A RT O F T H E N O N W E S T E R N W O R L D

INDIA

INDIA LOCALE

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INDIA

• India was home to one of the worlds oldest civilizations

• Geography of extreme contrasts• Rich mix of cultures• Hinduism and Buddhism dominated the art of India for

over 2500 years• At various times, one religion stronger than the other• Other times- coexist, so architecture and imagery had

similar styles• Some outside influence (Japan and Buddhism) but

mainly distinct Indian style

SO WHAT IS INDIA’S STYLE?

• Colorful

• Religious

• Detailed

• Dramatic

• Highly decorative/ ornate

PERIODS

• Indus Civilization

• Ganges Civilization

• Mauryan Era

• Gandhara Era

• Gupta Era

• Medieval Period

• Mughal Period

INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS

• Earliest known Indian culture• Sophisticated society existing til 1500 BC• Located along riverbanks of modern day Pakistan

stretching about 2000 km, from Harappa to Mohenjo-Daro• Bronze and stone animal sculptures• Small stamps, or seals, carved in stone• Ceramic bowls rubbed with resin and decorated

with geometric and animal motifs• Built temples honoring popular water gods

SEALS FROM MOHENJO-DARO, PAKISTAN, 3000 BC

- Made from steatite

- Generally range in size from ¾ “ to 1 ¼ “ square

- Array of animals

- Could be used as personalization stamps

THE MAURYAN ERA

• A long era known as the Ganges civilization• Hymns called Vedas written, marking the beginning of

Hinduism• 4th century BC, India united under Maurya family• King Asoka- greatly influenced by Buddhism, greatest of

Mauryan rulers• Sought to provide people with better life, one without war• Large columns built and inscribed with Buddhist

teachings• Columns topped with magnificent seated sea lions, mark

of Asokan art• Elephants as decoration

MAURYAN ERA, CONT…

• Mauryans constructed first objects of Buddhist architecture• Stupas- round burial mounds containing relics of

Buddha’s body, surrounded by wall• Relief carvings on the walls and gateways allowed

believers on pilgrimages to read Buddhist teachings• Harmika- small railed balcony atop a stupa• Most stupas topped with stylized umbrellas that

symbolize the thirty-three higher heavens of Mahayana Buddhism

STUPA I AT SANCHI, 2ND CENTURY BC, SANCHI, INDIA

Designed to look like a bubble, an object that like humans only lives a short time

Find the -harmika-stylized umbrellas

GANDHARA ERA

• Greek armies under Alexander made conquests in Northern India and Pakistan after 326 BC

• First signifcant Buddhist sculpture had a Greek influence• First images of Buddha appeared in the Hellenistic

kingdoms of Bactria and Gandhara• Sculptures based on Greek sculptural methods and

aesthetics• Sculptures had Western facial and body types• Under the Gandhara school of art, the first Indian cave

temples were cut into hillsides of live rock• Live rock- stone carved where it is in nature, becoming

part of the landscape

COLOSSAL HEAD OF BUDDHA, 2ND-3RD CENTURY, GANDHARA, INDIA

- Made of stucco- Greek style face (except for half closed treatment of eyes)- Hair formed similarly ro

Greek figures of Apollo

- Distinctly Buddhist:- Motifs to show sacred nature

like elongated earlobes- Ushnisha coil of hair

protruding from back

GUPTA ERA

• Greek style declined, new distinctly Indian style emerged• Golden age of Buddhist Indian art• Drama, literature, painting, sculpture and

architecture flourished• Beautiful and elaborate cave temples• Style of temples mixes both Buddhist and Hindu

designs with distinctly Indian figures• Bodies are rounded and voluptuous and lack

characteristic Western look

AJANTA AND ELLORA CAVES

• Tour

• Tour

Rise of the Silk Road led to great wealth, and with this wealth came money to carve great temples such as those pictured here.

ELLORA CAVE 10

ELLORA CAVE FIGURES

AJANTA CAVE FIGURES

AJANTA CAVE

MEDIEVAL PERIOD

• Hinduism experienced a revival toward the end of the Gupta era

• 9th-16th centuries a variety of kingdoms flourished simultaneously

• Southeast India- Pallava kingdom produced large freestanding temples cut from live rock at Mamallapuram

• Monolithic structures (carved, cut, excavated from one piece of material, in this case- rock) have multistoried roofs and stone square towers

• Temple is symmetrical- building complex to rep order of universe

• Pathways provided for worshipers and their rituals• Images of Nandi- bull in foreground, symbolize Shiva (Siva)

SHORE TEMPLE, 7TH-8TH CENTURY, MAMALLAPURAM

MEENAKSHI TEMPLE, 17TH CENTURY, MADURAI, INDIA

MEDIEVAL CONT.

• Pallavas also produced gopura• Gopura- massive towered gateways placed at the

entrance to temple complexes• Temples built in Dravidian style• Style synonymous with southern Indian

architecture today• Each level of the rectangular and pyramidically

tapered tower is filled with sculptured and painted panels from Hindu mythology

MEDIEVAL CONT.

• Lost wax casting was a byproduct of the Chola, another powerful kingdom of this time

• Lost wax casting- casting from original sculpture using wax to make a mold to create duplicate sculptures

• Shiva Lord of the Dance Performing the Nataraja 10th century Chola Dynasty India

MUGHAL PERIOD

• Final phase of traditional Indian art• Successive waves of Moslem invasions• Greatest of Mughal emperors- Akbar• He reunited the divided medieval empires into mighty Mughal

empire and was the first great patron of the arts• Commissioned numerous illuminated manuscripts (although

he was said to be illiterate)• b/c Moslem religions prohibited use of imagery, many Hindu

temples and sculptures were destroyed during the Mughal period.

• Replaced with mosques and beautiful places of symmetrical simplicity

• Based on Persian style mixed with Indian ideas• Mosaics of stone and ceramic decorate the floors and walls in

leaves, flowers and geometric motifs

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

Alexander Visits the Sage Plato in His Mountain Cave: Folio from the Khamsa(Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi, Mughal period (1526–1858), 1597–98

Attributed to Basawan (Indian, active ca. 1556–1600)

India

Main support: ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper; margins: gold on dyed paper; page: 9 7/8 x 6 1/4 in. (25.1 x 15.9 cm), mat: 19 1/4 x 14 1/4 in. (48.9 x 36.2 cm)

TAJ MAHAL

Tour

- Cost to build would be about 900 mil US today

- Built by Shah Jahan to house his fave wive’s tomb

- Minarets (tall buildings on side) are built facing away from the main temple in the event of an earthquake

- Shah Jahan stands for King of the World

IS ART ALWAYS WHAT IT SEEMS?

• Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal

MUGHAL PERIOD ART

Rama Receives Surgriva and Jambavat, the Monkey and Bear Kings: Leaf from a manuscript of the Ramayana, 1605; Mughal India

QUESTIONS

• Name several types of art made by the Indus Valley civilization.• What are stupas and harmikas?• Why were the earliest Buddhist sculptures similar to classical

Greek sculpture?• How is a temple constructed if it is carved from live rock?• Which era is considered the highest in Buddhist art? Describe

the temple art of this period.• Name two structures built by the Pallavas.• Describe the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram. What does the bull

on this temple represent?• What was Akbar? What was his greatest achievement?• Why did the Mughals destroy the Hindu temples and sculptures?• What is the most famous Mughal Indian structure?