Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c72: Introduction

Vāstu-śāstra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c72

Language
English

Introduction

v2.c72.1

This work—Vāstuśāstra Vols. I & II—Vol. II being published first, originally conceived as one of the series of a ten-to-fourteen-volume-project, under the general caption ‘Bhāratīya Vāstuśāstra’ instituted by me some years back, can now be said, a complete English version of my D. Litt. Thesis—“Foundations and Canons of Hindu Iconography (both sculptural and pictorial)”—the two parts i. e. Canons of Iconography (I) and Canons of Painting (III) wherein could also be submitted, along with my already published works—Pratimā-vijñāna, Pratimā-lakṣaṇa and Citra-lakṣaṇa.

v2.c72.2

The author, primarily a student of Vāstu-śāstra, when got enchanted with this fascinating lore of Śilpa-śāstra, has to say a word on the wide scope of Vāstu-śastra where Śilpa-śastra, the science of sculpture, and the canons of painting (the Citra-śāstra) are also included in its broader purview.

v2.c72.3

The English word ‘architecture’ does not and cannot denote and connote fully the Indian word ‘Vāstu’ (śāstra or kalā). In India the Science of Architecture—the Vāstu-śāstra has at least five main branches: the Canons of Town-planning; the Art of House-building (both secular and religious—secular being the residential houses of middle class people (House-architecture) as well as the palaces of kings (Palace-architecture) and religious being the abodes of gods—the temples—(Temple-architecture); the Canon of icon-making—Iconography (and also the art of sculpture, the rich heritage of India); the essential characteristics of Painting—Citra-lakṣaṇa and the art of the construction of the machines (mechanical devices) as well as the articles of furniture etc.

v2.c72.4

Fortunately this full-fledged scope of architecture is fully represented in the pages of the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra of King Bhojadeva of Dhārā, one of the greatest literary luminaries of India and the greatest patron of Art and Literature. The writer, a student of this magnificent book with the magnificant title, written by a magnificent king, while working for his Ph.D. Thesis “A study of Bhoja’s Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra, a treatise on the science of Architecture”, naturally conceived the idea of pursuing this subject further up and this has resulted in brining out about five Volumes—Bhāratīya Vāstu-śāstra (Vāstu-vidyā evam Puraniveśa) dealing with a succinct outline history of Vāstu-vidyā and the ancient town-planning--both the rise and growth of the different and manifold types of towns and the Canons of Town-planning; the Prāsāda-vāstu (only one part is so far printed under the title ‘Hindū Prāsāda kī caturmukhī Pṛṣṭhabhūmi) and the three volumes already mentioned above—Pratimā-vijñāna, Pratimā-lakṣaṇa and Citra-lakṣaṇa.

v2.c72.5

The very high opinion of the renowned Indologists like Dr. J. N. Banerjea, Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Calcutta University, and Dr. V. S. Agarwal, Professor of Art and Architecture in the University of Vārāṇasī, and the felicitations received from so many other quarters as well as the patronage from the Uttara Pradesha Government and the University Grants Commission in the shape of subsidies and grant for publication of these researches, have also encouraged me a great deal to go ahead in my humble pursuit to make an attempt to open up a little fringe of that vast vista of vision—the India’s past.

v2.c72.6

Now when the Volume on Iconography, the ‘Pratima-Vijñāna’ came out, it attracted the notice of that silent savant, the renowed Buddhist and Pali scholar, Professor C. D. Chatterjea, Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, Lucknow University, who liked this work very much, especially the angle of the treatment and he suggested I should now work on ‘An anthology of Pratimālakṣaṇas’ making an advancement on Sri Rao’s work. I took his advice to my heart and dedicated myself with heart and soul and added another volume to the subject. Later on a third volume, ‘An anthology of Citralakṣaṇa’ was also added and thus all these may be said to fittingly comprise the full subject of Indian Iconography.

