The salient aspects of Art Forms in India
It is documented that India have a rich and ancient history. Since ancient times there has been an amalgamation of indigenous and foreign influences that have shaped the course of the arts of India, and subsequently, the rest of Asia. Arts is defined as paintings, architecture, literature, music, dance, languages and cinema. In early India, most of the arts were derived Vedic influences.
Ancient Indian art: It is analysed that each era is exclusive in its idiosyncratic culture. In the same way Indian art forms have constantly evolved over thousands of years. In ancient India, various art forms like paintings, architecture and sculpture evolved. The history of art in ancient India begins with prehistoric rock paintings as theoretical literature indicated.
After the birth of current Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, arts thrived with the support of emperors. In the era of Islam, new form of Indian architecture and art were visible. Finally, the British brought their own Gothic and Roman influences and attached it with the Indian style. They have a culture infusion in their art. The use of symbolic forms in India is ancient since the period of the Harappan seals. The fire altars of the Vedic period, with their astronomical and mathematical significance also play an important role in the development of the later temples. It was followed by a period in the history of Indian art that is important for rock-cut caves and temple architecture. The Buddhists introduced the rock-cut caves, Hindus and Jains started them at Badami, Aihole, Ellora, Salsette, Elephanta, Aurangabad and Mahabalipuram. The rock-cut art has constantly progressed, since the first rock cut caves, to suit different purposes, social and religious contexts, and regional differences. Together with the art forms like architecture, paintings and sculpture, there have been evolving, changing, altering, folk and tribal art traditions in India. These art forms are expression of people belonging to different cultural and social groups of India. It is the communication of people whose life is adjusted to the rhythms of nature and its laws of recurring change and whose life is tangled with natural energy. In India tradition, Gods and legends are transformed into modern forms and familiar images. Fairs, festivals and local deities also has significant role in the development of these arts forms. It is an art where life and creativity are inseparable. The tribal arts of India have a unique sensitivity, as the tribal people possess an intense awareness very different from the settled and urbanized people. Their minds are flexible and intense with myth, legends, and snippets from epic, multitudinous gods born. Their art is an expression of their life and holds their fervour and mystery.
Architecture:
The greatest achievements of Indian civilization is unquestionably its architecture which was the outcome of socio-economic and geographical condition. Indian architecture is that vast drapery of production of the Indian subcontinent that includes a multitude of expressions over space and time, renovated by the forces of history considered exclusive to the sub-continent, sometimes abolishing, but most of the time absorbing. The earliest production in the Indus Valley Civilization was characterised by well-planned cities and houses where religion did not seem to play an active role. The Buddhist period is mainly represented by three important building types- the Chaitya Hall (place of worship), the Vihara (monastery) and the Stupa (hemispherical mound for worship/ memory) – exemplified by the awesome caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi Stupa.
In early period, Hindu temple architecture have been traced to the remains at Aihole and Pattadakal in present day Karnataka, and have Vedic altars and late Vedic temples as described by Panini as models. Later, as more differentiation took place, the Dravidian/ Southern style and or the Indo-Aryan/ Northern/ Nagara style of temple architecture emerged as prevailing modes, epitomized in productions such as the magnificent Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, and the Sun Temple, Konark. The older terminologies of Dravidian and Indo-Aryan are not used in recent practice because of their racial and uncertain origins. Buddhist elements and themes have influenced temple architecture to great extent.
Previously, temples were rock-cut, later structural temples evolved. The Kailasanatha temple at Ellora is best illustration of the former, excavated from top to bottom out of a massive rock face. The pyramid formed an essential architectonic feature in any temple composition- stepped in the Dravidian style, stepped and slightly curved in the Northern style. The structural system was essentially trabeated and with stone being the basic raw material for the Indian craftsman, construction could be done with minimal or no mortar. Decoration was necessary to Indian architecture and is seen in the innumerable details of figured sculpture as well as in the architectural elements. The notion of fractals has been used to observe the form of the Hindu temple, both in terms of its planning and external appearance. The garba-griha or the womb chamber forms the central focus housing the deity of the temple and is provided with a circumambulation passage around. However, there are also many subsidiary shrines within temple complexes, more particularly in the South Indian (the Dravidian style) temple. As the Hindu temple is not meant for congregational worship, the garba-griha is small in scale when compared to the whole temple complex. However, it is articulated externally by the vimana or the sikhara. Pillared halls or mandapas are found preceding the garba-griha.
