Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c72.11

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.