05-26-2007, 10:42 PM
Ramana- thanks for perspectives you have been bring up. It must be pointed out that the art of painting was a very aspect of the ancient Hindu. There is a shAstra known as chitra-kalA, in the form of the lectures of mArkaNDeya bhArgava on painting. This text discuss portraits and the Hindu formalism behind it. There were too forms of art in popular Hindu thought in the period of the mauryan and gupta regimes. These were the mankhas and the yamo-ghaNThas. The former depicted pauraNic and epic stories in the form of a series of illustrations and a narrator used to tell the story behind them: An amar-chitra katha of yore. The latter used to terrify people with depictions of the torments of the narakas to which one was believed to go for one's pApa-s. A proper hindu gentleman was supposed to have an appreciation of art as per many texts including the late mAnasollAsa. Sadly the role of picture art in pop society has since died out among Hindus. If there was a strong culture of art appreciation in the mainstream then it would have an opinion base to influence expression of artists.