Page:A Handbook of Indian Art.djvu/349

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PHILOSOPHY OF INDIAN ART
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Bharhut, Sānchī, Amarāvatī, Borobudūr, and many other works of the temple sculptor-painters ought to be included. It will not, however, be possible in this work to do more than draw attention to this important point. It should also be noted that the traditions of the secular school of court miniature painters established under the Muhammadan emperors were partly derived from the painters of the chitra-sālas under the patronage of Hindu royalty, and partly from the monastic schools which produced painted icons and hieratical scrolls—the prototypes of the Japanese kakemono.

The first of the six artistic principles enunciated by Vatsyāyana—the distinction of forms and appearances—sums up the whole philosophy of Oriental painting, the systematic teaching of which at Nālanda and other universities of Mahāyāna Buddhism must have profoundly influenced the whole art of Asia. The theory applied to all branches of education, and the Mahabhāratā gives a striking illustration of its application in the martial training of the Pāndava war-chiefs. They were trained to arms not by a military expert of their own class, but by a wise Brahman, Drona, who by profound meditation had acquired a perfect knowledge of divine science. When their training was finished, he called them together and pointed out to the eldest a bird perched on a distant tree. "Do you see the bird on the top of that tree?" he asked. "Yes," said the pupil. "What do you see?" the master demanded, "myself, your brothers, or the tree?" The youth replied at once, "I see yourself, sir, my brothers, the tree and the bird." Drona then put him aside, and called up the others one by one. He asked the same question and received the same answer until it came to the turn of his favourite