Aesthetics in Indian Art

An inquiry into the hows, whats and whys of artistic tradition

Lakshmi and Vishnu, Lakshmana Temple outer wall, Khajuraho

[Image source: travelpod.com]

Urmi Chanda-Vaz

Masters Program in Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology

Semester II, Paper: Art & Architecture
St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, 2014-15
#031
1

INTRODUCTION
Because history is not always entirely truthful, art
becomes the best kind of mirror in any given society.
In art is condensed the essence of a civilization. Its
philosophy, religion, culture, social mores, its loftiest
ideals and even its lowest vices are reflected in art.
Whether tangible or performing, man's higher nature
finds expression in artistic work. It, therefore,
becomes imperative for a student of humanities to
study life through the prism of art. Within the strokes
of a canvas, the curves of a sculpture, the folds of a
costume or the lines of a poem are found veritable
truths about the nature and life of man across
cultures. India is no different.
India's long and vast artistic heritage stands
testimony to its vibrant civilization. Although
criticized for her lack of proper historical record,
Rajput painting. [Image source: dollsofindia.com]

India's art has silently documented all stages of her

growth. From Bhimbetka paintings to Chola temples,

from Harappan craft to the poetry of Kalidsa, from Bharatanyam to the Mughal miniatures, there
are many faces of Indian art. They are the milestones of the flowering on Indian culture, the
reflections of its deep-rooted philosophy.
But how was this art made? What were its guidelines? What was its purpose? These answers emerge
from the study of Indian philosophy at large and Indian aesthetics in particular. This paper aims to
present an overview of aesthetics in the tradition of Indian art, as it has been understood right from
the Vedic to this day. With a basis of art theories from ancient treatises this paper hopes to present a
brief view of what is considered the best and beautiful in art.

VEDIC AND OTHER ANCIENT PRECEPTS

The corpus of Vedic literature forms the basis of 'Aryan' thought and culture. Indian aesthetics too
derives its fundamentals from the Vedas. Two concept triads form the very foundation of Indian art.
The first triad is that of Satyam, ivam, Sundaram, which correspond to truth, purity/goodness and
beauty1. These ideals used to describe the Absolute are also used to describe artistic manifestations.
An extension of this set is the next triad of Satyam (truth), Ritam (rightness), Brihat (vastness)2 or in
some cases, Vmam (beauty), Satyam (truth) and Bhadram (goodness)3. The four branches of
knowledge viz. Dharma, Darana, stra, and Kal grew around these ideals.
In his book, The Philosophy of India Art, Kireet Joshi says, ... the range of cultural activities of India
centered on the quest of spiritual truth but it also promoted quest through science, philosophy, art
and several other means. Intense spirituality, robust scientific and philosophical intellectuality and
powerful literature, poetry, art and inexhaustible vitality have marked the essential characteristics of
Indian Culture. The quest for truth and union with the divine, then, became the definitive
motivations of Indian art.
What man saw, he depicted or imitated and these produced works of art. Identification with and
imitation of nature were the first obvious steps in this direction. The yaki sculptures found in later
periods was nothing but nature or nature spirits personified. Kalidsa's poetry too is an example of the
near divine status the Indian artist granted to nature.
The earliest cave paintings and artifacts were images of animals and people, but a great many of
them seem to have ritual significance. It can thus be deduced that art has had a chiefly religious
purpose in Hindu art from the very beginning. With the growth of spiritual thought, the aim of art
shifted from mere replication to contemplation. Art became not just a creative exercise but a
1 Amita Valmiki, Philosophy, Religion And Art In The Cultural Context Of India In Comparison To Hegelian Aesthetics,
(paper presented at The Summer Colloquium At The Department Of Philosophy, Bonn University, Bonn, Germany,
2013), p 1, retrieved in March 2015 from www.science-of-deduction.com
2 Ibid., p 2
3 M Sivakumara Swamy, Saundaryam Alankarah, (from Indian Aesthetics and Poetics, edited by V N Jah, published by Sri
Satguru Publications, 2003), p 8

