The Development of Hindu Iconography c8.10

c8.10

Sculptures or images are sometimes indirectly very useful for shedding light on obscure periods of political or general history of India. The inscriptions which are sometimes carved on their pedestals contain in many cases the names not only of their donors, but also of those of the sovereigns during whose reign these were constructed; on some of them again, we can decipher dates which materially help us in the reconstruction of little known periods of history. These images are very often definitely illustrative of the general cultural level of their makers; they are also at times clear indicators of the social traits of the people who made and worshipped them. The conception underlying them illustrate, too, in a remarkable manner the inner workings of the human mind, and a proper and scientific study of their different groups very often acquaints us with the psychological factors which lay at the origin and evolution of these images.