The Development of Hindu Iconography c8.53

c8.53

While discussing the problem of the correlation between the texts available at present and extant images, a note of caution is necessary. Many indeed are the early and late mediaeval Brahmanical images the iconographic features of which completely tally with the descriptions of the same types of the divinities in particular texts; but there are numerous other images whose features sometimes can only be partially explained, or at other times cannot at all be accounted for, with the help of known iconographic literature. Similarly, many and various are the textual descriptions of less known members of the fully-developed pantheon, which now seem to have had no sculptural basis at all. This seemingly anomalous fact can be explained by observing that our knowledge both of the actual images and of the extant texts can on no account be said to be complete and perfect. I have mentioned above that the iconographic literature now obtainable, enormous though it is, is only a portion of its original bulk, and some new sections of it may yet be discovered in course of time. It is also a matter of common knowledge that Brahmanical images which have so far been discovered are comparatively few when we take into account the numbers of images carved in various materials through many centuries of the flourishing period of the icon-maker's art in India. Untold numbers of images, many of which were probably priceless works of religious art, were destroyed by the vandalism of iconoclasts and thus irretrievably lost to us. The fault of destroying ancient works of art is not always to be laid at the door of the image-breakers of alien faith actuated by fanatical zeal; persons belonging to the same faith caused intentional damage to them actuated by utilitarian motive. Numerous are the ruins of ancient and mediaeval India, which were being used through the ages by various classes of people for their own building and other purposes. Beautiful works of art in marble, statuaries and architectural pieces from Amarāvatī were burnt down by the local people to supply them with lime to be utilised for their paltry ends. Sometimes, responsible public officials used them in constructions. Innumerable sculptural and architectural pieces from Sarnath, belonging to Brahmanical and Buddhist shrines, were carted away from the site and thrown into the Ganges as mere ballast when the Dufferin Bridge was being built over the river at Banaras.¹ Again, innumerable images were in ancient times made of wood which is extremely perishable in this country; they did not survive for a very long period after their construction. All these facts will have to be taken into consideration for explaining apparent discrepancies between the images and the texts. Occasional discoveries of new types of images sometimes throw interesting light on this point. Gopinath Rao quotes this description of Śivadūtī, one of the numerous forms of the Devī, from the Matsyapurāṇa :—