Sunday, May 20, 1956

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Pnn Five

Sna Ma2,16TE IHG DAgeYrive

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The Art of A People
Continuity of Indian Art Expresses An Ageless Culture

By HARRIET B. H AMME no less importance than that of ed in such a way as to enhance the
HE ART of India is a vibrant the Hindu gods and the depiction beauty of the figure itself, so it
art, an art portraying violence, of the Hindu legends, became a part of the form, not
gentleness, virility. It is the people Asoka, the Buddhist emperor something "added to it."
reflected into the quiet stone cart- living in the third century B.C.
fng of the ascetic at Mamallapu- is given credit for "inventing" T iidiifo & (h n ..
ram, and in the exotic and terrify- one of the oldest of Buddhist mon- FOR almost 500 years, from the
ing frenzy seen in the bronze uments, the Stupa. The stupa more beginning of the Barhut Stupa
"dancer of the burning ground," rightly should be called a reli- and the Stupa at Amaravati, tradi-
Nataraja. The art of India is not guary, and each one, in its con- tion guided the artist in his sculp-
just OUTSIDE life, it is an intel 0 sn tore of the Buddhist faith. True,
al art of itD ceptionw as purported to contain there was more refinement in the
rTh art of i dst a sm ll fraction of the Buddha's figures, and the women portrayed
Thtrace, for its earliest forms are so t ses, making that stupa sacred, at Amaravati were a slimmer pro-
interwoven with the life of the The stupa of Barhut, now exist- totypeole as were the Dravidian
people as to seem commonplace to ing only in framents, is the oldest sculptured tomavs i-bst the
floe Westernoer.Thsesorfictore01a' Buddhist art known today, dating continuity of Indian tradition could
goat to the altar of Kali %as con- b'ok to 150 BC.Tie fu a not e denoed.
sidered an art, the diggono of a
weil was given as moocl sinifi- dome shape, so built to symbolize The mood chanted slightly, the
cance as thesovin of an imoe the universe resting en the circu- fi-ores at Barhut almost all in
of a god, cloriszoss of the eortho potures of worship, while the
scenes at Amaravati were more in-
Around the stupas ace great fen- formal, and niusicians and dancers
. ces or railings, their practical as- were sculptured. And the Buddha
' P UR't[IOITYspect to keep out plunderers, their himself was finally portrayed, But
CURIOSITY is thegertuoooveor-oatistic aspects elegantly sculp- not until the Gandhara School of
sal provoker of "truth -so it ured scenes of the life of Buddha. Art was the superb portrayal of
was in India, And the first curi- But in the early stupas no pic- the yakshi, the female sacred fig-
osity was about man himself: why? tures of the Buddha himself are ure, altered from its volumptuous
how? where? what? who?-and ideal to the material ludicrousness
the curiosity had to be satisfied. sof this Later Andra Period.
On the satisfying was built one of While Indian culture continued
the world's greatest religions, Hin- to thrive in the Ganges Region,
duism. in northwest Indian Gandhara had
Without any knowledge of Hin- fallen to the last heirs of Alexan-
duism, the art of India becomes der. During this period (50 to 320
not only "unintelligible," but "vul A.D.) Gandhara became, for all
gar" to the Westerner. In Indian -' practical purposes, a Hellenistic
art more than in any other graphic civilization,
art, the philosophy and the religion ~Theart produced was an abor-
are so integral, that it becomes im- lve art losing all the sponlaneity
possoble to know one without un- of the Indian tradition and incor-
derstandong at least a small part 'y porating only the flaws of the
of the others European tradition. The Culmina-
With man's curiosity in his own lion of the Buddha image was im-
being and in his own creation and manent, but the Gandhara school
re-creation, it was not unusual for' showed the figure of Buddha a' a
the earliest gods, even before the draped, fleshy, often mustached
actual beoinong of the more so- image.
poisticato Hondo dottos, to be At Mathura, tle Indian tradi-
t )ods of e ,tlsy aod Icunditco y. tion had created 1 ooddha super-
Tho, some of thse corlooat cl tore huon in conoeetion. with eyes
foor is that ofo a sfemole ' hat "sow into eternity," a foll
dicties of fectontly a d yknhas mouth symobolizing the "full mes-
noale eodieti(s lteotlooy> And sa e" w sch the Buddha taught,
eveo b,1o toeo asokoeoeton of and "oak'd tarlobes" representing
these ools, floe bom inmole aon- ' "his casting off of worldly posses.
bolt and fhe ono Ofemol 'yino ' ions such as the long earrings
were eod from sotoe 101n or- w,'brn by the men of the world. At
shippeot, Mathura the artist had shown the
Buddha as an ideal, a great being
N 1500 B.Co, wih the cooceltion, not of the flesh, but removed from
of Vedic Hymns, the artist aan humanity, an abstraction,

GEOTECHTONIC ART--Vishnu, the preserver of the world, flrS
member of the Hindu trinity, Is shown reclining on Ananta, the
serpent of eternity, in this depiction of the birth of the earth,
dated around 440 A.D. Brahma, the second member of the trinity,
is seen issuing from Vishnu's navel.

