The Development of Hindu Iconography c8.17

c8.17

The second, though hardly less important, class of materials for the study of our subject is of literary character. These data can be subdivided into various groups. Among them mention may first be made of the general literature of the Indians, both of early and late periods. Their earliest extant literature, the Ṛgveda, as I shall show fully in the next chapter, contains some very interesting details, of negative as well as positive character, which will help one to elucidate various points connected with the subject. Not only the general problem of the origin and development of the practice of image-worship among the higher section of the Indo-Aryans is to be discussed on the basis of the evidence supplied to us by this and other early Vedic literature, but also the basic similarity of the later iconographic conceptions of many Hindu deities with the anthropomorphic and sometimes theriomorphic details of their Vedic counterparts is to be emphasised with the help of the early and late Vedic texts. A careful handling of this material will show the significant connection between the Vedic anthropomorphism and subsequent iconism. Several passages of the early Vedic literature, when read between the lines, will enable us to-know something about the peculiar religious practices of the original settlers of India, which will throw light on our subject. The Gṛhya sūtras, the grammatical works of the pre-Christian period, and the dharma- and the artha-śāstras of early date incidentally throw interesting sidelights on this topic. Early literary records of religious systems like Buddhism and Jainism contain incidental references to the religious practices of the Hindus, which will be specially useful for our study. Epic and purāṇic texts of early and late period, are of pre-eminent importance in this connection; the wealth of mythological lore contained in them requires to be very carefully studied, in order that we may interpret the significance of various carvings, frescoes and such other objects. As a thorough acquaintance with the early and late Buddhist records enables a student of the Buddhist iconography to understand the meaning of various carvings belonging to early and late Buddhist art, so the innumerable legends incorporated in the above class of Brahmanical literature will help us to throw clear light on the Brahmanical art of different periods. In fact, the study of the mythology of a people is essential for the understanding of its religious art, and the importance of that class of its literature which is the repository of such mythological materials can never be over-estimated. Again, incidental iconographic descriptions of divine figures contained in many sections of epic and purāṇic literature, as also iconographic and iconometric canons appearing in some of the early and late purāṇas, are of immense value, nay indispensable, for a proper study of our subject. Another class of literature which throws casual light upon some aspects of our subject is the accounts of foreign travellers who make interesting observations on particular religious practices of the people of India.