The three-dimensional experience of a South Indian temple multifaceted and is considered particularly rich and meaningful. Among them, such as the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam, the concentric enclosures or prakaras along with the series of gopurams or entrance gateways reducing in scale as they move towards the garbha-griha set up a rhythm of solids and voids as well as providing a ritual and visual axis. The principles of temple architecture were organised in treatises and canons such as Manasara, Mayamatam, and Vaastu Shastra. These offered an ordering framework yet permitted a certain autonomy for contextual articulation. Presently, most of the ancient Hindu architecture flourishes in temples of south India and South-east Asia as the subsequent forces of Islam renovated the cultural landscape of India more dominantly in the north.
Rich literature have shown that the Jaina temples can be seen in the Dilwara Temples in Mt.Abu. Early beginnings of Hindu temple architecture have been traced to the remains at Aihole and Pattadakal in present day Karnataka, and have Vedic altars and late Vedic temples as described by Paṇini as models. Later, as more differentiation took place, the Dravidian/ Southern style and or the Indo-Aryan/ Northern/ Nagara style of temple architecture emerged as dominant modes, epitomised in productions such as the magnificent Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, and the Sun Temple, Konark.
With the arrival of Islam emperors, the arch and dome began to be used and the mosque or masjid too began to form part of the landscape, adding to a new experience in form and space. The most famous Islamic building type in India is the tomb or the mausoleum which evolved from the basic cube and hemisphere vocabulary of the early phase into a more elaborate form during the Mughal era where multiple chambers are present and tombs were set in a garden known as the char-bagh. Popular architectural buildings are the Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur and the Taj Mahal, Agra, the latter renowned for its attractiveness in white marble, its minarets and its setting. With colonisation, a new episode began. Though the Dutch, Portuguese and the French made substantial raids, it was the English who had a lasting impact. The architecture of the colonial period varied from the beginning attempts at creating authority through classical prototypes to the later approach of producing a supposedly more responsive image through what is now termed Indo-Saracenic architecture, a mixture of Hindu, Islamic and Western elements.
After independence and initiation of Modern Architecture into India, the quest was more towards progress as a paradigm fuelled by Nehruvian visions. The planning of Chandigarh is good example. Later on as modernism exhausted itself in the West and new directions were sought for, in India too there was a search for a more expressive architecture rooted in the Indian situation. Apart from this, process of globalisation and economic development in the decade of the 90s, has produced an inspiring collection of modern Information Technology campuses and skyscrapers, and as economic reform accelerates, metropolitan areas are gaining innovative horizons.
Indian literature is generally recognized, but not wholly established, as the oldest in the world. India has 22 officially recognized languages, and large form of literature has been produced in these languages over the years. Sanskrit literature has a special place in Indian civilization. It extended from about 1400 BC to AD maha 1200 and reached its height in the period from the 1st to the 7th centuries AD. The two major one of the oldest literatures Ramayana and Mahabharatha, and Abhigyanashakuntalam, Meghadutam by Kalidasa, are the best examples. The Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and Dharmasutras are all written in Sanskrit. In Indian literature, oral and written forms are both important. Hindu literary traditions govern a large part of Indian culture. The Vedas are the earliest known literature in India (Pande, 1990). The Vedas were written in Sanskrit and were handed down orally from one generation to the other. There are four Vedas, namely, the- Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. Each Veda consists of the Brahmanas, the Upanishads and the Aranyakas. The Rig Veda, Sama Veda and the Yajur Veda are collectively known as Traji. In later years the Atharava Veda was incorporated in this group. The Rig Veda is the original of the Vedas. It is a collection of 1028 hymns in Vedic Sanskrit. Many of these are beautiful explanations of nature. The prayers are largely for seeking worldly prosperity. It is supposed that these recitations are the natural outpouring of Vedic rishis experiencing a mentally transcendental stage. Some of the famous rishis during that period were Vasistha, Gautama, Gritasamada, Vamadeva, Vishvamitra and Atri. The prominent gods of the Rig Veda are Indra, Agni, Varun, Rudra, Aditya, Vayu, Aditi and the Ashwini twins. Some of the prominent goddesses are Usha – the goddess of dawn, Vak – the goddess of speech and Prithvi – the goddess of earth.
