Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c7.101

c7.101

Moor, in his "Indian Pantheon,"¹ makes the somewhat fantastic suggestion that the baths and frequent anointings in which Indians indulge had the effect of softening the body and effacing the contours, so that the Indian artists were after all really trying to imitate a natural effect. He overlooked the fact that the religious devotee, on whom Indian artists founded their highest ideals, was just the person who indulged least in ablutional or other luxuries, and certainly did not occupy himself with effacing his contours by means of baths and anointings.