meditative, mystical one. Internalisation and visualisation of perfect spiritual ideals became artistic
protocols. That serves to explain the lack of realism as the West understands it in Indian art.
Another important ancient concept that has determined the nature of Indian art was that of Yoga.
Yoga in the sense of mental concentration has long been associated with the creative process. This
mental concentration or dhyna would enable an artist to realise the true nature of his subject, to
transcend the difference between subject and self, and finally become the subject in perfect
consciousness. Coomaraswamy4 elaborates upon ukrchrya's treatise where it is said that, 'the
practice of visualisation... is identical in worship and in art'. Coomaraswamy further elaborates upon
some meditational rituals developed around dhyna.
Further the idea of Yogakshema5 is associated with art. The term is usually understood to be 'wellbeing' but its components offer a deeper insight into its meaning. Yoga means to enjoin (and thereby
create), and kshema means to preserve. Creation and preservation, therefore, characterize life and art
in the Hindu view. Conservation of tradition through rigorous learning and then creativity through
non-conformism and improvisation was the path decreed for the Indian artist.
Creativity, according ancient aestheticians like Rajashekhara, Anandavardhan, Abhinavagupta,
depended on the following factors6:
1. Rasa Aesthetic sentiment
2. Alamkara Figures of speech
3. Riti Style
4. Dhvani Suggestion
5. Vakrokti Oblique expression
6. Aucitya Propriety
While these factors applied mostly to poetics, it is well applicable to arts of all kinds.
4 Ananda Coomaraswamy, The Dance of Shiva, (Rupa Publications, 2013), pp 20-21
5 V Raghavan, India: Tradition and Non-Conformism in Creative Arts, (Dr. V Raghavan Centre for Performing Arts, 2002), p
340
6 Valmiki, Op cit., pp 11-12

The importance of traditional knowledge is emphasized in one of the ilpa Shstras7: The ilpan
should understand the Atharva Veda, the thirty-two ilpa stras, and the Vedic mantras by which the
deities are invoked. He should be one who wears a sacred thread, a necklace of holy beads, and a ring
of kua grass on his finger; delighting in the worship of God, faithful to his wife, avoiding strange
women, piously acquiring knowledge of various sciences, such a one is indeed a craftsman.
Within the larger context of aesthetics, some of the Hindu views of beauty were also derived from
ancient Indian texts. For example, the Samudrik stra gave us the ideals of physical beauty when it
spoke about Mahpurua (the great man) and Mandasmit (the ideal woman)8. With a background
rooted in Vedic scriptures, the idea of aesthetics in India found its grand culmination in Bharata's
Nyastra.

RASA, THE ESSENCE OF ART

If there is one text that defined the course of Indian art history, that has to be the Nyastra.
Composed by Bharata Muni, around the 3rd century CE9, the treatise is a supposed compilation of the
work of masters before him. It deals comprehensively with all aspects of music, dance and drama as
also poetics and metre. But as the great art critic, Ananda Coomaraswamy said, the Nyastra is
'immediately applicable to art of all kinds.' The greatest contribution of the text is the concept of rasa.
While some scholars have argued that rasa is related only to poetry, most Indian art continues to be
viewed in the light of rasa. Rasa is an intangible concept, which hundreds of scholars have tried to
define. In recent times, Goswami offers a definition of rasa on three levels. He says:
In its most obvious sense... rasa means the sap or extract of plants. In this sense the word means the
same thing to nearly everyone. In its secondary sense, however, rasa signifies the non-material
essence of a thing, 'the best or finest part of it', like perfume, which comes from matter but is not so
easy to describe or comprehend. In its tertiary sense, rasa denotes taste, flavour; the relish of
7 Coomaraswamy, Op cit. p 24
8 V Raghavan, Op cit. Pp 377-380
9 M A Mehendale, The History and Culture of the India People: The Age of Imperial Unity, (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 7th ed.
2001), p 270

pleasure related to consuming or handling either the physical object or taking in its non-physical
properties.

The Navarasas or Nine Rasas depicted in a Kerala style mural [Image source: andhraportal.org]

Bharatamuni described eight kinds of primary rasas, to which list Abhinavagupta added a ninth. These
can be briefly described as follows:
1. ringra rasa: The rasa dealing with love, attraction and acts pertaining to them. The presiding
deity of this rasa is Vin, while the colour attributed to it is green.
2. Hsya rasa: Laughter, humour and mirth are included in the Hsya rasa. It is associated with
the colour white and the deity Pramat.
3. Raudra rasa: Anger and fury are encapsulated in the Raudra rasa. Naturally, it is associated
with the Lord Rudra and its colour is red.
4. Karua rasa: Compassion, tragedy and pathos fall under the purview of Karua rasa. With
grey as its colour, the rasa's deity is Yama.
5. Bibhatsa rasa: The emotions of repulsion and horror comprise the Bibhatsa rasa. iva is its
presiding deity, while its colour is blue.

