Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s2.14

v2.c74.s2.14

Now before proceeding with the classification we have to take into consideration one fact of fundamental importance that each sculpture of an ancient date has a religious history behind it. The religious history of India in the pre-Christian and post-Christion periods is memorable in giving rise to so many faiths or cults, though they are all, as if they were, branches of one great tree. The Buddhism, Vaiṣṇavism Śaivism, Jainism, and the Śāktism together with Saura and Gāṇapatya cults, to mention only the principal ones, are the illustrations. A good many minor sects also arose in their respective folds, some of which assumed the character of a school itself. The Mahāyānism and Hīnayānism in Buddhism, schools of Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras in Jainism are notable examples of this fact. Similarly, Vaiṣṇavism and Śaivism too had their minor schools of thought and ritual. All these varieties in the religious life of India as a consequence, increased correspondingly, the varieties of sculptural representation in the realm of National Iconography of India.