Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c8.s1.35

c8.s1.35

It may be noted that Indian aesthetics lay stress on both aspects of art, namely, its inner meaning and outer form (Artha and Rūpa). Without meaning art is jajune, mere portraiture or external representation regarded as unheavenly (*Asvargya*). Kālidāsa hinted at it as the conjoint aesthetic principle of ‘*Vāk* and *Artha*’, inseparable like the two universal parents (*Pārvatī-Parmeśvara*). The same pair is named *Antarvedi* and *Bahirvedi* aesthetic approach (*Viṣṇudharmottara*, 3. 1. 2). It should be the endeavour of a true artist and a true connoisseur (*Śilpī* and *Vichakṣaṇa*) to take interest in either of them. The artist creates the art forms with the power of his mind (*Chitta*) and the critic understands the form and meaning in the measure of the deep joy in his soul. This is complete Indian aesthetics or the doctrine of *Rasa*. A true search in the mystery of literature is needed to discover the meaning as envisaged both in art and literature. The worship of both *Artha* and *Rūpa* was a passion of the creative mind in India. Art, Religion, Poetry and Philosophy are like the four teats of the mother of wisdom, *Sarasvatī*, whose milk flowing from a common breast streams thousand-fold. The ancient Vedic literature in the *Saṃhitās* and *Brāhmaṇas*, *Pāli* and *Āgama* texts, Buddhist and Jaina Sanskrit commentarial texts of later times, and the *Purāṇas* together with the *Kāvyas*, knit by one unifying Thread Spirit (*Sūtrātmā*). Their human message of unity and diversity is writ large on the face of Indian Art and inspired the artist to serve both Man and God, or the kindred points of heaven and home. Art became a way of life, a purposive endeavour. The wise writer of the *Divyāvadāna* assesses it from the aesthetic point of view. The motifs of art had both a decorative (*Śobhanārtha*) and a spiritual value for life (*Ārakṣaṇārtha*, *Divyāvadāna* p. 221).