Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c5.18

c5.18

DECORATIVE ELEMENTS — An objective analysis of the contents of Indian art acquaints us with its decorative elements and the themes depicted. From the very outset Indian artists took delight in decorative designs and formal elements both taken from nature and invented by man. Geometrical (Rekhākriti), floral (Patra-vallari), and animal (Ihāmṛiga) designs were freely introduced in natural and conventionalised forms. Sometimes they are used with great effect as accessory figures, or framing borders, or for filling space, or for the sole purpose of lending beauty to an object. Pottery decorations especially were an important element of protohistoric ceramic art. Later during the historical periods the symbols on punch-marked and tribal coins and sealings draw upon a rich repertoire of designs. In the Gupta period, scroll work (Patra-latā) made very intricate and deeply engraved when on stone as on the Dhamekh Stūpa at Sarnath, became almost universal. It was believed to have the efficacy of warding off evil and plain surface was considered to be ugly. A panel with conventionalised scroll (Patra-rachanā) was taken to be as sacred as a Divine Image (Archā). This attitude bore its rich fruit in the development of the decorative element in Gupta art, painting, architecture and sculpture.