Yajur entails sacrifice or worship. This Veda is related with resources and mantras of different sacrifices. It gives directions for the performance of the yajnas. It has both poetic and prose versions. Being a treatise on rituals, it is the most popular of the four Vedas. There are two major categories of Yajur Veda, namely Shukla and Krishna Yajur Veda i.e. Vajasaneyi Samhita and Taitriya Samhita. This text replicates on the social and religious condition of India at that time.
Sama means tune or songs. This Veda comprises of 6,000 ragas and raginis or musical notes. Out of total 1875 verses only 75 are original and others are from the Rig Veda. The Sama Veda suggests the tunes for the recitation of the hymns of the Rig Veda. It may be called the book of Chants (Saman). This book is an evidence of the development of Indian music during this period.
The Atharva Veda is also recognized as the Brahma Veda. It contains treatment for ninety-nine diseases. The source of this Veda is traced to two rishis called Atharvah and Angiras. The Atharva Veda has great value as it signifies the religious ideas at an ancient time of civilisation. It has two categories, the Paippalada and the Saunaka. This book gives detailed information about the family, social and political life of later Vedic period.
In brief, Vedas provide education (siksha), grammar (vyakarana), ritual (kalpa), etymology (nirukta), metrics (chhanda) and astronomy (Jyotisha).
After creation of the four Vedas, other works known as the Brahmanas were developed. These books gave a thorough explanation of Vedic rituals and instructions and deal with the science of sacrifice. The latter portions of the Brahmanas were called the Aranyakas while the final parts of the Aranyakas are metaphysical books named Upanishads which belong to the later stage of the Brahmana literature. Each of the four Vedas have their own Brahmana books. Rig Veda had Kaushitaki and Aitreya. Taitteriya belongs to Krishna Yajur Veda and Shatpath belongs to Shukla Yajur Veda. Tandav, Panchvish and Jaimaniya belongs to Atharva Veda. It is through them that we get a detailed information of the social, political and religious life of the people. The Arayankas deal with soul, birth and death and life beyond it. These were studied and taught by men in Vanprastha i.e. Munis and the inhabitants living inside the forests.
After that Upnishads were produced as literature. The word Upanishad is derived from upa (nearby), and nishad (to sit-down), that is, “sitting down near”. The Upanishads mark the conclusion of Indian thought and are the final parts of the Vedas. Historical texts represented that there are more than 200 known Upanishads, one of which, the Muktika, gives a list of 108 Upanishads. This number corresponds to the holy number of beads on a mala or Hindu rosary. The Upanishads form an important part of Indian literary inheritance. They deal with questions like the origin of the universe, life and death, the material and spiritual world, nature of knowledge and many other questions. The ancient Upanishads are the Brihadaranyaka which belongs to the Sukla Yajur Veda and Chand yogya which belongs to the Sama Veda. Some of the other important Upanishads are the Aitareya, Kena, Katha Upanishad.
