2. Key Ideas
● Indian art stresses the interconnectedness
of all the arts: architecture, painting, and
sculpture.
● Buddhist and Hindu philosophies form
background to Indian artistic thought.
● A vibrant school of manuscript painting
using brilliantly applied watercolors
flourishes in India
3. Historical Background
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Land was valuable; India has a history of Invasions and
assimilations.
Indian life today is a layering of disparate populations to create a
cosmopolitan culture.
There are 18 official languages in India - Hindi is what foreigners
think as their national language however it is only spoken by 20%
of the population.
Along with Hindus and Muslims, there are many concentrations:
Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, as well as many myriad tribal
religions.
Geographically India is known have wide range of terrains from
the tallest mountains to vast deserts, and tropical forests.
ONE OF THE MOST DIVERSE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD!
4. Patronage & Artistic Life
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The arts play a critical role in the culture: Buildings, sculptures, and murals
Rulers were very generous when it came to the investing buildings,
sculptures etc. (arts)
Arts enhance civic and religious lives along with providing glory
Indian monuments have a uniformity of style because monuments were built
as a combination of the arts; the artists who work on them work at the
request of another artist serving as team leader who has his/ her own vision
Religious designs of art and architecture was determined by religious advisor/
priest
Religious advisor/ priest made sure that proportions and iconography of
monuments agreed with the descriptions supplied in canonical texts and
diagrams
Religious advisors/ priest -> played important role in arts
Artists were trained as apprentices in workshops; they learned everything
from how to make their own brush to creating vast murals. VERY
COMPREHENSIVE PROCESS!
The training of Indian artists is highly organized
5. Borobudur
in Java, Indonesia
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Massive Buddhist monument made up of carved stone blocks.
Includes 504 life sized Buddhas, 1,460 massive relief
sculptures, and 1,300 panels 2,000 feet long.
Meant to be walked around, built similar to a mastaba, with
block on top of block, but pyramidal in shape.
Is an important place of pilgrimage and of prayer.
The building’s lower stories represent a world of desire and
negative impulses, the middle area represent the world of
forms and people who can control their negative impulses,
and the top story is the world of formula where the physical
world is unneeded and worldly desire expunged.
Thought to be representative of the compass and cosmology.
6. Miniature Painting of
Krishna Doing Rain Dance
● 19th century, unknown artist.
● Watercolor on paper.
● Krishna is the eighth incarnation of
the Lord Vishnu in Hinduism, seen
here trying to bring rain to his needy
people.
● Humans are often painted vividly
and in with colorful drapery, they
always have an expression.
7. Taj Mahal
in Agra, India
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Translated to mean “Crown Palace”
Built in 1632-1648
Named for Mumtaz Mahal (the
deceased wife of Shah Jahan), she
died giving birth to her 14th child.
○ The Palace was meant to serve
as Mumtaz’s tomb.
Onion shaped dome and exact
symmetry, with minarets framing and
sheltering the center.
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Buddhist Painting
Uniformity among regions
Compact pose, little negative space and Sculpture:
Seated in lotus position, balls of his
feet turned up, a wheel marking on
the souls of his feet. Sometimes
standing or lying down
Frontal, symmetrical, have a nimbus
(halo) around their heads
Bodhisattvas (helpers) are usually
near the Buddha, sometimes
attached to the nimbus
Drapery varies by region
○ Central India: tight fitting
resting on one shoulder with
folds slanting diagonally down
the chest.
○ In Handhara: wear heavy robes
covering both shoulders,
similar to Roman toga
(Hellenistic influence)
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Moods: detached, removed quality
Buddhist Painting and Sculpture:
representing mediation
Actions and feelings revealed by hand
gestures called mudras
Ushnish: top not on head, hair has a
series of tight-fitting curls
Long ears dangle to shoulders
Curl of hair called urna appear
between brows
Reject courtly life = lack of jewelry
Predella (base) can include donor
figures and may have illustrations of
teachings or a stories from his life
Yakshas (males) and yakshis (females)
- nature spirits often appear.
Female: rare dance-like pose, almost
nude. Male: accentuate male
characteristics (powerful shoulders
and arms)
10. Buddhist Painting and Sculpture:
Sculpture from Vishvanath Temple
Yakshi from Great Stupa, 3rd Century
BCE- 1st century CE. Sanchi, India
11. Buddha Preaching
the First Sermon
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5th century, sandstone, Archaeological Museum,
Sarnath, India, 5’3”
Sitting in yoga position, hands in a preaching
mudra
On predella: important narrative moment in
Buddha’s life, figures of Sakyamuni’s followers
who returned to him at the sermon in Deer Park
Between the two groups of kneeling monks is the
symbol of preaching, the Wheel
Compact pose; epicene quality; tight fitting garb
Bodhisattvas (a deity who refrains from entering
nirvana to help others) in nimbus above him
12. Vishvanatha Temple
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Placed on high pedestal
As eries of shapes that
build to become a large
tower; complicated
intertwining of similar
forms
In the center is the
“embryo” room containing
the shrine, very small, only
enough space for the priest
An ambulatory circles
around the inner chamber
Corbelled roofs have a
beehive quality
13.
14. Vocabulary “Glossary Slide”
Bodhisattva- a deity who refrains from entering nirvana to help others
Buddha: a fully enlightened being. There are many Buddhas, the most famous of whom is
Shakyamuni, also known as Gautama or Siddhartha
Chaitya: a rock- cut shrine in basilican form with a stupa at the endpoint
Darshan: in Hinduism, the ability of a worshipper to see a deity and the deity to see the worshipper
Gopura: a monumental entrance or gateway to an Indian temple complex
Mithuna: in India, the mating of males and females in a ritualistic, symbolic, or physical sense
Mudra : a symbolic hand gesture in Hindu and Buddhist art
Nirvana: an afterlife in which reincarnation ends and the soul becomes one with the supreme spirit
Puja: a Hindu prayer ritual
Shiva: the Hindu god of creation and destruction
Stupa: a dome- shaped Buddhist shrine
Torana: a gateway near a stupa that has two upright posts and three horizontal lintels. They are
usually elaborately carved
15. More Vocab...
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Urna: a circle of hair on the brows of deity,
sometimes represented as focal point
Ushnisha: a protrusion at the top of the head, or the
topknot of a Buddha
Wat: a Buddhist monastery or temple in Cambodia
Yakshi (masculine : yaksha): female and male figures
of fertility in Buddhist and Hindu art
