A Handbook Of Indian Art

Text extracted from opening pages of book: A HANDBOOK OF INDIAN ART BY E. B. HAVELL AUTHOR OP THE HISTORY OF ARYAN RULE * N INDIA J ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE OF INDIA; INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.* ITS PSYCHOLOGY, STRUCTURE, AND HISTORY; IDEALS OP INDIAN ART** u INDIAN SCULPTURE AND PAINTING/' ETC, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1920 ALIKE FOR THOSE WHO FOR TO-DAY PREPARE AND THOSE THAT AFTER A TO-MORROW STARK, A MUEZZIN FROM THE TOWER OF DARKNESS CRIES: FOOLS I YOUR REWARD IS NEITHER HERE NOR THERE ( Verse from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.) PREFACE THE speech of H. M. the King at the opening of the School of Oriental Studies in London, and the efforts now being made by the India Society to endow a permanent Lectureship in Indian Art at the School, suggest the need of a suitable handbook for the subject. Public interest in Indian art, both in India and in Europe, has increased greatly since I made the first attempt to explain its ideals and modes of expression in my Indian Sculpture and Painting, now out of print. The present work, embracing architecture, sculp ture, and painting in its scope, aims at giving such a concise survey of the whole subject, free from dry technicalities, as will interest both the student and general reader, and serve as a useful handbook for travellers in India. At the same time it attempts a solution of several interesting problems which have exercised the minds of archaeologists for many years, and gives the results of further researches in a field which still offers unlimited scope for the art student. In this respect, therefore, it enlarges upon and sometimes revises the conclusions arrived at in my previous works. It may serveas the foundation of a full and competent history of fine art in India, which still remains to be written. In the architectural section I have aimed at giving such an explanation as will enable the reader to perceive VI PREFACE the intention of the builder, and correlate stupa, temple, monastery, palace, mosque, and tomb with the thought and life of the period to which they belong, rather than to classify them in a dry academic manner which makes the builder's intention as unintelligible as the his torian's explanation. Only when the craftsman's idea is realised will Indian architecture become a subject of living interest, an open book in which the thought and life of India are written from Vedic times down to the present day. The architecture of India will not then appear as a bewildering museum of marvels belonging to a bygone age, but as a still living tradition of practical craftsmanship constantly readapting itself to the spiritual and material needs of the age, and bearing witness to the wonderful constructive work of our Aryan predecessors, who three thousand years ago, occupying the same position in the East as their successors do to-day, laid the whole foundation of Indian civilisation upon which we are attempting to build. The spirit of the ancient Aryan empire builders will be our best guide in this great task, The section devoted to sculpture explains the lead ing ideas which underlie the Buddhist and Hindu con ceptions of the Deity and of divine worship, as they are expressed in the finest works of different periods. Apart from the extraordinary artistic interest of achievements of the temple-sculptor, the study of will assist those who wish to penetrate deeper into thereligious thought of modern India. A point of much importance for the correct classifica tion of Indian temples is the relation of the image to its shrine or temple, as every Buddhist or Hindu image has an architectural framework appropriate for it. The indications I have given may lead the way to a more systematic treatment of a subject hitherto PREFACE vil lected by archaeologists; but this is only possible for those who have the advantage of living in India. A brief review of the different schools of Indian painting, with typical illustrations, is given in the