The Development of Hindu Iconography c8.11.1

c8.11.1

The importance of this branch of study having been emphasised in the previous paragraphs, it is necessary to take stock of the different materials which are required for its prosecution. The first and foremost data to be utilised in this connection are evidently of monumental or archaeological character. The extant images or sculptures themselves are to be closely studied by every student of this subject in order to acquire proficiency in it. By a proper and scientific study of them, it will be possible for us not only to trace the gradual evolution of the art of image-making and the practice of worshipping these images, but also to classify them satisfactorily in ordered groups and understand the underlying peculiarities of the constituents of each of these groups. Besides the images proper, reliefs carved on sections of religious architecture or figures appearing on extant painted frescoes and such other objects, are important data in this connection. Two other archaeological data which have been practically ignored by most of the previous writers on Brahmanical Hindu iconography, but which are extremely important for its study, are of epigraphic and numismatic character. Foucher and Coomaraswamy have no doubt utilised these sources in their scholarly works on Indian art and iconography; but few writers on Brahmanical iconography have cared to avail themselves of these materials.