Indian Art

Author: NOVO

E-mail: [email protected]                  27th July 2000

Goddess Swarasvati

Baroque

Unknown Period

The Indian subcontinent is refered to as India in this page since they were one nation before the colonial era. The countries that are included in the subcontinent and studied here are Afganistan, Bangla Desh, Bhutan, India, Maldives (Mal Dwip), Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (Singhala Dwip).

Burma (Brahma Desh or Myanmar), Thailand (Shyam Desh), Cambodia (Kamboja, the empire extended into Thailand and almost all of Vietnam), Champa (in Laos/Vietnam), Java (Job Dwip), Sumatra and others also created great  Indian empires. It is not right to exclude them from a study of Indian art as they created some of the greatest Indian art. But for now, this page will only deal with the subcontinent.

The name "Indian" is also not a good name to use to describe the eastern Indian empires as the name today signifies only a part of the old India. The name might be Meluhha (Indus civilization name), Bharat (the real name of India) or Sri Vijaya Empire, giving respect to the creators of an empire in the East. So the whole span from Uzbekistan to Vietnam and Indonesia should be called the Sri Vijaya Empire instead of India and Indochina.

Sri Vijaya Empire once ruled much of East Asia from Java (Job Dwip). The old writing of Java is similar to proto-Bangla, northeastern Indian script. This empire was probably founded by Bengali Prince Vijay(a) Singh whose name was borne by Sri Lanka (Singhala Dwip) in the olden days, as he had created the first Kingdom there in 544 BC.  Another Bengali empire in Laos/Vietnam called Champa had its capital called Vijaya. Champa on the other hand was the name of the capital of Gaur (ancient Bangla) where the Champas originated. Interestingly, Vijay(a) means victory in Indian languages today.

Introduction

Indian Art is probably the hardest to classify, given the great diversity within unity that exists in India. There seems to be no clear cut classification of Indian art on the basis of Western classification. Dates are not established for much of India and moreover the dates that are available are prescribed by the west and are being disputed today. None of the dates are universally accepted today. One of the issues today is the Taj Mahal. Not only is its dating being questioned, its very origins are being disputed. This is my attempt to classify the art of India and to be consistent, dates used here shall be western prescribed. Furthermore, much of ancient India is no longer in India. Great artworks were created by East Indians (Bengals and Kalingas) who settled to create the early empires of Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia. Borobodur and Angkor Wat and other temples (photos) are some of the greatest creation of the Eastern Indian empires. However, this page will deal with the Indian subcontinent alone and include Afghanistan, since it was part of India.

There are certainly historical periods of India that may be used to distinguish the art of India. The history of India follows a different course than the west and so the western historical periods can not be applied. I shall divide the history period based upon general patterns of historic events and empires. They can be divided roughly into four ages. They are:

The Modern era that is the Age Of Revolutions has not been dealt with in this paper, because of the prevalence of all forms and the tremendous influences of the West. In this period many artists of India started copying the styles of the West, showing less originality. Indian art itself reverted back to archaic. Great works of art were scarce other than those done in the western styles. However, towards the end of the 20th century, there has been a resurgence of Indian religious art which is promising. Also I would like to observe that several art forms of the Indus have survived and is still prevalent in regions like South India and Bengal. These include the fabric art, the terracotta art, and jewelry.

The art of India begins in antiquity with cave paintings and continues to the numerous figurines and seals found in the Indus-Swarasvati civilization, India's first civilization. This period stretched till 1800 BC and is definitely Archaic. Later art though gains fluidity and is not so rigid.

Classical form emerges from the fluid archaic form and dominates the scene in the beginning of the Age of Empires. Towards the middle of the age, baroque form emerges. The last phase is mostly classic and baroque. The archaic form survives but becomes more intricately decorated.

The beginning of the Age of Darkness, until the 14th century is a continuation of art from the Age of Empires. It reflects the fact that invasions started around a 1000 AD but most of  India was only conquered by the 14th century. This period shows all three forms.

The period just before the Mogul (Muslim Mongols) conquerors is mostly Archaic, showing the beginning of another cycle. With the arrival of the Mogul conquerors (16th Century), India is further enriched in her arts. Beautiful paintings emerge from the Mogul-Indian art school. The Mogul period begins with baroque form but classical is again the norm. After the British ousted the Moguls, art in India went on the decline. Some art survived but archaic forms re-emerge and this time they are not so ornate. Overall, art is scarce in this period. Tribal art is more noticeable during the phase. So the Age of Empires is marked by archaic followed by classical but reverting to archaic once again.

The over all art history of India can be classified as mostly classical and ornate archaic. Some baroque does come through, however since most Indian art is religious in nature, that form is much less prevalent than the other two. Indian art is no less than her other fields of science, philosophy, spirituality and architecture.

Age Of Civilization: Harapa

Age Of Empires: Benares (North India)

Age of Empires: Madras (South India)

Age Of Darkness: Bombay

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