Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c76.107

v2.c76.107

The Sanskrit word Citra is generally rendered as painting, but it means just ‘image’. We have already seen (vide Classification of Images Citra, Citrārdha and Citrābhāsa, the three-fold classification of images on the basis of the sculpture, as fully sculptured, half represented, and non-manifest ones. Here in this part of study, therefore, the Citra would be used in the limited sense of painting. Painting is what we understand by the term Ālekhya. It is one of the nine or ten varieties of materials of which the images are made. The Ālekhya images, in my opinion, from the point of view of general currency and use, are second only to stone images. The other principal variety is of the metal images. Thus three classes of image, stone images, metal images, and those painted on some background like paṭa or paper are more popular than others.