INDIAN SCULPTURE: ORISSA’S ROLE
By N. SRINIVASA RAO
Sculpture
is the language of shapes as music is the language of sounds. Since the dawn of
civilisation, man has made things in clay–from earthen vessels for use, to
idols for worship. To make gods and heroes, to commemorate great deeds, to
embellish his architecture, to record his doings and feelings, man has cut and
carved stone. He has modelled clay for the same purpose. The sculptor, whether
Indian or Western, still uses these materials to express his thoughts. He
models in clay or wax, which is called the plastic method. He carves in stone,
wood and other material which is called the glyptic method. In the plastic
approach the sculptor applies piece upon piece of clay or wax until he makes a
designed shape. In the glyptic approach he starts with a mass of material and
cuts it away piece by piece until he arrives at his design. These, the only two
ways of making sculpture, are also known respectively as modelling and carving.
Whatever new materials may in the future be discovered or invented, they could
only be used by the sculptor to mould or carve, for these are the twin methods
of communicating the language of form.
The
foundation of all art among the ancients was more or less religious, and
sculpture was employed in spiritual service. The Egyptians, forefathers of art,
were sensible of the grandeur of mere mass and hugeness; and therefore made
their effigies colossal. Their works are great by mere force of monotony and
vastness. Indian sculpture strives to realise something of the universal, the
Eternal and the Infinite. The Hindu artist believes that the highest type of
beauty must be sought after, not in the imitation or selection of human or
natural forms, but in the endeavour to suggest something finer and more subtle
than ordinary physical beauty. Mere bodily strength and mundane perfection of
form are rarely glorified in Indian sculpture. The sculptor models a
representation of the Deity with an attenuated waist and abdomen and suppresses
all the smaller anatomical details so as to obtain an extreme simplicity,
eliminating individual traits. He is not ignorant of anatomy but wants
to create a subtle type of beauty in accordance with his ethical and philosophical
notions, which can only be reached by the surrender of worldly
desires. Thus it is that Indian art is essentially idealistic, mystic, symbolic
and transcendental.
The
Hindu religion forbids indulgence in the choice of transitory subjects for
artistic rendering. The highly philosophic temperament of the Hindu never
considers anything mundane as a fit subject for the devotion of human energy in
any form. “The Artist” says Sukracharya, “should attain to the images of gods
by means of spiritual contemplation only. The spiritual vision is the best and
truest standard for him. He should depend upon it, and not at all upon the
visible objects perceived by external senses. It is always commendable to draw
the images of gods. To make human figures is bad and even irreligious. It is
far better to present the figure of a god, though it is not beautiful, than to
reproduce a remarkably handsome human figure.” Thus spiritual contemplation is
the keynote of Hindu sculpture.
Hindu
philosophy clearly recognises the impossibility of human art realising the form
of God. It is the spiritual and mystic facets of art that receive immense
emphasis and religious sanction in India. Indian sculpture is therefore a
representation in stone or metal of the spiritual and mystic vision of the
artist. Gods and goddesses are the mystic creations of devotees and what the
mystic poet sings in verse and the mystic painter draws with paint and brush,
the mystic sculptor chisels in stone and casts in metal. They are idealised
representations of what are universally accepted as divine attributes.
All
sublime and great art is based on convention and suggestion. The disposition of
hands in the images or worship signifying various ‘mudras’, conveys high
ethical ideas, the import of which is based on the concepts of religion,
philosophy and attributes of Divinity. Definite rules for the production of sculptural
objects in consonance with Hindu religious beliefs were laid down in ancient
times in the Neeti-satras and Silpa-sastras. Images should conform to the
prescribed types when they are intended as objects of worship. The ancient
civilisation of Mahenjadaro reveals the fact that the predecessors of the
Aryans were excellent sculptors, architects and builders. The ancient
sculpture, as revealed in the excavations, speaks of the marvellous skill of
the sculptors who modelled effigies in clay and in terra-cota.
It
is possible that sometime during the Pre-Buddhist period ‘Shadanga’ or ‘six limbs
of painting’ were evolved, a series of canons laying down the first principles
of art in the 3rd century B.C. These are ‘Rupabheda’ (knowledge of appearance)
‘Pramana’ (correct perception, measure and structure), ‘Bhava’ (action of
feelings on forms), ‘Lavanya Yojanam’ (infusion of grace, artistic
representation, ‘Sadrisyam’ (similitude), ‘Varnikabhanga’ (artistic manner of
using the brush and colours). They are an interesting study and reveal a vast
spiritual background besides a wealth of technical knowledge which the ancient
sculptors and painters followed.
