Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c76.134

v2.c76.134

**Scope.**—Now as regards the scope of Painting, some hint has already been got from the Aparājitapracchā's origin of painting where it speaks of the whole paraphernalia of heaven and earth as forming the subject matter of painting. The Samarāṅgaṇa (Cit. laks. p. 7) however gives a more reasoned and scientific account of the scope of painting when it says that paintings can be obtained on all the time-honoured backgrounds, the board or the cloth or the wall and all these canvases require, to begin with the vartis, outlines, mouldings (the kṛtabandhas), the proportions of the portrait, etc. (lekhāmāna), the colouring substances, shading and delineations, etc. together with the nine positions of legs and feet as well as innumerable poses or mudrās of the hands. This is in a way the technical scope of the art. There is however, certain time-honoured traditions of the motifs of the pictorial art as painted in the pages of these manuals and a perusal will give us a vivid picture of the objective scope of painting. This includes not only the celesitial kingdom but also the kingdoms of men, animals, birds and beasts together with the natural phenomenon of day and night, seasons and years.