Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c4.13

v1.c4.13

At any rate I freely acknowledge that the more the frescoes are contemplated the more does one appreciate the subtle relationships that connect the groups of figures, so that though the ‘unity’ of the compositions is not what impresses the eye at first—rather, in many cases at least, the reverse—one comes in the end to recognize that profound conceptions can dispense with the formulas of calculated surface-arrangement and have their own occult means of knitting together forms in apparent diffusion. The unity attained is not so much like the decorative unity we are accustomed to expect in works of pictorial art, as like the deep congruity we find in nature, the continuity of relation between the hills and the trees and the flowers, the shadows and the light: it satisfies in the same large and silent way. For this art is characteristically Indian in its love of natural profusion: it desires the whole fullness of life. And this fullness is not merely the vigorous assertion of human vitality, it is not complete without the life of animals and plants. Man is seen in the midst of nature, not using her as something vanquished and subservient to his needs and pleasures, but emerging among those kindred forms of life as the most eloquent form she has created. The more the mind steeps itself in this art, the more it is aware of the profound conception of the unity of all life which pervades it.