v2.c72.7

Thus my iconographical studies comprised of the three volumes—
1. Pratimā-vijñāna.
2. Pratima-lakṣaṇa and
3. Citra-lakṣaṇa—constitute the four main pillars, on which the grand edifice of Hindu Iconography stands. These are the Background of Indian Iconography—the Institution of Worship (vide the 1st part, the ‘*Pūrva-pīṭhikā*’ of the ‘Pratimā-Vijñāna’ in full ten chapters and 169 pages); the Canons of Iconography (vide the 2nd part, the ‘Uttarapīṭhikā’ of ‘Pratimā—Vijñāna, the last seven chapters as well as the first Khaṇḍa of Pratimā-lakṣaṇa); the essential characteristics of Indian icons (Brāhmaṇa, Baudha and Jain—the exposition of which having been made briefly in the body of the Uttarapīṭhikā (Chapters 8—10) are fully and exhaustively shown corroborated from the original sources of Purāṇas, Āgamas, Śilpa-texts and other miscellaneous digests and anthologies (cf. the ‘Sources of Hindu Iconography'—the 2nd Chapter 'Pratimā-Vijñāna'—Uttarapiṭhikā) and gathered together in one volume (vide 'Pratimā-lakṣaṇa, II Khaṇḍa of eight paṭalas *i. e.* the parts) and lastly the Canons of Painting, the 'Citralak aṇa', forming an essential part of Hindu Iconography (the Citrajā images being very highly extolled in the religious digests like Haribhakti-vilāsa of Gopālabhaṭṭa).

v2.c72.8

Happily my Ph. D. Thesis, on account of its high merit (a pioneer work and the contributions which I could make there being regarded as so high that the award of Ph. D. Degree was the least credit for such a scientific and conscientious labour) was singled out by the University of Lucknow for seeking a substantial grant from the University Grants Commission, for its publication in an extended investigation. This gave me an added impetus to take considerable pains to make a fuller survey in such a manner of this subject as to evolve out a comprehensive work dealing practically with all the main branches of Hindu Iconography as already pointed out below; hence the emergence of this book.

v2.c72.9

This is, in short, the history of this work. Now let me come to the exposition of the subject-matter and contributions which I have been able to make in this very important and difficult branch of ancient Indian lore.

v2.c72.10

The subject of Indian Iconography is one of the most fascinating branches of Indology. It is not a pure art, it is applied theology, religion and philosophy, all embeded in one. Iconography, the science of image-making, forms one of the principal topics of Hindu science of the Vāstu—Architecture (cf. writer's Hindu Science of Architecture—the scope and the subject-matter of architecture) and the religious origin of Indian Architecture is well known. Naturally, therefore, Indian Iconography, unless studied in its background of the religious beliefs of the people; its treatment is only half done. It is from this broad cultural stand-point that the writer has devoted as many as ten chapters, a Daśādhyāyī, to the exposition of this background—the Institution of Worship.

v2.c72.11

Again Iconography in India is not an end itself, it is only an aid by means of which the spritual life, the religious craving and the pious dedications of the multitude of men in India were ennobled, satisfied and completed. Art for Art's sake may be a good dictum only so far as it aims at the development of the Art. The art when divested from the life in its spiritual inspiration and religious aspirations, becomes a dead art. The so called sensibility, the aestheticty or emotionalism as aroused by the creations of art, unless they aim at something higher and something nobler, are too not things of cultivation from Hindu view of life. It is from this fundamental background that studies on Indian Art—iconography, sculpture, architecture and painting should be taken up. After all, all these arts and sciences, thoughts and beliefs are only the different pillars, on which the great bridge of Hindu Culture has been built under which the sublime and divine current of life is flowing from the times immemorial. This current, though disturbed, is still flowing and the bridge of Hindu culture shows no sign of decline.

v2.c72.12

We know that the religious life of Hindus has had many transformations. The key-note of this religious life in India has been the quest of the object beyond this perceptible world. The life Divine, has always captured the life worldly. In the Ṛgvedic times the centre of the quest was manifold objects of natural phenomena, conceived as gods and goddesses, having their threefold divisions, those belonging to earth, midair and the sky. The cult of prayer (singing hymns of the Ṛgveda) was the first attempt to win over these divinities. Later on, the cult of sacrifice was in vogue (cf. Yajus-Saṃhitā, Brāhmaṇas and Kalpa-sūtras). Still later, the paraphernalia of sacrifice, the complicated ritual requiring manifold articles and involving a good deal of expenditure, both monetary and temporal, could not last long. Hence centre shifted from the extrenal quest to the Internal Ātman. This is what we learn from the Āraṇyakas and Upaniṣads.

