Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c78.2

v2.c78.2

The present writer, being a student of the canons of ancient Indian Architecture—the Vāstuśāstra—in the broad scope of which Sculpture (Iconography) and Painting besides allied subjects of Town-Planning, House Architecture and Palace Architecture (the secular architecture) as well as the Temple architecture (the religious one) along with arts like construction of mechanical contrivances, the Yantras and the construction of house-hold furniture—Śayanāsana, etc., etc. are also included--deems it therefore, necessary to treat this outline history of Indian painting not only from the archaeological standpoint but also from the point of view of innumerable references abounding in the literature, the Kāvya literature. Great and eminent poets like Kālidāsa, Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Śrīharṣa, to mention only a few of them, were great ‘Painters’ in their own way. Their poetic painting shows full grasp of not only different canons of pictorial art but also the technique and conventions of painting as were prevalent in their days. I, therefore, propose to take up this subject from two broad angles, namely, the monuments, i. e., the archaeological evidence and the literature, i. e., the literary references.