The Development of Hindu Iconography c3: Preface to the Second Edition
The Development of Hindu Iconography c3
- Language
- English
Preface to the Second Edition
c3.1
A revised and enlarged edition of the *Development of Hindu Iconography* was being contemplated by me, since its first edition (1941) had run out of print several years ago. Scholars interested in the religion and art of ancient and mediaeval India appear to have found something of interest in the book, otherwise the need for its second edition could not have been felt in such a comparatively short time. When I was requested by the publishers to revise it for a second edition, I not only revised it thoroughly, but also incorporated much fresh matter into it, thus enlarging it to nearly double its original size. The topics dealt with in the first edition were mainly connected with the general principles, early types and iconographic technicalities. So I intended to follow it up with volumes dealing with the developmental aspects of the different groups of cult icons, and this intention was expressed by me in its preface. But due to various reasons none of the volumes could be published, though manuscripts of some of them were made ready for the press. Dr. Stella Kramrisch, Professor of Fine Arts in the University of Calcutta at that time, and Editor of the *Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art*, requested me to make over the chapters for publication in the Journal. Four elaborate chapters, three dealing with the Viṣṇuite icons and one with those of Sūrya, were published in Volumes XIII, XIV and XVI of the same. Very few plates, however, could be inserted in them to illustrate the icons, the idea being that they would appear in the monograph, *Viṣṇu and Sūrya*, to be brought out separately. After a great deal of progress had been made in this matter, the project fell through mostly due to the intransigence of the printers of those volumes of the Journal. Thus, my original intention did not materialise, and when the second edition of the book was taken up by the University Press, I utilised the opportunity to add four big chapters on different cult icons, including miscellaneous and syncretistic groups. In doing so, I confined myself mainly to their essential features which would specially emphasise the aspect of their growth and development.
c3.2
In dealing with the cult icons, I have thought it necessary to present in broad outlines the history of the origin and development of the different Brahmanical Hindu cults. I have also given brief accounts of some of the principal cult tenets, in order that groups of images illustrating them in an esoteric manner may be properly understood. The Vyantara Devatās, or the folk divinities, have been considered first, for they are the divine entities centering round whom the primitive cults of Bhakti first originated. I have included the iconographic types of Gaṇapati, Kārttikeya, Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī in this group, for I believe that these deities were originally recruited from the category of the folk gods and goddesses. True it is, that compared with the original Vedic gods like Indra, Mitra, Vāyu, Varuṇa and others, such cult deities of the epic and Purāṇic order like Viṣṇu, Sūrya, Śiva and Śakti contain a considerable amount of popular element in them; but at the same time many features and ideologies that are distinctly Vedic in character are absorbed in them. Thus, various groups of icons associated with the major Brahmanical Hindu cults have been discussed in Chapters X and XI, where their composite character has been delineated. Icons of Brahmā and the Aṣṭadikpālas, as well as those of such accessories to the major cult deities, like Garuḍa, Nandin and the Āyudhapuruṣas, have been commented on in the first part of the twelfth or the last chapter, the characteristic traits of various groups of syncretistic icons being dealt with in the second part. I can justifiably claim that I have been the first person to give a full and systematic consideration to these very interesting groups of images, only a few among which (Hari-Hara, Ardhanārīśvara, Viṣṇu-Lokeśvara and Mārttaṇḍa-Bhairava) having been incidentally noticed by previous scholars. Two sections, (a) and (d), of Appendix A of the first edition (‘Image worship and the Pāñcarātra’ and ‘Dhulicitra’) have been incorporated in Chapters X and VI of the present edition, while two new topics, ‘The Ideology behind the Hindu Images’ and ‘Some Purāṇic Deities in Vedic Texts’ have been inserted in their place as sections (c) and (d) in it. I have also changed the order of the two parts of Appendix B, giving precedence to Chapter 57 of the Bṛhatsaṃhitā, the whole of which with its English translation and notes has been incorporated. There is no change in the remaining portions of the Appendices.
c3.3
The first edition of the book contained only ten plates, six being reproductions of line blocks, the rest being of half-tone ones. The addition of the chapters on cult icons in the present edition has made many more illustrations necessary, and I have been at pains to make them as full as possible under the circumstances. Sri A. Ghosh, the Director-General of Archaeology in India, Sri C. Sivaramamurti, the former Superintendent of the Archaeological Section, Indian Museum, and Sri S. K. Saraswati, once a student and now a distinguished colleague of mine in the University, rendered a great deal of assistance to me in the acquisition of a large number of photographs of images from various Museums and other collections of India, from which a fairly representative selection was made. I am grateful to all of them for this help. I am also indebted to Sri D. P. Ghosh, the Curator of the Asutosh Museum, for the loan of five blocks from the collection of the same. My cordial thanks are also due to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Bombay) and to the Indian Society of Oriental Art (Calcutta) for lending me nine and eight good blocks from their respective collections for reproduction in this edition. To the old line blocks have been added a few new ones which are being reproduced in Plates VII and VIII. These as well as the new half-tone blocks were prepared by Messrs. Bharat Phototype Studio.