Besides the Vedas which are a sacred form of knowledge, there are other works such as the Hindu extravaganzas such as Ramayana and Mahabharata, treatises such as Vaastu Shastra in architecture and town planning, and Arthashastra in political science. Two great literatures the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are popular among Hindu society of India. The Ramayana of Valmiki is the original Ramayana. The Ramayana showed a picture of a perfect society. The other epic, the Mahabharata, was written by Ved Vyas. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana have several versions in different Indian languages. The Mahabharata contains the famous Bhagavad Gita which contains the spirit of divine wisdom and is truly a universal gospel.
In the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a fighter and prince and elaborates on different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies with examples and analogies. This makes Gita a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and a parochial, self-contained guide to life.
The rationalistic age of India is characterised by the rise of two major reform movements such as Vedanta and Buddhism. Vedanta is orthodox and accepts the Vedic Word, but no longer in a literal sense. The interpretation of Scripture by the Vedantic theologians is extremely bold and independent. Buddhism is heterodox, and rejects the authority of the Vedas altogether. Buddha first preached the People’s Gospel in B.C. 522, when Bimbisara was King of Magadha. The battle between the old-established faith and the Buddhist rebels raged for two hundred years, and, when the Greek battalions of King Alexander attacked the Punjab (b.c. 327), the sun of Brahminism was setting, and the new star was shining in the East. At that time, Nanda sat on the throne of Magadha. His empire was conquered by the dissident Chandragupta, who was the first to tie the North of India from Magadha to the Punjab under one Imperial Government. By birth a Shudra, the Emperor was not expected to be antagonistic to a religion which swept away all social distinctions, and put Brahmin and Pariah on the same level. Buddhism ruled supreme in the land of its birth until the fifth century after Christ, when Brahminic influence once more became powerful.
Devotional Hindu drama, poetry and songs span the subcontinent. Among the popular are the works of Kalidasa (writer of the famed Sanskrit play Shakuntala) and Tulsidas (who wrote an epic Hindi poem based on the Ramayana, called Raamcharitmaanas). Tamil literature has been in existence for more than 2500 years. Tolkaappiyam has been attributed as its oldest work, whereas the exact origins of Thirukkural is unknown. The golden age of Tamil literature was during the Sangam period, roughly 1800 years ago. The classic works of this period are Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai, and Sivakasinthamani. Tamil literature is identified for its secular traditions, although its authors had strong religious beliefs. Thirukkural is considered to be the greatest of Tamil works.
Kannada literature is perhaps the third oldest in Indian literature next to Sanskrit literature and Tamil literature. The earliest reported work in Kannada literature dates back to the fifth century. The first available literary in Kannada is Kavirajamarga, written in the eighth century by Amoghavarsha Nrpatunga. Hindi literature started as religious and philosophical poetry in medieval periods in dialects like Avadhi and Brij. The most famous personalities during this era were Kabir, Tulsidas and Meerabai. The Scriptures of modern Hinduism are the Puranas which were first committed to writing about the sixth century of era. The Hindus has inclination towards stories about the Gods. The ancient myths were handed down from father to son, and poets largely added to the stock from the stores of their leanings.
Antiquaries and divines took great pains to preserve this ocean of folklore. They set to work in the same fashion as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The two brothers went about the country, and collected ancient folklores among the German peasantry. Generations of Brahmins must have been busy compiling and arranging, curtailing and enlarging the Puranas which were modified time after time until they came out in that encyclopedic form in which we possess them now. The Puranas have interesting information on almost every topic. There are lengthy accounts of the lives of gods and patriarchs, stories of the creation, sacred as well as profane history. Psalms and prophecies stand peacefully by the side of geological teaching, anatomy is taught together with music, and theories about the movement of the stars are oddly intermixed with lessons on grammar. But long-winded as the Puranas, they are grand old books, comparable to a fine old man who is excellent company when he affectionately strolls over the various events and experiences of his chequered life.
