Indian art

Indian Art consists of a variety of art forms, including plastic arts (e.g., pottery and sculpture), visual arts (e.g., cave paintings), and textile arts (e.g., woven silk). Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. A strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern and traditional forms.
The origin of Indian art can be traced to pre-historic Hominid settlements in the 3rd millennium BC. On its way to modern times, Indian art has had cultural influences (e.g., Indus Valley and Hellenistic), as well as religious influences such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally the prevailing artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups.

In historic art, sculpture in stone and metal, mainly religious, has survived the Indian climate better than other media, and provides most of the best remains. Many of the most important ancient finds that are not in carved stone come from surrounding, drier regions rather than India itself. Indian funeral and philosophic traditions exclude grave goods, which are a main source of ancient art in other cultures.

Temporal history of Indian art

Early Indian art

Rock art

Bhimbetka rock painting showing man riding on horse.

Replica of the "dancing girl of Mohenjo Daro"

The rock art of India includes rock relief carvings, engravings and paintings. It is estimated there are about 1300 rock art sites with over a quarter of a million figures and figurines.The earliest rock carvings in India were discovered by Archibald Carlleyle, twelve years before the Cave of Altamira in Spain,lthough his work only came to light much later via J Cockburn (1899).

Dr. V. S. Wakankar discovered several painted rock shelters in Central India, situated around the Vindhya mountain range. Of these, the Bhimbetka rock shelters have been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The paintings in these sites commonly depicted scenes of the human life alongside animals, and hunts with stone implements. Their style varied with region and age, but the most common characteristic was a red wash made using a powdered mineral called geru, which is a form of Iron Oxide (Hematite).

Indus Valley Civilization (c. 5000 BCE – c. 1500 BCE)

Main article: Indus Valley Civilization

Despite its wide spread and sophistication, the Indus Valley civilization seems to have taken no interest in public large-scale art, unlike many other early civilizations. A number of gold, terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of some forms of dance. Additionally, the terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, and dogs. The animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the mature period has not been clearly identified. Part bull, part zebra, with a majestic horn, it has been a source of speculation. As yet, there is insufficient evidence to substantiate claims that the image had religious or cultic significance, but the prevalence of the image raises the question of whether or not the animals in images of the IVC are religious symbols.The most famous piece is the bronze Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro, which shows remarkably advanced modeling of the human figure for this early date.
Seals have been found at Mohenjo-Daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and another sitting cross-legged in what some call a yoga-like pose. This figure, sometimes known as a Pashupati, has been variously identified. Sir John Marshall identified a resemblance to the Hindu god, Shiva
After the end of the Indus Valley Civilization there is a surprising absence of art of any great degree of sophistication until the Buddhist era. It is thought that this partly reflects the use of perishable organic materials such as wood.

Mauryan art (c. 340 BCE – c. 232 BCE)

Main article: Mauryan art

Mauryan ringstone, with standing goddess. Northwest Pakistan. 3rd Century BCE

The north Indian Maurya Empire flourished from 322 BCE to 185 BCE, and at its maximum extent controlled all of the sub-continent except the extreme south, and introduced stone monumental sculpture to India, though probably drawing greatly on existing Indian traditions in wood, as well as influences from Ancient Persia.
The emperor Ashoka, who died in 232 BCE, adopted Buddhism about half-way through his 40-year reign, and patronized several large stupas at key sites from the life of the Buddha, although very little decoration from the Mauryan period survives, and there may not have been much in the first place. There is more from various early sites of Indian rock-cut architecture. The most famous survivals are the large animals surmounting several of the Pillars of Ashoka, which show a confident and boldly mature style, though we have very few remains showing its development.The famous detached Lion Capital of Ashoka, with four animals, was adopted as the official Emblem of India after Indian independence. Many small popular terracotta figurines are recovered in archaeology, in a range of often vigorous if somewhat crude styles.

Buddhist art (c. 1 CE – c. 500 CE)

Paintings of Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the Buddha in Cave 1 at Ajanta

The major survivals of Buddhist art begin in the period after the Mauryans, from which good quantities of sculpture survives from some key sites such as Sanchi, Bharhut and Amaravati, some of which remain in situ, with others in museums in India or around the world. Stupas were surrounded by ceremonial fences with four profusely carved toranas or ornamental gateways facing the cardinal directions. These are in stone, though clearly adopting forms developed in wood. They and the walls of the stupa itself can be heavily decorated with reliefs, mostly illustrating the lives of the Buddha. Gradually life-size figures were sculpted, initially in deep relief, but then free-standing. Mathura was the most important centre in this development, which applied to Hindu and Jain art as well as Buddhist.The facades and interiors of rock-cut chaitya prayer halls and monastic viharas have survived better than similar free-standing structures elsewhere, which were for long mostly in wood. The caves at Ajanta, Karle, Bhaja and elsewhere contain early sculpture, often outnumbered by later works such as iconic figures of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, which are not found before 100 CE at the least.
Buddhism developed an increasing emphasis on statues of the Buddha, which greatly influenced later Hindu and Jain religious figurative art, which were also influenced by the Greco-Buddhist art of the centuries after the conquests of Alexander the Great. This fusion developed in the far north-west of India, especially Gandhara in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan.^[The Buddhist Kushan Empire spread from Central Asia to include northern India in the early centuries CE, and briefly commissioned large statues that were portraits of the royal dynasty, a type of art that was otherwise wholly absent from India until the Mughal miniature.

Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh, Gupta dynasty, c. 500 CE.

Gupta art (c. 320 CE – c. 550 CE)

Main article: Gupta_Empire § Art

The Gupta period is generally regarded as a classic peak of north Indian art for all the major religious groups. Although painting was evidently widespread, the surviving works are almost all religious sculpture. The period saw the emergence of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu art, as well as the Buddha figure and Jain tirthankara figures, these last often on a very large scale. The two great centres of sculpture were Mathura and Gandhara, the latter the centre of Greco-Buddhist art.

Although the Gupta period marked the "golden age" of classical Hinduism,^[18] the early architectural style of Hindu temples is considered simple, consisting only of a sanctum and a porch for the worshipper.This is in stark contrast to the complex plans with multiple shikaras (towers) and mandapas (halls) of various utility that matured during the later part of this period.










C.M Tharindu bandara