v2.c72.13

In the Sūtra period, however, the problem was how to reconcile both these ancient institutions of sacrifice and meditation as arose and developed in the Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads. An orientation, therefore was felt necessary, to co-ordinate both the elements and the result was the rise of the Purāṇas, Āgamas, Tantras and the later systems of Indian philosophy and religion.

v2.c72.14

Despite a genuine effort on the part of the great thinkers of the past, however, a want was there. Both these institutions of complicated ritual and the philosophical or mystic meditation were not suited to the mass of huminity, the simple unsophisticated people, the ordinary run of men, forming the bulk of the population. Hence religious reform was undertaken and this could be accomplished only by a sage like Vyāsa, the celebrated author of Purāṇas. The Pūrāṇas gave the popular religion of Bhakti, the germs of which had already been there in that fountain head of Vedic lore itself (cf. Śvet. Up.).

v2.c72.15

Now with the dawn of the devotional movements, the propagation of the image-worship as advocated by the Purāṇas and the Āgamas aiming at the new orientation of the religious life of India after the sacrificial cult of the Vedas, a powerful impetus was provided for the erection of the temples and places of pilgrimage in every part of India giving rise to so many sacred places—dhāms, maṭhas, tīrthas and sacred shrines and temples all over India. Side by side this architectural upsurge, the corresponding and consequent necessity of the installation of the images of gods, more especially those of the two famous gods, Śiva and Viṣṇu, of the Hindu Trinity, was felt. Thus the origin and development of Architecture was synchronous with the origin and development of sculpture. It was with this background that almost all the treatises, all the manuals of architecture, both architectural like Viśvakarma-Prakāśa, Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra, Aparājita-pracchā, Mayamata, Mānasāra, Agastya-sakalādhikāra, Śilparatna and a host of others and non-Architectural like Purāṇas, Āgamas, Tantras and Pratiṣṭhā works, etc. have devoted a good many chapters on the treatment of sculpture also.

v2.c72.16

Without going into the details of the subject-matter dealt with in the respective parts—vide the Introductory Chapters, it may be brought home to my readers that the arrangement of this work is comprised of as many as five parts: The ‘Introductory’ part deals very briefly with the foundations of Hindu Iconography (which has been treated in details in my Hindi work Pratimā-vijñāna and gets compensated here also cf. the part II. ‘The Icons and Iconology—an exposition of Pratimā-lakṣaṇas’). The first part deals with the canons of Iconography, systematised under suitable scientific headings bringing not only a good deal of new material, but also including some new elements for the first time, a reference to which may be seen in the Introductory chapter of this part. The second part dwells at length, with the Icons and Iconology—the exposition of Pratimā-lakṣaṇas in as many as eight chapters treating all the Indian images—Brāhmaṇa (Trimūrti, etc. Brāhma, Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva Gāṇapatya, Devī, the Sun—Ādityas, Navagrahas—and the Dikpāla ones and those pertaining to Yakṣas, Vidyādharas, Kinnaras, Nāgas, Vasus, Pitṛs, Ṛṣis and Bhaktas, etc.), Baudha and Jain, along with the background of their respective sectarian cults as well as their artistic (iconographic) evolutions and developments. The third part deals with the pictorial art (and iconography), the citrajā-images, the treatment of which under scientific art canons along with an outline history of painting, both from the archaeological and literary sources, may be taken as a first systematic attempt in the contemporary studies, to which detailed introductory remarks may be seen in the Introductory Chapter of this part. The fourth part is the compilation of the sources from the representative works be-to all classes of literature—Purāṇas, Āgamas, Śilpa-śāstras, Pratiṣṭhā works, etc., etc., bringing quite a good deal of material so far remained unworked by my predecessors, under three sections, Pratimā-vijñāna, Pratimā-lakṣaṇa and Citra-lakṣaṇa. Thus all these parts really represent only two divisions: the first, the exposition, the second, the sources. The unique feature of this compilation is its emergence of a modern manual on this art in Sanskrit.

