The glorious of the Gupta age proper (C. 350-650) have been made
permanent through the visible creations of its art. Different forms of
art, e.g. sculpture painting and terra-cotta attained a maturity balance
and naturalness of exoression that have for ever remained unexcelled.
Some of our most beautiful monuments representing the very acme of
India's artistic
achievement among which the immortal Ajanta murals take precedence
constitute the
cultural heritage of the Gupta period.
It is contended that during the Gupta period the proto-type of Hindu
temple came into existence. It is rather unfortunate that many of the
temples were destroyed by the iconoclasm of Muslims in the first few
centuries of the second millennia. Whatever that remains of the Gupta
temples the practice of keeping the principal image in the Garbha-griha
(womb-house) began from this period. The structure it self was enclosed
by a courtyard which in the later period housed a complex of shrines.
Also it is from the Gupta period that temples came to be largely built
in stone leading to the evolution of the monumental style in Hindu
architecture.
This practice of free standing temples was not taken up by the
Buddhists. They continued to excavate hills. Some of their caves ore
richly adorned with paintings like those of Ajanta. In the field of art
the Gupta age witnessed classical levels in music. Architecture,
sculpture and painting. The Gupta sculptures exhibit a gracious dignity
never to be repeated again in Indian sculpture. Plain robes flowing over
the bodies appear as though they are transparent. Transparent drapery
is used not to reveal the charms of the flesh but to conceal them. If
the schools of Bharhut, Sanchi and Mathura are marked by a sensual
earthiness and that of Amravati by vital excited movement the Gupta
sculpture suggests serenity and certitude.
It is however in the field of sculpture that classical heights were
reached in the Gupta period. The Buddha images at Sarnath reflect
serenity and contentment mirroring the religious atmosphere of the age.
This practice of carving images was picked up by Hinduism also. Since
Hinduism created the image as a symbol the image are not
representational created the image as a symbol the images are not
representational just like those of Buddhism. The Hindu gods of the
Gupta period were primarily incarnations of Vishnu.
The Gupta sculptural style probably grew out of the Kushan style that
survived at Mathura. In early fifty century a distinctive icon was
greated. It is represented by a red sand-stone figure of a standing
Buddha with an immense decorated hallow. The tension which activated
earlier tranquility, a spiritual other worldliness which is the hallmark
of the Gupta Buddhist.
According to authorities the Mathura style was refined and perfected at
Sarnath. A great number of Buddhist eculptures were unearthed here. One
unique group is known as the 'wet Buddhas' because the sculptures look
as if they have been immersed in water. The Mathuran string fold motif
is omitted and the sheer muslim Sanghati appears to cling to the body
and reveal its basic form.
A great example of Gupta sculpture created at Sarnath is that of the
seated Buddha preaching the Law, carved of Chunar sandstone. This piece
harmonises refined simplicity and Indian love of decoration. This
particular image influenced India and also had a significant and lasting
effect on brahminical art. In this sculpture the Buddha is seated as a
yoqi on a throne and performs the Dharms Chakri mudra.
From the end of the fifth century on first under the on-slaught of the
Huns and later with the advent of Islam, many of the products of the
Gupta art, both Buddhist and Hindu were destroyed.
A remarkable piece of Gupta metal-casting found at Sultanganj in Bihar
is nearly feet high. Another metal figure but of a smaller size in
bronze was found in U.P.
A group of small ivory images of Buddhas and Bodhisattavas founding the
Kashmri area are prime examples of late Gupta art from about the eighth
century.
Now for brahminical art. Even during the Kushan period sculptures of
Hindu subjects such as the Sun God Surya and of Vishnu were produced at
Mathura and else where. During the Gupta period an major group of
brahminical sculptures appeared dealing with the various aspects of
Vishnu. In the Udaigiri rock-cut shrine near Bhopal Vishnu is presented
as the cosmic boar Varaha. The figures of Yakshi were also culled in the
Udaigiri shrine. They now appear as river deities. This transformation
can be clearly seen in a figure from the doorway of a Gupta temple at
Besnagar nearby. It appears to represent the sacred river Ganga. The
goddess stands in the classic tribhanga.
Paramount among Hindu sculptures of the Gupta period are the reliefs on
the exterior walls of the ruins of the Dasavatara Temple at Deogarh near
Jhansi. Vishnu is shown asleep on the coils of the giant multi-headed
serpant Ananta. Brahma is depicted separately seated on a lotus blossom.
In the upper reaches of the relief deities including Indra and Shiva
are represented. At the base of this sculptural relief there is a panel
depicting events from the epic poem the Ramayana.
Also it is interesting to note that the earliest surviving examples of
painting in Ajanta Caves belong to the Gupta period. In Cave 1 we see
Gupta architecture wrought from solid stone. This cave is also a virtual
museum of Buddhist art. From every part of the cave we see paintings
depicting the rich and complex Buddhist world of the late fifth century.
The subject matter of the paintings is the various lives and
icarnations of the Buddha as told in the Jataka tales. The Bodhisattava
Padmapani in the tribhanga pose of sculpture holds a blue lotus. This
figure expresses remote calm. The absence of shadows suggests an
unworldly light. This light is present in all the paintings of Ajanta
and is partly the result of the techniques used by the artists.
Another elegant Bodhisattava figure in Cave in is shown surrounded by
his queen and ladies of the court. It recreates an episode from the
Jataka story. In cave 19 we have a fully developed Chaitya façade to
Gupta style. It has over-abundance of Buddha images.
GENERAL ESTIMATE
The characteristic features of Gupta art are refinement or elegance
simplicity of expression and dominant spiritual purpose. An ensemble of
these characteristics give Gupta art an individuality. In the first
place this art is marked by refinemnt and restraint which are the signs
of a highly developmed cultural taste and aesthetic enjoyment. The
artist no longer relies on volume to give an impression of grandiose but
focuses his attention on elegance with is not lost in the exuberance of
ornaments. The keynote of his art is balance and freedomfrom the dead
weight of conventions. The dictum is at once apparent if we compare the
standing life-size figure of the Gupta Buddha of Yasadinna with the
colossal standing Bodhisttava in the Sarnath Museum both from Mathura
and in red sand stone.
Another characteristic of Gupta art is the concept of beauty for which
we have a very appropriate term rupam used by Kalidasa. The men and
women in this art-loving age applied the mselves to the worship of
beautiful form in many ways. But aesthetic culture did not weaken the
strong structure and stamina of life or bedim its supreme objective of
yielding to the riotous worship of the sences. Art was worshipped in
order to deepen the consciousness of the soul and awaken it to a new
sense of spiritual joy and nobility. Kalidasa the supreme genius and
poet of this age has expressed this attitude of life devoted to beauty
in a sentence addressed to Paravati the goddess of personal Charm by her
consort Siva: 'O fair damsel the popular saying that beauty does not
lead to sin is full of
unexceptional truth'. The path of virtue is the path of beauty- this
appears to be the guiding impulse of life in the Gupta age. To create
lovely forms and harness them to the needs of higher life - this was the
golden harmony that made Gupta art a thing of such perpetual and
in-exhaustible attraction.
