Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c8.16

c8.16

And wherever the pilgrims went, and whatever might be their creed, the gods were with them always. They felt their presence in the countless denizens, seen and unseen, of forest, field, or flood. They heard them in the many voices of the jungle; in the winds which swept through the forest trees, and in the waters which poured down from their heaven-built Himalayan throne. They knew their power and beauty by the rising and setting of the sun; by the radiant light and heat of midday; by the glories of the Eastern moonlit nights; by the majestic gathering of the monsoon clouds; by the fury of the cyclone, the lightning-flash and thunder, and the cheerful dripping of the life-giving rain. From this devout communion with Nature in all the marvellous diversity of her tropical moods, came the inspiration of an art possessing a richness of imagery and wealth of elaboration which seem bewildering and annoying to our dull Northern ways of thinking.