Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

ART

OTHER ARTS

Gold & Silver Plate The oldest examples of ancient gold and silver work found in India are the gold casket and silver patera belonging to the India Office Library, which has been lent to the Science and Art Depart- ment for exhibition in the India Museum at South Kensington. It was found in about 1840 in one of the Buddhist stupas at Bimaran. The upper and lower rims of the casket are studded with rubies, and

Museum dis- covered -by Major Hay, in 1857 at Kund- lah in Kulu, where a land- slip had ex- posed the an- cient Buddhist cell in which

between these jewelled lines the whole circumference of the cas- ket is divided into eight niches. The niches are formed by a series of flat pilasters supporting finely-turned arches, circular be- low and peaked above, between which are figures of cranes with outstretched wings. The whole is executed in the best style of beaten goldsmith's work. It is

this lota had been lying buried for 1500 years.

It is enchased all

round with representations

of GautamaBuddha, as Prince

Siddharta before his conversion. The copper statue at Sultanganj was the largest metal work of ancient times in India. It shows the proficiency of the Hindus in melting and casting metal. The iron pillar, standing in the centre of the courtyard of the Kutub mosque at old Delhi, is a solid shaft of iron 23 ft. 8 inches in total height and 16.4 inches in diameter at the base and 12.05 inches at the capital, which was 3'/ 2 ft. high. Believed to be dated about 400 A.D. it is still unrusted and the capital and inscription are as clear and sharp as when the pillar was first erected. The beautiful perforated brass gates of the tomb of Shah Alam at Ahmedabad is another notable example of the great skill of the people of Gujarat in metal work. In Kashmir tin was soldered on copper which had been previ- ously deeply graven over with a diffused floral design, the sunken ground of which was then filled with a black composition. At Moradabad, tin was soldered on brass, and incised through to the brass in floriated patterns, which sometimes were simply marked by the yellow outlines of the brass and at others by graving out the whole ground between the scrolls, and filling it in with a blackened composition of lac. Benares was famous for the beauty of its cast and sculptured mythological images, not only in brass and copper, but in gold and silver and also in wood and stone and clay. Idols of pure gold were also made and in the scriptures great praise was showered on those who worshipped graven images of these precious metals. The gold images of Durga, Lakshmi, Krishna, Radha and Saraswati which were kept in private houses and worshipped daily, must not be less than one tola (nearly half an ounce) in weight. The images of Shitala (the goddess of smallpox) were always of silver. The images of Shiva in his lingam form were made of an amalgam of mercury and tin, and was held most sacred. Copper images of Surya, and of Shiva riding on Nandi and also in many parts of India, of the serpent Naga, were kept in all houses and wor- shipped daily. The stone images seen in Bengal were generally of black marble. The nimba tree, Melai Azadirachta, furnished the temple images of Vishnu, Durga, Radha, Lakshmi, Shiva, Garuda and others.

Byzantine in general character. It had been executed by Indian workmen from Greek designs or models. The bottom of the casket was ornamented with a beautiful conventional representation of the sacred lotus with eight petals, which were pointed like the arches of the eight niches above them.

The silver patera is 9 inches in di- ameter, depth, l 5 / g inches, thickness '/ ofan inch and its weight 29.3 5 dwt troy. It represents in high relief the procession of Dionysus. The god sits in a car drawn by two har- nessed females, with a drinking cup in his extended right hand and his left arm resting on the carved elbow of the seat on which he reclines. In front of 8 to '/ 16 and '/ 70

the car stands a winged Eros holding a wine jug in his left hand and brandishing in his right a fillet, the other end of which was held by a flying Eros. A third Eros is pushing the wheel of the carriage behind which follows the dancing Heracles (Hercules), recognised by the club and panther's skin. Over all is a representation of a clustering wine, and in the lower exergue a panther is seen pressing its head into a wine jar, placed between the representations of a tree, arranged symmetrically on either side of it. The figures are encrusted on the surface of the patera and the heads of Dionyses and Heracles are incomplete. Punjab had a high reputation for the excellence of its gold and silver work. The most well known was the parcel gilt silver work of Kashmir, confined to the production of water vessels or sarais designed from clay goblets in use throughout northern Punjab. Among the Prince of Wales' Indian presents there was a tray with six cups and saucers in "ruddy gold" which was an exquisite example of the goldsmith's art of Kashmir. All over India elsewhere gold was stained deep yellow except in Sindh, where the goldsmiths and jewellers give it a highly artistic tinge of olive-brown.

The figures made of Kartikeya for his annual festival in Bengal were often 27ft. high. Benares was a great centre of manufac- ture of idols and sacrificial utensils. The in- dustry had sprung up naturally from the serv- ices of the numerous temples of this city.

Metal work in Brass, Copper and Tin The most interesting of all known "lotas" was one in the Indian