DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0439
Colonial Indian Art
according to the Lalitvaistara, as well as various legends
from the Divyavaddna, and the Jatakas. The reliefs are
so extensive that if laid end to end they would cover a
space of more than two miles. We have here a third
great illustrated Bible, similar in range, but more ex-
tensive than the reliefs of Sanchi and the paintings of
Ajanta. This is a ‘ supremely devout and spontaneous
art,’ naturally lacking the austerity and the abstraction of
the early Buddhist primitives, but marvellously gracious,
decorative, and sincere. The episodes represented are
by no means so exclusively courtly as is the case at
Ajanta, but cover the whole circle of Indian life alike in
city and village. The narrative element is more con-
spicuous than at Ajanta, the craftsmen adhering closely to
the book. But “ every group and every figure are abso-
lutely true and sincere in expression of face, gesture, and
pose of body; and the actions which link the various
groups and single features together are strongly and
simply told, without effort or striving for effect—it was
so, because so it could only be ” 11 Buddhist art in Java
continued to flourish for many centuries, and many works
of great beauty are still preserved, both stone reliefs and
sculptures in the round, and smaller and very delicate
bronzes. Amongst the later works none are more im-
pressive than the Manjusri—the Bodhisattva who holds
aloft the sword of wisdom—reproduced here on Plate
DD, but I cannot agree that the well-known Prajna-
paramita, though still beautiful, is ‘ one of the most spiritual
creations of any art,’ but much rather, as another critic
has suggested, think of this comfortable and bejewelled
gracious figure as ‘ all too human.’
1 Havell, Indian Sculpture and Painting, p. 118. Many good repro-
ductions will be found in the same volume.
337
according to the Lalitvaistara, as well as various legends
from the Divyavaddna, and the Jatakas. The reliefs are
so extensive that if laid end to end they would cover a
space of more than two miles. We have here a third
great illustrated Bible, similar in range, but more ex-
tensive than the reliefs of Sanchi and the paintings of
Ajanta. This is a ‘ supremely devout and spontaneous
art,’ naturally lacking the austerity and the abstraction of
the early Buddhist primitives, but marvellously gracious,
decorative, and sincere. The episodes represented are
by no means so exclusively courtly as is the case at
Ajanta, but cover the whole circle of Indian life alike in
city and village. The narrative element is more con-
spicuous than at Ajanta, the craftsmen adhering closely to
the book. But “ every group and every figure are abso-
lutely true and sincere in expression of face, gesture, and
pose of body; and the actions which link the various
groups and single features together are strongly and
simply told, without effort or striving for effect—it was
so, because so it could only be ” 11 Buddhist art in Java
continued to flourish for many centuries, and many works
of great beauty are still preserved, both stone reliefs and
sculptures in the round, and smaller and very delicate
bronzes. Amongst the later works none are more im-
pressive than the Manjusri—the Bodhisattva who holds
aloft the sword of wisdom—reproduced here on Plate
DD, but I cannot agree that the well-known Prajna-
paramita, though still beautiful, is ‘ one of the most spiritual
creations of any art,’ but much rather, as another critic
has suggested, think of this comfortable and bejewelled
gracious figure as ‘ all too human.’
1 Havell, Indian Sculpture and Painting, p. 118. Many good repro-
ductions will be found in the same volume.
337