Studies in Indian Art c7.s2.47

c7.s2.47

The problem of Indian art terminology is a very vast one for which the available material is extremely rich. It is embodied in specialized texts like the *Vishṇudharmottara*, the *Chitrasūtra* part of it, the *Mānsāra*, or the *Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra*, etc. The stray references in the Pali, Sanskrit and Prakrit literature amplify it. Dr. Coomaraswamy in his *Indian Architectural Terms* made a beginning with this study. Mr. Sivaramamurti at one time contributed fairly extensive articles on the art references in the various classical *Kavyas*. Dr. Moti Chandra has bagged a rich harvest of such terms in his amply documented papers relating to Indian costumes, coiffure and cosmetics from the Vedic period to the Gupta Age. I am drawing specific attention to them for the reason that the terms which have been clearly identified and assessed therein should now be adopted and introduced in our art books. The restoration of Indian art terminology is the condition precedent for the proper understanding of Indian art motifs, patterns and forms. The specialized texts are awaiting authoritative editing, even the *Vishṇudharmottara* chapters on iconography and the *Chitrasūtra* chapters on painting require fresh examination, and these studies are bound to remain incomplete unless correlated with actual examples. The *Vishṇudharmottara* refers to Bahirava with round eyes (*vṛitta-lochana*) protruding teeth (*daṁshṭra-karāla vadana*) and broad nostrils (*puḷḷa-nāsāpuṭa*). In a terracotta image of Bhairava the Śiva temple at Ahichchhatra I found these three features holding good. In the case of the Sun images, Varāhamihira refers to his girdle as *avyanga* (*Brihatsaṁhitā* Ch. 58.47) and the same is mentioned in the *Vishṇudharmottara* as *yaviyanga* (Ch. 67,3), which are only attempts to render into Sanskrit the Parsi girdle called *aivyaonhan*. We have before us a great quantity of terminological material to be evaluated and cleared up.