A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s4.4

c13.s4.4

faith, slowly perishing by absorption into the enveloping mass of Hinduism. The Brahmanical works of art exceed the Buddhist, not only in number but in merit. To Mr. Havell and Dr. Coomaraswamy the compositions in the cave temples are ‘examples of the finest period of Hindu sculpture, from about the sixth to the eighth century, when orthodox Hinduism had triumphed over Buddhism’; but most European observers experience difficulty in appreciating the artistic qualities of those compositions. They are commonly so strange and monstrous, and very often so ugly, that an effort is needed to treat them seriously as fine art. Mr. Fry, commenting on Mr. Havell’s book, is more appreciative than many writers: ‘The free and picturesque composition from Ellora,’ he says, ‘representing “Ravana under the mountain of Kailāsa”, complicated though it is, is held together by the dramatic beauty of movement of the figures of Siva and Parvati. The same dramatic vitality is apparent in the struggle between Narisinha and Hiranya-Kasipu, also from Ellora. Indeed, all the Ellora sculptures here reproduced appeal to the European eye by a relatively greater observance of the laws of co-ordination, and by an evidence of dramatic force which indicates that Indian art did not always convey its meaning in a strange tongue.’¹ To be judged fairly the sculptures should be seen in the mass and among their solemn surroundings. They undoubtedly suffer grievously by being excerpted in bits and reproduced in illustrations a few inches square. While fully conscious of the difficulties inherent in the attempt to illustrate the colossal and fantastic creations of the cave sculptors within the limits of an ordinary page, I have tried to select fairly a small number of examples generally recognized as among the best.