v2.c72.17

Now, in the last, a very brief indication of the contributions, which I can claim, and the new path I have trodden, has to be made for the furtherance of the further studies, otherwise it is not very happy to sing one's own hymns of praises.

v2.c72.18

Not many a savant have contributed to the real genesis and development of this most fascinating branch of Indology—Hindu Science of Iconography. The first and foremost honoured place goes to that renowned South Indian writer, Sri T. Gopinath Rao, the celebrated author of the ‘Elements of Hindu Iconography’ in four volumes (Vols. I and II with parts I and II each). Rao's treatment of the subject, to some extent, remained confined to mainly the South Indian images. Sri Brindavan Bhattacharya's “Indian Images” a pioneering attempt to treat Indian Iconography from the cultural point of view, was in a way a complementary to Rao's work inasmuch as it confined itself to the exposition of the North Indian images. A good many other scholars, notably Smith, Coomarswamy, Kramrisch, Gangoli, Foucher, Grundwedel, V. & B. T Bhattacharyas and so many others were also famous contributors to this side-branch of Indian Art.

v2.c72.19

The next stage in the exposition of this subject begins from the monumental work of Dr. J. N. Banerjea, the Development of Hindu Iconography, where marshalling of the material connected with archaeological data, especially the epigraphic and numismatic one, which has been a long dessederatum was its greatest contribution. The recent studies of Sri Śivaramamurti, (cf. monographs like geographical and chronological background of Hindu Iconography; Sanskrit literature and Art, etc. etc.) have added a new angle to the contemporary artistic studies in India. An explanation, therefore, is needed how far does this work of mine, on the self same subject of Indian Iconography, make an advancement on the studies of previous scholars? I may, therefore, submit with all my humility, the following few facts for the consideration of the world of scholars intrested in this fascinating branch of Indology:

v2.c72.20

Being conscious of my limitations, attempting any far reaching advancement from the historical and archaeological point of view, I have chosen to treat this subject from the cultural and the literary (the Śāstric) points of view. This is the main contribution of this work. A detailed treatment on the Foundation of Indian Iconography, in as many as ten chapters (vide Pratimā-Vijñāna—Pūrvapīṭhikā) is the first systematic attempt to present all the allied topics connected with the background of Hindu Iconography—The Institution of Worship. Some of the topics like the bearing of image-worship on art and iconography in India as well as many-sided development of Indian icons in relation to the manifold religious sects and sub-sects together with the rise of Tīrthas both natural like Dhāms, Kṣetras, Khaṇḍs, Araṇyas and the man-made temples under the royal patronage in both the main parts of India—the South and the Noth, are some of the notable introductions to this foundation of Indian Iconography. The treatment of the rise and development of religious movements like Śaivism, Vaiṣṇavism, Śaktism, Saurism, Gāṇapatyism, neo-Buddhism (Vajrayāna etc.) and Jainism and an outline of the mode of worship, the Arcāpaddhati, etc. are also a new presentation in this study of mine. Thus Arcā, Arcya, Arcaka, Arcā-paddhati, Arcāgṛha etc. etc. - all these topics of the Pūrva-pīṭhikā of Pratimā-vijñāna have an intimate relationship towards the exposition and the foundation of Hindu Iconography.

v2.c72.21

The second contribution, which I can claim, is the systematic presentation of the canons of Iconography in which the materials of the authoritive compendia like the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra and Aparājita-pracchā have been included for the first time in the modern studies on Indian Iconography. Further again, in the canons, a good many new topics like the aestheticism, (the Rasa and Rasadṛṣṭis), Installation (Pratiṣṭhā, Pratimā and Prāsāda—both ritualistic and artistic) and a new interpretation of the Doctrine of Mudrās along with a notice of the principal texts on the sources of iconography and a brief outline of the sculptural sources and a valuable hint at the furtherance of these sculptural studies in future—all these may be viewed as an advancement in furtherance of these studies.

