha, Gane$a). The great temple of Sundare$vara and Minak$I at Madura is to modern travellers the best known o( the Dravidian temples : it is mainly due to Tirumalai Nayyak (1623-1659). The most remarkable buildings are the Vaianta Mapdapam (Tirumalai’s choultry) and the hall of a thousand columns (really nine hundred and eighty-five, the place of fifteen columns being occupied by the Sabhapati shrine) : the pillars of both are extremely elaborate, many having life-sized figures form- ing part of their mass. The choultry took twelve years to build, from 1623 to 1635. 96 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART Brahmaqical metal images, however, seems to be that of the Tanjore temple inscriptions refer- ring to figures of Saiva saints set up by Rajardja Dova (about 1014). Figures of the deity himself must have been made before this. But, though dancing figures of Siva are found in the Durga temple at Aiholc in the Gupta period and a little later at Elephants, etc., we do not find amongst the stone sculptures any exact prototype or equivalent of the Nafarajas and other typical metal images, and it is to be inferred that the Dravidian school of founding, so far as §aiva and Vai$pava images are concerned, developed contemporaneously with the theology and hagiology which they reflect, i.e., about the ninth or tenth century. With the possible exception of the Belur NatarSja, of which the date is read by some as equivalent to A.D. 910 (more likely, 1511), the oldest 98 SOUTHERN INDIA known southern bronzes appear to be those from the §iva Devales of Polonnfiruva, now in the Colombo Museum, in Boston, Paris, London, etc. These can only be dated by a sense of style : many relatively modern examples are of excellent workmanship. There are probably others older and perhaps finer still in temples or buried. The majority of southern bronzes, as might be expected, are $aiva. The Natarija type in particular is very well known (Fig. 27). The significance of this * ftta murti has been often explained : it re- presents the cosmic activity ( Pancakrfya , 1 Five Actions ’) of $iva, the drum in the right hand indicating creation, the fire in left, involution and the dance continuance— a magnificent conception of the Absolute in jetion [vyakta, ‘ manifested ’), complementary 99 INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN ART to the avyakta (unmanifested) symbol of the lianam, which forms the dhrttva (immovable) icon in most $aiva temples. Other forms of $iva commonly met with in metal images are the Bhik$a(ana Murtis, Daksina MQrtis, and the various UmA-sahita MQrtis in which he is associated with Devi as Um§, PArvatl or Siva- Kaml. Of the Saiva saints, Mapikka Vagagar (Fig. 28), Sundara Murti Swami (Fig. 29), Appar Swami and Tirujnana Sambandha SwAmi are represented by cult images, often of considerable importance, the finest examples being those in the Colombo Museum (Figs. 28 and 29). Vaispava images are rather less frequent, but some fine examples are known (one in the Boston Museum) : the forms include Vi$pu and Lak?ml, Rama groups, and dancing and other forms of the young Kj-spa ; and of the saints, Hanuman, Garuda, the Twelve 100 Plate XIV 28 and 29 Mtnikka VA