Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s2.2

v2.c74.s2.2

Dr. J. N. Bannerjea in his monumental work ‘Development of Hindu Iconography’, has very ably utilized the archaeological data of inscriptions, coins and seals in relation to the development of iconic cult and the iconography. As regards the sculptures (the stone images) found in the different parts of the land, mainly on the temple sites and cities, these have not been satisfactorily studied from this angle, though some purvācāryas like Smith, Havell, Brown, Kramrisch, Gangoli, Bhattacharya, to mention a few of them, have treated this subject in their own way. But as the writer is more concerned with the canons of the art rather than the monuments, these artistic studies unless coordinated with canonical ones, are only half done. In our opinion it provides a very vast field of research and study and scholars interested in this very paying branch of Indology may take up this study not only from the point of view of the monuments but also from canons as well. The author has set up this ideal, though it is not very easy to correlate the sculptures with the canons and so the present work may suffer from initial limitations. Nevertheless raising of certain problems in this field is itself not devoid of value.