The Hindu Temple v1.c7.s2.25

v1.c7.s2.25

The ‘material’ does not demand from the Hindu craftsman in his treatment of it a consideration of its nature for it has ceased to exist as such. The wood of a living tree fulfils a different function from that of a carved image, pillar or vaulted beam. It has been converted to its new function by a series of processes, by art as well as by magic. As little as Indian thought knows of ‘matter’ so little is the craftsman concerned with the material for the sake of its effectiveness. He knows, on the other hand, its texture and the various qualities which make it suitable for one special purpose and not for another. He does justice to them and applies his knowledge and sensibility to the lustrous malleable metals for instance or to the stones of different hardness and light-absorbing power in their carved surfaces. These qualities act as evocative influences by the contact with his hand and eye and they make more close his identification, by his work, with his vision. It is in the form of his work and its intense consistency. This does not belong to any single statue or image only, for all the carved form, figure or architectural unit, however small, is part of a comprehensive whole, the temple. It may show itself as made of wood, brick or stone or else be covered by a coat of egg-shell like plaster and painted detail. Sometimes, as in the Kailāsanātha Temple at Conjeeveram, the detail is carved only in the thick plaster which overlays the stone, such embellishment far from being supernumerary tends to focus attention on every part to which it clings.