Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c10.s1.2

c10.s1.2

Indian art, however, would have lost most of its glory, had it confined itself entirely to the representation of these idealised types. It also knows of realistic types borrowed from life. In art, the correct representation of the human body in full view, profile, back-view, squatting or stooping are due to the knowledge of the science of foreshortening visible in variety of poses. Discreet modelling brings out the relief of the body, though, at the end of the ancient period, the linear aspect dominates the form, and the stability and repose of the human body are preferred more and more. The movement disturbing the static equilibrium of lines is not liked : it loses its surging vehemence and is transformed into serene pose. The rich and impetuous exuberance of the ancient Indian form is succeeded by an ideal of beauty ruled by the unchangeable laws of iconography and visibility. To represent the human figure in full visibility became a passion with the medieval Indian artists. To quote the *Viṣṇudharmottara*, "In representing certain figures the artist should avoid to place one figure before the other,"²⁷ or "the indistinct, unequal and inarticulate delineation should be avoided."²⁸ These injunctions of the *Viṣṇudharmottara* have been scrupulously observed in the spirit of artistic testament in the age following that text.