The
Puranas, the Neeti-sastras and Silpa-sastras of ancient origin, inculcate rules
for the making of images. They state that images worshipped may be in three
forms (1) Satvika (2) Rajasika and (3) Tamasika. The worshipper chooses each of
these forms to suit his own purpose of worship. (1) The images of Satvika type
have their eyes fixed on the tip of the nose as in meditation; they should be
posed straight and unbending, the hands so displayed as if offering blessings
and courage to devotees. (2) The Rajasika type of images are seated on some
‘Vahana’ or conveyance, decked with ornaments, have two hands furnished with
arms and weapons and the other two hands offering blessings and courage. (3) The
Tamasika type are in action, killing demons with arms and weapons, having a
ferocious and vehement look and appear eager for warfare. There are also rules
with regard to seats, Vahanas or conveyances, colours, postures, symbolic
weapons which vary according to the image that is conceived whether it be in a
fighting or blessing attitude. However, one can safely assent that ancient and
medieval sculptors, while constructing images, paid particular attention to
proportion, measurements and other accessories that were laid down in the
sastras.
Here
we may compare Hellenic sculpture with Indian sculpture. The Greeks, the Romans
and others who followed the Greek ideal in sculpture, often desisted from
delineation of transitory sentiments or passions. The Greeks built up their
immortal art on the eternal principles of physical beauty and perfection.
Endowed with an instinctive sense of grace and harmony, they moulded their
statuary upon the eternal and immutable laws of nature. Profound in their
knowledge of the human figure, they saw that sculpture might be properly
employed as a vehicle of instruction and example. Having raised statues to
their gods, whose serene beauty appealed to the intelligence of men and struck
awe into their hearts, they next immortalised their heroes of war and peace by
their sculpture, and thus inspired their youth to noble deeds of valour and
self-devotion and kindled in their hearts a love of wisdom, virtue and
patriotism. But Indian sculpture has its centre and source in religion: the
sculptor is concerned with the representation of eternal verities. The
transient has little attraction for him. He is anxious to give symbolic
representation of the universal and to the fundamental, without paying any
attention to physical beauty. He dives deeper and seeks to establish communion
between the invisible mystery of the divine and the visible reality of the
human. He is, in a sense, a sculptural interpreter of the divine, a philosopher
in stone.
Another
important feature of Indian art is its ‘idealism’ which is based on ‘Sadrisyam’
or similitude. The artist has borrowed elements of beauty from other objects of
nature and most dexterously applied them in his art. Thus in Indian art the
different parts of the human body are compared to creepers or flowers, or any
particular limb is compared to the beauty of curvature of a particular animal.
The fingers of the human body are compared to champaka flower, the body to a
tender creeper, the palm of the hand to a full-blown lotus, the face to a full moon
or egg, eyes to a lotus petal, nose to a ‘til’ flower or the beak of a parrot,
lips to the juicy red fruits of a pomegranate, neck to that of a swan, waist to
that of a lion and legs and thighs to a plantain trunk and so on, thus
emphasising the undercurrent of unity of life and divinity of nature. In the
convention of Indian art, the tiniest part is skilfully compared to some other
familiar object, based on similitude. This the ancients did to emphasise
beauty, so that every part of the work might display the concentrated beauty of
its own. No Western artist has ever dreamt of visualising and depicting every
part of his composition so distinctly. Thus a maiden
sculptured by an Indian sculptor is recognizable as a maiden,
but she is not exactly what a maiden in flesh and blood looks like. It would be
an ideally beautiful, a celestial maiden, the exact replica of whom could never
be found in actual life.
Indian
sculpture has also another important and distinct aspect. It deals with
generalisations: individuality is suppressed and the emphasis is on the type.
It shows in its development an over-emphasis of decorative detail, but it never
becomes subservient to nature. Although, after Alexander’s conquest, Greek art
made inroads to India, it brought about only a superficial imitation of natural
appearances. But the Indian spirit reasserted itself and gradually threw off
the foreign influence. Again Indian sculpture is often characterized by an
extraordinary feeling for rhythm. Not only does the Indian sculptor love to
reproduce in stone the actual surface and texture of the flesh, but also he is
interested in making a design from the undulating and yielding movements of the
body. He can twist the torso to any angle and relate the limbs to the trunk in
any possible pose to express movement for rythmic effect and grace.
The
plastic art of Orissa between the 7th and 14th centuries, under the patronage
of the Ganga and Kesari dynasties–known as the golden age of Orissan art
envisaged in the temples of Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark–seems to possess the
characteristic, symbolic and mystic facets that have been typified in the great
schools of sculpture of Ellora, Borobodur, Amaravati, Barhut and Sanchi. Orissa
standing for centuries on the border of North and South, seems to have freely
imbibed the best characteristics of both, but belonging wholly to neither. In
sculpture and in all form of art, Orissa shows a definite mixture of the North
and South. The North always uses the human figure in her decorative
motifs; while the South attempts to specialize in decorative design without
figure work. The general characteristic of Orissan glyptic art is a mixture in
which both figure and design are used in the decorative motifs. Numerous
examples can be seen in the temples of Mukteswar (Bhubaneswar) Raja Rani
(Bhubaneswar) and the Surya-deval at Konark.