6. Bhaynaka rasa: The deity Kla reigns over this rasa, which is about fear, horror and terror.
The colour given to it is understandably black.
7. Veera rasa: The king of gods, Indra, represents this rasa of heroism, courage and valour. The
colour of veerya is a shade of yellow.
8. Adbhuta rasa: Presided over by Brahm, the Adbhuta rasa brings within its fold the emotions
of wonder and amazement. Its colour is yellow.
9. nta rasa: This rasa was formulated by Abhinavagupta in his treatise, Abhinavabhrati in 10th
century CE. Its scope were the emotions of tranquility and peace, its deity, Vin, and its
colour, blue.
With the rise of the Bhakti Movement in medieval India, two more rasas played a very important role
in the art of the time. These two added in the later periods10 included:
10. Bhakti rasa: Closely associated with nta rasa was Bhakti rasa or the rasa of devotion,
spiritual love, service and surrender.
11. Vtsalya rasa: Parental love, as exemplified by Yaod's love for Krna, is what makes for
vtsalya rasa.
Coomaraswamy11 paraphrases Bharatamuni's theory of how rasa is invoked in the audience.
Aesthetic emotion rasa is said to result in the spectator though it is not effectively caused,
through the operation of determinants or the aesthetic problem (vibhva), consequents or deliberate
manifestations of feeling, (anubhva), moods (bhva), and involuntary emotions (sattvabhva).'
In order to fully understand the concept of rasa, a few other related terms must also be understood.
Rasnubhti: The term can literally be translated into 'the experience of rasa', and thereby
understood to be the aesthetic experience. In his authoritative text, Shitya Darpan, Vishwanatha
describes the pure aesthetic experience. He says: Pure aesthetic experience is theirs in whom the
knowledge of ideal beauty in innate; it is known intuitively in intellectual ecstasy without
10 Valmiki, Op cit., p 7
11 Coomaraswamy, Op cit. p 29

accompaniment of ideation, at the highest level of conscious being; born of one mother with the
vision of God, its life is as it were a flash of blinding light of transmundane origin, impossible to
analyse, and yet in the image of our very being12.

Kathakali dancer [Image source: Wikimedia

Commons]

The terms Kalnubhuti and Rasa Nivrtti are similar to Rasnubhti13. Sa-hdaya, rasika and bhva are
some more important terms that ought to be elucidated in the context of Indian aesthetics.
Sa-hdaya: Indian art is not a one-way process. The creation does not stop at the creator. Without the
understanding of a discerning audience, the work is incomplete. Misra 14 defines Sa-hdaya as 'the
person who has his heart attuned with the heart of the creator. He has lived the entire tradition of
poetry, painting, of sculpture, of music, of dance, and of drama.'
12 B N Goswami, The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works 1100-1900, (Penguin Random
House Publications, 2014), p 23
13 Tapasvi Nandi, 'The Secret of Rasnubhti or Art Experience', from Indian Aesthetics and Poetics, edited by V N Jha,(Sri
Satguru Publications, 2003), p 37
14 Vidya Niwas Misra, Foundations of Indian Aesthetics, (Surbhi Publications, 2008), p 97

The terms rasika and rasavanta are very similar to the concept of Sa-hdaya and refer to people who
have rasa or the finer sensibilities to fully appreciate an art form.
Bhva: If rasa is that which flows from a work of art, bhva is that which flows from the viewer.
Goswami15 says, 'Bhva mood or emotional state has several components: those that determine it,
those that follow it, others that give rise to complementary emotional states... Physical stimulants or
surroundings, gestures, movements, all come into play for bringing a dominant state into being and
a 'churning of the heart' takes place.'
Rasa, then, becomes the foundational concept on which Indian art was built post Bharatamuni. For
example, the Mahabharata was based on the anta rasa, the Ramayana on the Karua rasa, while
works of Kalidsa exude ringra rasa. Abhinavagupt, Danin, Sankuka and others elevated the idea
to sublime heights. Rasa was called pleasure, bliss or repose and even deemed to be a way to break
free from samsra even if temporarily16. This indelibly set the paradigm of religiosity in Indian art
that was manifest in every form and style. In fact, in his book The Transformation of Nature in Art,
Coomaraswamy goes as far as to say, Art is religion, religion is art, not related but the same.
Apart from the goals of supplementing the four Pururthas, and spiritual aims, art was also created
for the sake of pleasure, as Bharata muni himself states in the Nyastra. Secular arts were also
created, but it was religion that primarily coloured Indian art.

