Indian Art
Subcontinent of Dreams
“India is the land of dreams. India had always dreamt – more of the Bliss that is man’s final goal. And this has helped India to be more creative in history than any other nation. Hence the effervescence of myths and legends, religious and philosophies, music, and dances and the different styles of architecture”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, quoted in Klosterrnaier, Klaus K A: “Survey of Hinduism”. State University of New York Press. 1994
Images: Relief of Vishnu sleeping, from the Dasavatara Temple. 5th-6th century AD ·· Reliefs in the Vishvanatha Temple, Khajuraho. 10th-11th centuries AD. Photograph by Dennis Jarvis ·· Basawan: “Akbar watches a Battle between two rival groups of Sannyasis at Thanesar“, c.1590 ·· Abanindranath Tagore: “Bharat Mata”, 1905. Gouache, 26.6 x 15.2 cm.
Spanning a vast territory -the Indian subcontinent- and time span -five millennia- India’s artistic legacy is immense in richness and diversity, a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities that has given rise to artistic ensembles such as the colossal monuments of Madhya Pradesh, the refined Chola temples, or the exquisite miniatures of the Bhopal period and the paintings of the Bengal School, as well as the Indus Valley Civilization and the Art of Gandhara, whose importance in the development of Asian art is dealt with in separate essays.
The usually religious background of India’s works of art is testimony to the great religions present in its territory: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam. However, according to historian Pramod Chandra, “the communal classification of Indian art into Hindu, Buddhist, and Jaina is quite unacceptable, for it falsely implies an essential difference between the art produced for each of these religions” (“The Sculpture of India”, published by the National Gallery of Art, 1985). In India, the artistic style of a particular time -the result of a complex exchange between peoples and cultures- is usually present in all works of art of that time, irrespective of the religion to which they belong.
An interesting characteristic of Indian art is its eroticism. The representation of sex does not occur at specific times and places, but extends practically throughout the entire geographical and temporal framework of Indian art. It implies, in the words of P. Ganesan, the existence of “a common cultural substratum which influenced religious sects all over India” (“Indian Temples and the Erotic Sculptured Art”, International Academic Forum, 2016). These are not hidden or semi-hidden images either, but occupy pride of place in some of the most important temples in India, especially in the Khajuraho temples and monuments in Madhya Pradesh.
Since India’s independence in 1947, and well into the 21st century, India continues to be an important centre of artistic production, where artists of diverse backgrounds have incorporated Western influences (postmodernism, abstract expressionism) into India’s age-old art, while also addressing the problems of contemporary Indian society.
G. Fernandez · theartwolf.com
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