Orissa
in most of her icons, adopts, ‘Atibhanga’ the extreme form of ‘Tribhanga’.
Indian images are generally posed, (1) straight (‘Samabhanga’), (2) a slight
flexion (‘Abhanga’) or (3) ‘Tribhanga’ (three flexions) and (4) ‘Atibhanga’
(extreme flexion). In ‘Samabhanga’ the figure is poised firmly on both legs
without inclining in any way either to the right or to the left. Images of
Buddha, Surya (sun) and Vishnu are generally made to follow this scheme of
rigid vertical symmetry. In ‘Abhanga’ the upper half of the figure is made to
incline slightly towards its right side or to the left side. The figures of
holy men are given this slight inclination. In ‘Tribhanga’ there are three
flexions; the centre line passes through the left or right pupil, the middle of
the chest, the left or right side of the navel, down to the heels. Figures like
Vishnu or Surya with attending figures of Saktis are usually made of this type.
‘Atibhanga’ is an emphasised form of the ‘Tribhanga’, the sweep of the
‘Tribhanga’ curve being considerably enhanced. This type is usually seen in
Siva’s dance and very often followed by the sculptors of Orissa. Several female
effigies on the temples of Orissa, mostly in Bhubaneswar and in some parts of
Mayurbhanj State, are posed in ‘Atibhanga’, giving the torso an attenuated
accent because the torso is the most beautiful part in female form. Besides in
all the Orissan type of icons, we find a particular type of wearing the hair;
great accuracy of detail in ornamentation and the waist covered with pearl-like
beads, is displayed with striking effect. In most of the female figures, the
lower part of the body is thinly covered with cloth, arranged in decorative
design, while the flowing ornaments of the neck are nicely poised between the
breasts. These are some of the individual traits of Orissan art which conform
to the methods and ideals of Indian sculpture and at the same time exhibit
traits that are peculiar to itself.
The
earliest mediaeval sculpture is characterised by naturalism, perfect equipoise
combined with a very high standard of idealistic excellence. These qualities
are portrayed in the sculpture of Buddha, in Bhumisparsamudra (the hand
touching the earth) found in the caves of Lalitagiri and Udayagiri, which the
Jains have carved out in about the 8th century B.C. and which were the
monasteries of the Buddhist and Jain priests. The sculptures existing on
Lingaraj temple, the Raja Rani, the Mukteswar at Bhubaneswar, all prove the
high standard of plastic art reached by Orissan artists. In the expression of
the face, the modelling of the torso and schematic arrangement of the locks of
long hair over the shoulder, indicate the high stage of plastic art reached by
Orissan artists. They seem to have followed their own standard of idealism in
chiselling divine and semi-divine forms, and at the same time copied nature
when it was required. In the Raja Rani temple (built in the Indo-Aryan style)
at Bhubaneswar, human figures used in decoration are perhaps the finest. In
chastity of design, poise of execution and sense of proportion these figures
are unrivalled. The walls of those temples at Bhubaneswar worked in low relief
or half relief, depict kings with their queens and nobles, war marches of the
victorious royal army. There are hermits and sages doing penance and worship;
the musicians use a variety of musical instruments, the dancing girls exhibit
unique poses in consonance with Bharat Natya Sastra. The soldiers use the
traditional war weapons such as bows and arrows, swords, daggers, javelins and
spears. Chariots, elephants and horses are the main wartime conveyances. These
Orissan sculptors seldom missed representation of birds, beasts and especially
elephants and lions. The Sun temple at Konark called the ‘black pagoda’ on the
banks of the Chandrabhaga, facing the sea, is the embodiment of marvellous
supreme artistic skill of the sculptors. For artistic splendour dignified
structure, jewellery like ornamentation and in the grouping of figures in
artistic composition, the workmanship is unrivalled. This temple enriched with
countless images and idols, is the veritable repository of Hindu epics and
mythology, religious philosophy and erotic imagination. This temple contains
figures with high polished ornaments, bas reliefs pilasters and pillars, human
figures and a set of twelve, wheels on the ratha. There are dancing
figures engraved on the spokes of the wheels with highly ornate design. These
carvings consist of two classes: (1) standing figures in high relief, and (2)
decorations carved out of the body of the structure, such as Naga pillars,
female figures and geometrical patterns. In one of the entrances there is the
effigy of Sun God riding on horse back. The spirited pose of the horse and the
restless energy of the rider are well brought out.
Thus
mediaeval and ancient sculpture in India is a blend of art and religion, of the
transitory and the permanent, of the human and the divine, It is essentially
mystic and symbolic; it is not only based on religion but is the very essence
of it.