Table Of Content

The beck isa study of the findamental principles of ancient Indian art and architactre, dealing with essentials of Hind thinkingand practice of art ike the Finda view of Godhead, cnography and iconamony.andsymbokandsymbotsmin Hind ast. Refering to major €assial Indian trary works shedding ight on at anu arcitctre it underaes a survey of Indian tan tempte architecture fom the Sed century. 8C through the meio period. highlighting the directional changes that marked the Hitory of art speccaly sculpture and painting. It claboratsy views the various terme and concepts associated with the Feld of artand teomography Uke mit, ame, pis cxplining the nate of Bhs ea Join Mees aswell as tho of Hind sets he Suivi, Vaisaviam ard Stim: Pointing out the importance of studying. Hinds temple architecture in onder t0 fully appreciate Hinds at which was meant fox propagation of dharma, it analyses the asic features of the temple architecture snd sepiona variants. Tracing the differences in conception and lineation of a Hindu temple, a Muslim ‘mosque and a Christian church, the research focuses particularly on the Principles of visualisation of symbels and ‘signsin Hinduism and ChiisGanity It also reveals how the Wost has viewed Indian erature and art, exposing. the inner contractions of some European thinkers who while praising Uerary works of Kolidasa and others eonciemned the Hinsiu images. ‘The work contains more than 300 ilustrations; halftone and line drawings, that make the discussion vasy. (© compechend for a range of readers — ‘scholars studentsas wellaslaymen. | ie pe [em [GOVERNMENT OF INDIA Central Archaeological Library Archaeological Survey of India JAMPATH, NEW DELHI rh Perspectives in indian art ang Archaeology, 00.3 Q iz Elements = fe Ga © Indian Art a Including Temple Architecture, Iconography & Iconometry Q E si nics fet chavo D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd. =~ S. P. Gupta seme cee train B Jae Elements of Indian Art trading tno ariecooe, emapry & loamy Perspectives in indian Art & Archaeology Series (ISSN 0971-4723) eo th tents tect, Canepa, Wet Bengal 2a century 5 {cours The Matroplitn Museum et Art. New York) 23129 Perspectives in Incian Art & Archaeology, no. 3 18 Jos Elements of Indian Art Including Temple Architecture, Loonagraphy & toonometry S39 S.P.Gupta ‘Shashi Peabha Asthana 6 é 2 a £ 3 = & z 2 Ms a S A & wo 2 J z = 2 Recerrel pro F ps a7 2 R ‘Caatoging in Pblicaton Dal — DK Gopi 5 (maa Paka, 3091 = ewer ic at Ad ts 2. Aline — bia tak mg leo ‘ethan: Sho Prt, 17107, it ie hee Peper Tran ot acc 3 ir Mitel) nenwcssen, Cin ete gE aL ISDN #1246210 (5, ope tp i 2002 (© Idzaprastha Museum of Ad and Archawsogy, New Dui a Alright reserved. No pst of this publication say be eeproduced of frsnemited In any (orm oF By any mean, elector or mechanical, Including phtocopving cording orany information sore or emval Stem thot prior Wty rf oll Ue cpg owes fndicned shove aed the pl ‘Publohed wih he financial asetnce rcv frm he Dypartant f ‘Calta, Gosernnt of indir Putte We indraprastha Museum of Art and Archaeology 7, Qu sito Aven ‘New Deli 110016 & BLK. Printwortd (P) Ltd. ‘gd fr et in! 8, all Nigar ew Demi 11005 Parnes Oi) Mor Monn foe nt tess Eau Preface [Haviss served the National Museum, New Delhi and the Allahabad “Museum for mone than thiy years (felt tha the visitors to museums rarely get to how the context and meaning of the works of art that they see there. Often the avallable books are eithe- too large te consult fr too small to learn even the basic facts Thi is true ofthe forelgn as well as national visitors. We, therefore thought of prosiucing a book ‘of medium size, almost like a handbook, whieh 2 visitor can easily take with him or her in galleria devoted to ancient Indian art and lean about i through this beok. For this purpose we have embellished the book with a large number of illustrations. For a number of years I have bevn taking classes and delivering lectures in the National Museum Institute: There also I felt the same lack of basic knowledge about the art and architecture of ancant Inia amongst the students of M.A. courses and the Tour Guides whe join the courses of Art History, The book will serve them also because they are supposed to tell the tours wisting museums and monuments all about our ancient art and architecture: The National Museum Institute also runs courses in Art Appreciation for the common mer who are eager to know the fundamentals of Indian art. have beun taking some lectures for them also, Tam sure they will eerainly benefit from this book Finally, what about scholars? Yes, there will be enough focd for their thought also, since at times { have given views which are a fot different from those propounded by others Tt is common knowledge thot in ancient Lnuia works of art were rot produced for their own sake. Instead, these were required to be the parts of temples, ether as deities to be worshipped or as parts of the structures. It was, therefore, felt necessary to include here the Elements of buian Art Subject of iconography as well as temple architecture; the subject of iconomeiuy included here is only an extension of iconography. We have here not included the Prehistoric anki Protohistorie Art since they form different cycles of Indian Art and rarely connected with the Art Tradition which started in the Mauryan perio. “There is small story behind this book. In Ue year 1982 the second, author ofthis book, the late Dr Shashi Asthana, had to appear for the post of Keeper (Archacology) in the National Museum. For this purpose she prepared a manuscript on the subjcet of Ieanograpihy. ‘Unfortunately, it remained unpublished in her lifetime; she died in 1997 at tho age of less than 50 years because of kidney failure, Last yeas, ound it in.a bundle of papers she had left behind, When | ‘alled the Publishers to publish i, they asked me not only to enlarge it fut also add a few chapters to make it more meaningful and useful ‘As'a.mark of my love and respect for her. who was one time my student, who dic her Ph.D. under my guidance, and later my colleague {nthe National Museum, she was Asstt Director there when she paseed away, I decided to do it This book is dedicated to the memory of Late S. Ganesh Rio, my {tiend from 1957 when we were together working at Nigirjunakonda excavations. He was then surveyor. Later on we both moved to New Delhi, he was working in the Archarologten! Survey of India ‘and I was in the National Museum. fn the 19708 and 80s whatever I ‘wrote I genezally showed i to him for critical evalualion. Dr. Asthana also did the same, He used to he very ruthless. We liked it and changed ‘many parts of our writings since he felt that much more data were required to buttress our claims. Today he is not with us, but F do cherish my memories with him. I am sure had Dr. Asthana being alive she would also have decided to desicate this book tothe memory ‘of our feiend Shri Ganesh Rao, Inthe preparation of this hook I was greatly helped in many ways bby Ms. Anuja Geotal and Ms. Malwa Bhattacharyya. Shit MS, Mani has been very kind to am in preparing all the drawings appearing in this Book. Sh jassu Ram made the maps. Shri Tejas Garge and Shvi [Laxmi Narain helped me in selecting the photographs for which Iam beholden to thera, ram equally beholden to Sorvashsi Rakesh Dutta