PERFECTION AND IMPERFECTION

It was this high religio-spiritual status accorded to it that made for a high level of tolerance for flaws in
art, when the subject was religious. It has been suggested 17 that the viewer is tolerant for two reasons.
Either he is so swayed by the sympathetic that he is uncritical or he is creative enough to bridge the

15 Goswami, Op cit. p 21
16 Mario Busagli, 5000 Years of The Art of India, (Harry H Abrams Tulsi Shah Enterprises), p 30
17 Coomaraswamy, Op Cit., p 31

gaps between idea and execution. Here, the bhva of

the rasika plays an important role and it is he who
takes on the onus of 'success' of a certain piece of art.
But that's not to say that were are no prescribed
standards of beauty or prohibitions in Indian art.
Treatises on each genre of art have enlisted a number
of dos and dont's for artists and practitioners. The
Kvya Prakasa and Shitya Darpan, for example,
define

the

degrees

of

excellence

in

poetry,

Alamkrastra dealt with literary criticism, while

works like the Chitrasutra and ilparatna spoke of
proper technique and material in the realms of
painting and sculpture.
For example, parameters in painting include rpa
bheda

(form),

prama

(proportion),

bhva

Padmapani painting from Ajanta [Image source:

Wikimedia commons]

(expression), lvaya yojan (aesthetic scheme), sadrasya (similitude) and varika bhanga (colour
scheme)18. In the context of classical poetry, overindulgence in eroticism, repetitions, loose
contemplations, over-description and over ornamentation are considered undesirable, according to
Mishra19.

OTHER TENETS OF INDIAN AESTHETICS

Apart from the Rasa theory, Indian aesthetics is based on the relation between three primary art
forms, says Townsend20. These three art forms are pictorial representation, dramatic representation
and poetic representation. In

pictorial representation, the three major categories include the

Dhammakaya, Rupakaya and Adhyatmakaya forms. The first refers to the depiction of divine beings in
18 Prakash Veereshwar, Aesthetics, (Krishna Prakashan Media (p) Ltd., 2011), pp 48-49
19 Arjun Ranjan Mishra, Indian Aesthetics and Poetics edited by V N Jha, (Sri Satguru Publications, 2003), pp 86-93
20 Dabney Townsend, Historical Dictionary of Aesthetics, (Scarecrow Press, 2006), p 163

10

a symbolic manner, the second refers to depiction of human-like form, and the third to exaggerated,
larger-than-life spiritual projections. Symbolism, which is so important in Indian art, comes alive,
especially in Dhammakaya depictions.
Whatever the art form, whether music, dance, poetry, painting or sculpture, the aim is to distinguish
between the real and the illusory. All art forms are in a way, illusory, but they also represent reality in
their own way. The interplay between creativity, communication and interpretation helps in such
discernment and knowledge. Pictorial representation is iconic or symbolic with a certain central
character, dramatic representation isn't iconic but draws inspiration from real events, while poetry
manifests only through the reader or the poet, if he is reciting it.
Thus Indian aesthetics is marked by dichotomies, where the difference between the real annd illusory,
maker and object, viewer and subject, and artist and audience must at once be acknowledged and
transcended.

CONCLUSION
Defined as 'the science and philosophy of fine arts 21', the subject of aesthetics in Indian art is as vast
as it is complex. With a myriad art and craft forms, which further have variations and versions, India's
artistic canvas encompasses innumerable hues. The aesthetic problems and components of each
genre are therefore different. Without studying an art form and its accompanying literature carefully,
it is impossible to comment on its aesthetic and artistic merit. The yardstick for poetics, for example,
cannot be used for painting.
However, some ground rules unified all schools and genres of art, which can be called a universal set
of Indian aesthetics. When rasa rained, the tree of Indian art flowered. Beauty and divinity bloomed
on this enormous tree. Indian aesthetics merged the ideas of artistic human creation and divine
contemplation, of tradition and innovation, about finding God and oneself. The study of Indian
aesthetics is therefore the study of the highest truth.
21 Valmiki, Op cit., p 11

11