The era of Indian modern literature began in the late nineteenth century. With the establishment of vernacular schools and the importation of the printing press, a great impetus was given to popular prose, with Bengali writers perhaps taking the lead. In modern times Swami Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and many others used the text to help motivate the Indian independence movement. During this period, the Khadi dialect became more noticeable and different types of literature was produced in Sanskrit. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand etc rank among the world’s best literary personalities. Some of the prominent modern writers in Indian languages include Premchand, Ageyeya in Hindi; Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay in Bengali; Amrita Pritam in Punjabi; Ali Sardar Jafri, Firaq Gorakhpuri and Josh Malihabadi in Urdu; Shiv Shankar Pillai, M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Malayattor Ramakrishnan in Malayalam; Subramaniya Bharati in Tamil; Gobind Triumbak Deshpande in Marathi; and Tara Shankar Joshi in Gujarati.
The most famous Bengali writer is Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who received the Nobel Prize in 1913 for Literature. Tagore’s own translation of ‘Gitanjali’ into English brought him international fame. His ‘Gora’ is considered to be a very outstanding novel in Indian literature. In the last century, several Indian writers have distinguished themselves not only in traditional Indian languages but also in English. VS Naipaul, a diaspora Indian novelist born in Trinidad, also won the Nobel in 2001. Other eminent writers who are either Indian or of Indian origin and derive much inspiration from Indian themes are R. K. Narayan, Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Raja Rao, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Chandra, Mukul Kesavan, Nayantara Sehgal, Anita Desai, Ashok Banker , Shashi Deshpande, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Bharati Mukherjee. In Indian culture, Indian dance, music and theatre traditions span back more than 2,000 years, (Kluwer Law International, 2010). The major classical dance traditions, Bharata Natyam, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam and Kathakali draw on themes from mythology and literature and have rigid presentation rules. Regarding attire of India, Indian clothing is diligently identified with the colourful silk saris worn by Indian women. The traditional outfit for men is the dhoti, an unstitched piece of cloth that is tied around the waist and legs. Men also wear a Kurta, a loose shirt that is worn about knee-length. For special occasions, men wear a Sherwani, which is a long coat that is buttoned up to the collar and down to the knees.
It is appraised that the ancient culture of the Indian sub-continent is vast and diverse. There are people in India who are still living in the Stone Age and also others who are equally competent and look up to the West. Indians live simultaneously with their beggars, their own satellites and Indian cosmonauts. India is a secular state with tribal philosophies and there are many religions like mixed with Hindu, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist and Sikh faiths. There is no single faith of religion, and no dominant religious community.
To summarize, the art of India is principled in nature with strong traces of different cultures and civilizations in it. It is apparent from the history that the cultural representatives in the region were the invaders, warriors that brought the cultural transmission through hard power but along with them there were numerous soft power promoters as artists, suifs, poets, musicians, and story tellers. The role of these cultural diplomats was important in contributing to the better sociocultural understanding and building relationship between people of different faiths, sects and regions.
History of Indian literature evolved as a wholesome domain through the Hindu literature like Ramayana and Mahabharata, treatises such as Vaastu Shastra in architecture and town planning and Arthashastra by Kautilya, making political science and involvement in politics household in ancient India. Prehistoric devotional Hindu play, poetry and songs sweep the subcontinent, with almost distinct imagery noticed in the gradual evolvement of literature in India. Certainly, if thoroughly investigated, it can be observed that history of literature in India can be divided into three periods, comprising of the ancient, the medieval and modern or contemporary.
In architecture, as in all other visual arts, there is a search for identity. In Indian architecture, government buildings of India, which are actually intended to display the nation’s identity, are a complete distortion. Due to dominance of many rulers like the British, the Mughals and the diverse native Indian architecture, the perceived notion of Indian identity is in a complete confusion. During Indus Valley Civilization, there were well planned cities. Buddhist and Jaina Architecture represented three important building types- the Chaitya Hall (place of worship), the Vihara (monastery) and the Stupa. Many temples were built for devotees. With the beginning of Islam, the former Indian architecture was slightly modified to allow the traditions of the new religion, but it remained strongly Indian at its heart and character. Arches and domes began to be used and the mosque or masjid too began to form part of the landscape, adding to a new experience in form and space.