"Sages such as Sri Aurobindo who have meditated on Hindu iconography, and savants such as Ananda Coomara-swamy, Stella Kramrisch, and Alice Boner who have studied the subject, assure us that the forms and features of Hindu icons have a source higher than the normal reaches of the human mind. The icons are no photocopies of any human or animal forms as we find them in their physical frames. They are in fact crystallizations of the abstract into the concrete, of the infinite into the finite. They always point beyond themselves, and a contemplation of them always draws us from the outer to the inner. Hindu Šilpašãstras lay down not only technical formulas for carving holy icons in stone, and metal, and other materials. They also lay down elaborate rules about how the artist is to fast, and pray, and otherwise purify himself for long periods before he is permitted, if at all, to have a psychic image of the God or Goddess whom he wants to incarnate in a physical form. It is this sublime source of the Šilpašãstras which alone can explain a Sarnath Buddha, or a Chidambram Natarãja, or a Vidisha Varãha, to name only a few of the large assembly of divine images inhabiting the earth. It is because this sublime source is not accessible to modern sculptors that we have to be content with poor copies which look like parodies of the original marvels."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
S.R. Goel, Defence of Hindu Society, Chapter 5
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vidisha
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Vidisha
Vidisha, anciently known as Besnagar, is a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. Vidishā was the administrative headquarters of Bhelsa, or Bhilsa (or Bhilsan, Bhilsah, Bhailsan, Bhilastan, Bailsan), during the Medieval period.
17 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Vidisha →
Related Quotes
"Bhilsan (Bhilsa, Vidisha) he (Alberuni) calls “a place most famous among the Hindus.”"
"After he returned to the capital in the year AH 632 (AD 1234) the Sultan led the hosts of Islam toward Malwah, and to…"
"“In AH 631 he invaded Malwah, and after suppressing the rebels of that place, he destroyed that idol-temple which had…"
"“…In 631 (1233), Shamsuddin marched to Malwa and conquered the city of Bailsan and its fort and demolished its famous…"
"“Afterwards he went towards Bhîlsã which country had been conquered for Islãm by Sultãn Shamsu’d-dîn (Altamsh), King …"
"“When he advanced from the capital of Karra, the Hindus, in alarm, descended into the earth like ants. He departed to…"
"“ ’Alau’d-din at this time held the territory of Karra, and with the permission of the Sultan he marched to Bhailsan …"
"“He permitted ‘Alauddin for a religious war in Bhilastan. Jalaluddin had marched to Mandu. ‘Alauddin influenced his u…"
"About the same time Malik Alãu’d-Dîn, the nephew of the Sultãn, begged that he might have permission to march against…"
"Among Indian secularists, the done thing is to deny the long history of Islamic temple-destruction. Government policy…"