Studies in Indian Art c7.s3.6

c7.s3.6

This material world of images is the endless world of art. It is the mind (chitta) that depicts the images (chitra-karma). A mental concept is raised in the mind of the sculptor or the painter, and the same is then projected as sculpture, painting, etc. The world of forms is called Prajāpati, i.e. the creator in his cosmic aspect. It is also Hiranyagarbha, the potentiality of all manifest forms. In short, whatever is here is the material manifest form of Vishnu (mūrtam etad hareh rūpam). The sun and moon, stars and planets, men and animals, mountains, oceans and rivers, plants and roots, the animate and inanimate—all that which is the realm of art or images is to be realised through meditation. The visual aspect of an image is a very fractional aspect, limited in time and space, almost a lifeless concept, but each image has to be meditated upon as a symbol of an act of Viśvakarmā.