I --

Sfound his subj ect matter in reli-
gion. The V,ts ' er the sacred
books of the Brahanso or priests,
made up of liturviesl texts, hymns,
and sacrificial formulas. The gods
whose praises were sung in the
hymns became themes for works
of art and were personified by the
artists.
For example, Agni, the altar fire,
was depicted as a two-headed god,
one head symbolizing the Brahms-
anical fire, the other representing
the domestic fire. His four arms
bore sacrificial implements, the
axe for cutting wood, the torch to
kindle it, a fan to fan the fire, and
a spoon for casting in the offer-
ing. Eventually the god became
the symbol of the Universal Force,
Thus, we can see how a two-
headed god with four arms, ex-
tremely peculiar to our Western
eyes, had a logical beginning and a
reason for being to the Indian art-
ist.
Buddhist Art . .
STARTING hundreds of years
after Hinduism, but cutting
across its influence both in religion
and art, was Buddhism. Buddha
lived from 563 to 483 B.C. and his
influence on the art of India is of
.Thi is Mrs. Hamme's first
contribution to the Sunday
Magazine. She is currently
working for a degree in design,
having previously received a
B.A. and M.A. in creative writ-
ing. Mrs. Hamme has an es-
pecial interest in the art of In-
dia, the study of which she has
pursued for the past few years.

CAVE DRAWING-This Bud-
dhtst figure from Ajanta is typi-
cal of the ideal female form in
Indian art, and shows the con-
tinuity of tradition from the
goddess of fecundity at Barhut
to the Asparas or heavenly diety
of Ajanta; 650 A.D.
seen-only the symbols tell us of
his presence, a royal umbrella or
footprints carved in stone. Buddha
was considered too sacred to be
portrayed by the artists.
THE sculpture on the stupa is
primitive, often the "chiseling"
itself shows in the design, but
there is no awkwardness reflected
in the grace and movement of the
figures. The female body was
idealized, and the artists had a sort
of "canon of beauty" that tradition
held them to in their conception
of the fecundity deities.
The position of the body was
almost always in dance posture,
with small waist, round breasts,
and large hips. The body was
never nude, but always bejeweled
with necklaces, earrings, bracelets
and anklets. The jewelry was care-

rOHE Gupta school which follow-
ed fulfilled the promise of the
Mathura school, and this period
(fifth century A.D.) saw the cul-
mination of the Buddha image.
Not only in sculpture, but the ideal
in painting as well was seen on
the walls of caves in Sigiriga, Cey-
lon and at Ajanta. In the still re-
maining patches of fresco the bril-
liance of color and dynamic line
of the figure is as exciting as their
counterparts in sculpture.
Hindu Flourishing
WHILE the Buddhist art was
flourishing, the Hindu art in
the seventh century A.D. was de-
picting the eternal concepts of the
"beginning." At Udayagiri the
great god Vishnu, the preserver of
the world, was shown resting on
Ananta, the serpent of eternity,
who was lying in the cosmic ocean.
At every cycle of the universe,
Vishnu is awakened and a golden
lotus issues from his navel, and
from it is born Brahma who cre-
ates the universe of him and for
him. So in literal picture the
Indian artist portrays the pulsat-
ing universe of the scientist.
In addition to the geotechtonic
concept-the birth of the earth-
the legends of the Hindu gods were
portrayed over and over in the
temples. Vishnu and Shiva were
two of the most popular, Vishnu
with, his many "avatars" or "ap-
pearances" is pictured in forms
ranging from the great boar,
Bhumi-devi, rescuing the earth
from the abyss to the michevious
See INDIAN, Pace

JATAKA TALE-A relief from the Stupa of Barhut, 150 B.C.
The jataka tales are stories of Buddha's previous existences in
the guise of animals, this one representing the Three Friends
Tale, the turtle, the deer, and the bird thwaiLing the hunter, It
is among the oldest Buddhist art in existence.

WESTERN INFLUENCE-A product of the Gandhara school, this
sculpture shows the influence of the West upon the Indian con-
cept of the Buddha. A scene from a stupa, the Buddha is repre-
sented as a Greek sage in Indian posture draped in a monastie
cloak, the folds of which mimic Western dress.