Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c76.76

v2.c76.76

The very first point of importance in our consideration of the canons of the painting as enjoined by this work is that though some of the topics such as the canons of the proportionate measurements, the nine poses of the legs, the different varieties of the hand poses numbering as many as sixty-four, the different varieties of the forms in which gods, goddesses and the demi-gods, the immortals and mortals alike all fall under this broad heading of Painting and they are treated as such; though to my mind all these may be deemed a common property of both sculpture and painting as well as other arts of icon-making. In the S. S. however some innovation have been introduced for the first time in the extant manuals of purely Śilpa-character, viz. the Rasas and Rasa-dṛṣṭis, the dancing poses of hands, etc. and the detailed technique and conventions of the prevalent pictorial traditions of the time.