Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s2.60

v2.c74.s2.60

Further this conceptual process of the image-maker has a further meaning and purpose. As the seeds of Hindu Iconography are to be found in the semi-philosophical hymns of the Ṛṣis—the Dhyānas, Stutis and Mantras, and as the Nirguṇa Brahma, the Absolute can not easily be an object of worship, spontaneous springing up of Upāsanā (सगुणब्रह्मविषयकमानसव्यापारः) was the most natural outcome. Image-worship, therefore, was a historical necessity, Images were found to supply the readiest means of fulfilling the needs af Upāsanā. ‘Prayer in the Hindu sense, chiefly, means meditation on the divine. The steps leading to it, as systematically treated in the practical side of the Yoga-philosophy, may be shown to co-ordinate with the stages of Iconolatry’. And Śukrācārya, one of the greatest Ācharyas of the science of Indian Architecture and sculpture has rightly echoed this ancient tradition in the following lines: