Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c2.4

v1.c2.4

It will thus be seen that books dealing with Hindu images and Hindu mythology are not altogether wanting. Nevertheless, Fergusson, who is an eminent authority on Eastern and Indian architecture, has justly remarked—" Whenever any one will seriously undertake to write the history of sculpture in India, he will find the materials abundant and the sequence by no means difficult to follow; but, with regard to mythology, the case is different. It cannot, however, be said that the materials are not abundant for this branch of the enquiry also; but they are of much less tangible or satisfactory nature, and have become so entangled, that it is extremely difficult to obtain any clear ideas regarding them; and it is to be feared they must remain so, until those who investigate the subject will condescend to study the architecture and sculpture of the country as well as its books. The latter contain a good deal, but they do not contain all the information available on the subject; and they require to be steadied and confirmed by what is built or carved, which alone can give precision and substance to what is written.....