History of Indian and Indonesian Art c8.s3.2

c8.s3.2

The outstanding characteristic of the art of India at this time is its classical quality. In the Kuṣāna period the cult image is still a new and important conception, and there we find, quite naturally, magnificent primitives, or "clumsy and unwieldy figures", according to our choice of terms. In the Gupta period the image has taken its place in architecture; becoming necessary, it loses its importance, and enters into the general decorative scheme, and in this integration acquires delicacy and repose. At the same time technique is perfected, and used as a language without conscious effort, it becomes the medium of conscious and explicit statement of spiritual conceptions; this is equally true of sculpture, painting, and the dance. With a new beauty of definition it establishes the classical phase of Indian art, at once serene and energetic, spiritual and voluptuous. The formulae of Indian and of which the influence was felt, not only throughout India and Ceylon, but far beyond the confines of India proper, surviving to the present day.