Reactions to Art in India

THE PURPOSE of the following notes is to bring together mainly from the general, non-technical literature, a few passages in which the reaction of the public to works of art is reported, partly as a contribution to the vocabulary of criticism, but more with a view to showing how the art was actually regarded by those for whom it was made. As remarked by Professor D. F. Tovey, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, s. v. Music, When music is too archaic or inaccessible to give us aesthetic data, more may be learned from the disposition of those who were pleased by it than from its recorded technical data. The artist himself (Silpin, kdraka) is commonly described as knowing his craft (silpa-v&S'rada, etc.) and as skilful (kausalia): nothing like a special sensibility or natural talent is mentioned, but we find that the moral virtues of ordinary men are expected in him, and for the rest he has his art which he is expected to practise. His attitude with respect to his commission is naturally expressed in Jdtaka II. 254, as follows, We musicians, 0 king, live by the practice of our art (sippaiw nissdya) : for remuneration, I will play, but as numerous texts and inscriptions prove, the work. man when moved by piety was ready to work gratuitously as an act of merit. In the latter case, artist and patron are one, the work being commanded by the artist's own devotional feeling. As to fame and the purpose of the work, an illuminating couplet attributed to one of the successors of the Astacchdp of Hindi literature tells us

Ancient history · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism · South Asian Cinema and Culture

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  Jayasinhji Jhala•Visual Anthropology•1997

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