Indian Sculpture c5.s3.t1.11

c5.s3.t1.11

Whether the object is an image to be worshipped, a myth or a scene to be beheld, the inter-related presence of the entire situation, as well as of each single figure that supports it, is what the artist endeavours to fix according to definite measures. Thus every scene or image becomes a vāhana⁸⁷ and every part of it, subordinated to that aspect, is transformed according to its meaning within, and in relation to, the whole. Now definite canons of proportion and appearance of the figures come to be laid down systematically as well as definite attributes. Where everything has its bearing in a context that results from artistic creation, and is yet meant to indicate an existence unchangeable in the duration of its action, every part of the compositional unity must be unmistakable with regard to its suggested purport, and has to be rationalised.