v2.c72.22

The third major contribution which the author can present to the scholarly world in this realm of Iconography is the preparation of a systematic anthology of Pratimā-lakṣaṇas in about ten thousand lines wherein, not only the traditional lakṣaṇas of the different deities are presented (vide II Khaṇḍa with eight parts) but the canons of iconography are also included (vide its I Khaṇḍa). The presentation of the material of the recently discovered texts like the S. S. and the A. P. as well so many other texts should also not go without credit.

v2.c72.23

The fourth notable contribution of this work is the equal prominence given to the pictorial art in the studies on Hindu Iconography. A critical and systematic treatment of the Citrajā images from the Śāstric point of view is the first attempt, and the compilation of the Citra-lakṣaṇa is a pioneering attempt in which all the principal literary sources like V. D., S. S., A. P., Ab. C. (Mānasollāsa) and S. R. have been fully exhausted under as many as 22 headings. Thus the Hindu canons of Painting based on as many as five principal and four subsidiary texts is the pioneer attempt systematised under the principal canons of art—vide Pt. III of this work and the separate edition under the title.

v2.c72.24

Lastly, though not least in importance, is the cultural background, the key-note of this work, which has served as a beacon light in exploring the depth of this very vast ocean of Vāstu-śāstra, which is unfathomable at many places, unaccessible and dark, though full of mysterious gems and for the successful crossing of which you need a ship of wisdom :

v2.c72.25

अप्रज्ञेयं दुरालोकं गूढार्थं बहुविस्तरम्
प्रज्ञापोतं समारूह्य प्राज्ञो वास्तुनिधिं तरेत् ॥

v2.c72.26

Further again, it would not be inappropriate to say that the exposition of such a technical science as Iconography also in Hindi, the national language of India (for the enrichment of which great enterprises as well as big projects are being undertaken by the Provincial and Central Governments and the Universities and the University-men should also not lag behind) for the first time is itself a landmark in the contemporary linguistic and literary national renaissance of our independent motherland.

v2.c72.27

Now I must remember my gurus. Prof. Iyer had prescribed, for my Ph. D. Thesis, Bhoja's Samarāṅgaṇa-sūtradhāra, a voluminous work dealing practically with all the principal topics of this technical branch, the Vāstuśāstra, and that gave me a life's task, first a study of this work, now a critical and comparative survey of the whole field of this most technical branch of Indology—vide my Bhāratīya Vastu-śāstra series—about a fourteen-volume-project. I, therefore, express my profoundest gratitude to him. For devoting a greater attention (than originally planned out) to these iconographical studies, I am specially indebted to Prof. C. D. Chatterji, and this has brought for me a first distinction in the University of Lucknow—the award of the D. Litt. Degree, from the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology—vide my Thesis on the subject and the very high opinions on the work by illustrious savants of India like Mahāmahopādhyāya Sri V. V. Mirāśi and Dr. J. N. Banerjea, to both of whom I must express my heart-felt gratitude for their very apt appreciation and future encouragement. To the latter I owe a special debt of gratitude for the ‘Foreword’ of the work. Sri T. Gopinath Rao, Dr. P. K. Acharya, Dr. Bhandarkar, Dr. Kane, Dr. J. N. Banerjea, Sri Brindavan Bhattacharya, Sri B. T. Bhattacharya and so many other noted indologists who preceded me on this (and allied) branch are my real gurus, but for whose monumental works, this comprehensive survey would not have been possible in such a short time. I, therefore, offer my sincerest obligations to them. I shall suitably remember my other benefactors in the first volume of this work when it sees the light of the day by that Sustaining Grace which is the Real Author of These Researches. Before I finish I must thank Pt. B. N. Jha, the Vice-Chancellor of Gorakhpur University, for his very high appreciation of my work and writing out a short introduction to my ‘Hindu Canons of Painting’, forming an integral part of this complete volume as published separately.

v2.c72.28

In the end I take this opportunity to express my heart-felt thankfulness to Prof. Kali Prasad (Dean, Faculty of Arts, Lucknow University), the Hon. Librarian of Lucknow University Tagore Library and his assistants for a very generous accord of Library facilities without which the completion on of this work on my going over to Gorakhpur University could not have been possible.

v2.c72.29

Buddha-pūrṇimā, 2015 vik (May 1958). D. N. Shukla

Linked texts (11)