c3.4
In the selection of specimens for illustrations, I have been guided more by their iconographic features, than by their artistic excellence, though a good many of the images illustrated here are also of a high order from the art point of view. Some of the best examples of Orissan sculptural art, notably those from Khiching (Mayurbhanj), have been reproduced here; many of them were not given their proper share of recognition by previous scholars. Images selected for illustration hail mostly from Northern, Eastern and Southern India, though images belonging to Central and Western India do not go unrepresented. It is true that many of the images selected belong to the category of the oft-reproduced ones; but I found it necessary to select them for demonstrating my own interpretation about them with the help of textual and archaeological data. The attention of the readers may be drawn to one only among them in this connection. None of the early mediaeval reliefs of India possessing artistic merit of a very high order has been reproduced oftener than the so-called Trimūrti of Elephanta. But I have illustrated it again for substantiating my own suggestion about its true import (cf. pp. 476-77). I would have been happy to include in the illustrations many images that have been least reproduced or that still remain unreproduced. But the acquisition of good photographs of them has not been easy, and for dealing with the developmental aspect of the cult icons many of the well-known ones have been very useful. It may also be noted here that iconography is such a vast subject that it is impossible for any one scholar to do full justice to it. It requires a band of earnest workers in the field to devote their energy and scholarship to the general as well as regional studies of this fascinating branch of Indology in order that many facets of the composite culture of India may be correctly interpreted.
c3.5
The Bibliographic Index in the first edition of this book has been replaced by a general Bibliography. A selective index (including entries only up to Appendix A) has been prepared in which modern place names and names of modern authors have not been generally included. I have given a detailed list of contents, in which the numerous topics discussed in the different chapters are separately entered pagewise. I hope that it will be of much more use to the readers than separate folio headings or very short summaries in the beginning of each chapter. The usual list of abbreviations has also been inserted in its proper place. The list of illustrations with cross references to chapters (in the case of line-drawings) and pages (in the case of half-tone reproductions) has been carefully prepared, and usual courtesy-acknowledgements made in its end.
c3.6
I shall fail in my duty if I do not express here my gratefulness to a number of persons who helped me considerably in seeing this edition through the press. Professor Haridas Bhattacharyya, lately of the Hindu University, Banaras, kindly looked through the proofs of the first eight chapters very carefully and helped me in correcting many misprints and slips; his sad death two months ago has created a void in the field of scholarship, and it has been a matter of personal loss to me. Shri S. K. Saraswati kindly read the final proofs of the added chapters and looked through the arrangement of the plates. Mrs. Devala Mitra, one of my former students and now an Assistant Superintendent in the Archaeological Department of India, kindly checked the references given in the first eight chapters and found out some mistakes which have been put in the errata. Shri Bratindranath Mukherjee, one of my students in the Sixth-Year class, has been of some help to me in the preparation of the index. I am deeply grateful to all of them, without whose assistance it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for me to see this enlarged edition through the press. My cordial thanks are also due to Sri Sibendranath Kanjilal, the Superintendent of the Calcutta University Press, and his staff, particularly to Sri Asutosh Bhattacharyya, B.A., the Head Proof Reader, for their unfailing courtesy to me and their prompt and earnest attention to my work. Lastly, I should like to express my gratitude to Sri S. C. Ghosh, the Treasurer, and Sri D. Chakravarti, the Registrar of the University of Calcutta, for the interest taken by them in the publication of this edition. The book was to have come out in the month of December, 1955; I regret that due to some unforeseen circumstances its publication has been delayed.
c3.7
There has been some inconsistency in the spelling of place names, and in spite of all endeavour, a few errors have crept in. Most of these have been corrected in the errata. Some wrong references to plates in the text have also been set right in the list of illustrations. A few more slips might have escaped my notice. I hope they are minor ones for which I crave the indulgence of my readers.
c3.8
CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY, The 31st of March, 1956.
c3.9
JITENDRA NATH BANERJEA.
Linked texts (1)
- Bṛhatsaṃhitā — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit