Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

ART

before the Buddha, Simhala Avadana, Apsara; in cave 1, Bodhisattva Padmapani, birth of the Buddha etc. In cave 17 there is a panel showing the subjugation of the mad elephant Nalagiri by the Buddha, one of the eight miracles of the Buddha. Devadatta, the jealous cousin of the Buddha, once let loose an infuriated elephant called Nalagiri on the Buddha. But the elephant, on reaching the Bud- dha, prostrated and the Buddha stroked his head with great com-

temple at Tiruvallamala, the Dasavatara story is splendidly sculp- tured in wood. In the temple at Tiruvannur, there are twenty-one panels repre- senting the story of Kirata in the first Prasada. Twenty four panels of wood carving found in the Sri Rama temple at Triprayar representing the Navagrahas on the ceiling of the Namaskara Mandapa and episodes from the Ramayana story have grace and beauty. The Sri Rama temple at Tiruvangad has the best specimens of wood-work illustrating the story of Ramayana on the ceiling of the Namaskara Mandapa. In the temple at Trichambaram, the ceiling of the Mandapa is lavishly decorated with carved figures illustrating stories from the Bhagavata. Technically the wood carving of Kerala is remarkable for its composition. The sameattention is bestowed on the carving of even insignificant items as the most important ones. The subject of Nataraja ap- pears in Kerala in stone, wood, metal, ivory and mural painting. Another image of Nataraja, in the Ranga Vilasom Palace in Trivan- drum, is a striking example of a decorative setting of the Lord of the Dance in wood carving. Probably the finest single work in wood in Kerala is the midi8th C frieze, around the outside of the shrine of the Ramaswami temple at Pad- manabhapuram. The frieze is in 45 panels, each slightly under 7 feet in length and one and a half feet in height, a total length of about 300 ft of consistent masterly craftsmanship. An interesting appendix to the Ramayana frieze above is the single figure of Rama, the perfect king, that occupied* a place in the shrine room of the palace of Maharaja Swati Tirunal (1827-47) the famous music composer, in Trivandrum. It is now in the Ranga Vilasom Palace. PAINTING The art of painting in India is known to have originated from primitive line drawings, such as are seen in the cave shelters in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh and in Bhimbetka near the village of Singhanpur in Madhya Pradesh etc. These drawings mainly depict hunting scenes, animals, men dancing and burial scenes in red, black, pink, green, blue and yellow. Numerous refer- ences in early literature prove the great progress in painting, but it is the murals in the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, Udayagiri and Khandagiri that testify this statement. The approximate dates of the Ajanta caves are : caves 9, 10 (100 B.C.-100 A.D.); 16 & 17,4,6,11,15 (470-500 A.D.); pillars in cave 10-350 A.D.; caves 1,2 (626-628 A.D.) The subject consists of Buddhist Jataka stories, the events from the life of the Buddha and his miracles. The important sub- jects in cave 10 are the Shyama Jataka, Sadanta Jataka, the Bodhi- sattva; in cave 16 is the descent of the Buddha from Tushita Heaven, The Dying Princess; in cave 17 is the Mother and Child

passion. Although much of the paintings have been damaged the remain- ing ones occupy the entire walls of the caves, the pillars, ceilings, giving a theatrical effect. Scenes after scenes, narrative panels have been woven into a continuous stream moving not sequentially, but woven into a web. To identify the jataka story, one has to know the story. Scenes are divided through architectural devices; the paintings are flat with no perspective, modelling is achieved through the lines and tonal modes. The paintings blend sensuous

with spiritual moods. They are char- acterised by ample naturalism, fluid- ity and reveal the rhythmic line that connects the figures and scenes. The technique of painting is tempera, in which the painting is done on a dry plastic surface with the help of a wa- ter-soluble binding medium. Ajanta had a wide influence; on the painting at DonHuang in China, Bagh in Madhya Pradesh, in the Jain caves at Sittan- navasal, Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu etc. A few Buddhist palm-leaf manu- scripts have been found in Eastern

India, as links from Ajanta, belonging to the Taranath school. In the museum of Fine Arts, Boston is the Ashta-Sahasrika Prajna -Par- amita with 18 miniature Jain paintings showing the life of the 1 Buddha. Between the 11th to the 14th centuries, wooden book-covers and Palmyra strips were used for manuscript illustrations which were confined to canonical works, such as the Jain Kalpasutra and Kalkacharya Kathas. The patrons were wealthy Jain merchants and bankers, although Gujarat was ruled by Muslim Sultans. How- ever, the courts of the Sultans attracted talented people. Illumi- nated Persian manuscripts reached their courts from Baghdad, Bokhara and Samarkand. The Sahi types and the border illustra- tions in some Kalpasutra and Kalkacharya Kathas show consider- able borrowing of Persian motifs. In these, scarlet is used as back- ground, text in silver ink against a dull maroon background, use of gold shows the opulence of Jain merchants, shade of sandal and yellow for body colour, and men wear long hair and pigtails. Women have thin waists and heavy lips. In the Chaurapanchasika group of miniatures the eyes are exaggerated through extension, and women wear short sarees. Although the main figures are stiff the dancing girls appear to have freedom. The Bhagawata Purana, which is the crowning achievement of this group, marked a new