The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

332 THE HINDU RENAISSANCE
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the limbs, give something of the effect of the
figura serpentinata in Mannerist sculpture that
seems to coerce the beholder into a consecutive
inspection of the image from every angle.
In their canon ofabsolute, rather than human,
beauty, and the almost mathematical purity and
clarity of form, these images are the perfect
symbols of the Indian ideal. Although cast in
human shape, the abstraction of modelling and
iconographic explicitness give them the power
of a diagram.. Like all Indian images, they were
emblematic evocations, not descriptions, of a
deity that the worshipper had always in his heart
and mind. Indeed, the art of these South Indian
icons is not the language of any one time or any
one place, but a language that can be understood
everywhere and eternally in the hearts of spiritual
men.
The number of objects belonging to the decorative
arts surviving from the Period of the Hindu
Dynasties is so vast, especially in the remains
from later centuries, that only a small sampling
of this material can be presented, and only the
most unusual and interesting types described.
The account of this aspect of later Indian civilization
may be divided into accounts of objects
in metal, ivory, textiles, and jewellery. As in
previous sections, I have chosen objects that
may be integrated with the account of monumental
art.
Metalwork is one of the most ancient and
splendid crafts in India, and the forging of iron
was far in advance of any methods developed in
Europe before the nineteenth century. Precious
metal, as well as tin and lead, are mentioned in
the Yajur Veda, and there is a possibility that
the making of steel may have even originated in
India and was known to the Greeks and Persians.
The subject of Indian arms and armour is vast
and specialized, and one can only mention as
examples the magnificent swords and elephant
goads forged and chiselled with intricate designs
261. Steel sword from South India.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum
at Tanjore and elsewhere in South India in the
seventeenth century [261]. Damascening, or
inlaying by the pressing of gold and silver wire
into grooves prepared on the surface ofthe metal,
has been practised for centuries for the embellishment
of all kinds of weapons and metal
objects in steel or brass.