DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0479
Caste in relation to Trades and Industries. 469
value. Into the interior of this golden image the king
solemnly crept, and there lay for many days in a state of
abject contrition, till at length the process of purification
being completed, he was permitted to emerge with all his
blood-guiltiness removed, all his sins atoned for, and all his
cheerfulness of mind restored. Then would it be possible
to see anywhere more admirable specimens of modelling
than the clay figures made at Krishnagar ? Such exquisite
modelling, and the beauty of Indian miniature paintings on
wood, talc, and ivory, prove that had the arts of sculpture
and painting been cultivated by the Hindus, they might have
attained great perfection. As it is, not a single fine large
painting, nor beautiful statue is to be seen throughout India.
Even the images of gods are only remarkable for their utter
hideousness; nor do we see anywhere good specimens of
household furniture, for in India the houses of the richest
natives are, to European eyes, almost furnitureless. Even
in princely palaces we may pass through beautifully decorated
rooms, we may see exquisite carved wood in niches and
verandahs; yet the rooms appear to us bare and empty.
Not a chair or table is to be seen except in apartments, set
apart for Europeans ; and the princely owner of the mansion
will probably be found seated on a rug with a pillow behind
his back.
And here let me say, that if the excellence of the articles
which the Indian artificer produces, with no other appliances
than his hands, and the rudest tools, and the admirable tra-
ditions of form, design, and colour preserved in his produc-
tions, excite our surprise, we are no less astonished at the
low cost of his workmanship. I visited a turner's shop in
Benares, where a man was making a set of twenty toy boxes,
some lackered, some coloured, all neatly constructed and
furnished with lids, and fitting one inside the other so that
the smallest box in the interior of all was not bigger than
the head of a knitting-needle. The price of the whole nest
value. Into the interior of this golden image the king
solemnly crept, and there lay for many days in a state of
abject contrition, till at length the process of purification
being completed, he was permitted to emerge with all his
blood-guiltiness removed, all his sins atoned for, and all his
cheerfulness of mind restored. Then would it be possible
to see anywhere more admirable specimens of modelling
than the clay figures made at Krishnagar ? Such exquisite
modelling, and the beauty of Indian miniature paintings on
wood, talc, and ivory, prove that had the arts of sculpture
and painting been cultivated by the Hindus, they might have
attained great perfection. As it is, not a single fine large
painting, nor beautiful statue is to be seen throughout India.
Even the images of gods are only remarkable for their utter
hideousness; nor do we see anywhere good specimens of
household furniture, for in India the houses of the richest
natives are, to European eyes, almost furnitureless. Even
in princely palaces we may pass through beautifully decorated
rooms, we may see exquisite carved wood in niches and
verandahs; yet the rooms appear to us bare and empty.
Not a chair or table is to be seen except in apartments, set
apart for Europeans ; and the princely owner of the mansion
will probably be found seated on a rug with a pillow behind
his back.
And here let me say, that if the excellence of the articles
which the Indian artificer produces, with no other appliances
than his hands, and the rudest tools, and the admirable tra-
ditions of form, design, and colour preserved in his produc-
tions, excite our surprise, we are no less astonished at the
low cost of his workmanship. I visited a turner's shop in
Benares, where a man was making a set of twenty toy boxes,
some lackered, some coloured, all neatly constructed and
furnished with lids, and fitting one inside the other so that
the smallest box in the interior of all was not bigger than
the head of a knitting-needle. The price of the whole nest