Indian Sculpture c7.s2.1

c7.s2.1

Not to emphasise any single part of the sculpture is a rule with the Indian artist. This is not counteracted by such conventions, as, for instance, that of giving disproportionate size (from a Western point of view) to figures or parts of figures of outstanding importance, i.e. to divinities mostly. Although they are made to occupy a far larger share of the available volume than other figures, they do not receive any special accent. The other figures are not grouped so as to culminate in the figure of the divinity, and, though much smaller, they occupy their allotted and collateral place with equal self-sufficiency. The entire composition consists of self-sufficient units, which, paradoxically enough, gain that quality only by their intrinsic connectedness. But each unit is self-sufficient in its meaning, and in its plastic, i.e. three-dimensional, extensiveness. The meaning and composition of the whole, however, are by no means their sum total. The dynamic way in which these are connected produces a singular compactness. Accentless distribution is the visible outcome of dynamic coherence.