physically and mentally. They had a special place at this religion’s heart, and they could show the deities and other forms of meditative power through art. Visually these artists portrayed these gods with multiple arms, which in turned allowed the artists to show how the deities were everywhere at the and could do anything they wanted. They also portrayed them destroying enemies and vanquishing evil spirits. The artists wanted to express how the deities could do many things at once, and therefore be everywhere. These artists showed demons with multiple heads to show that they had power beyond the human limits, but when they showed an image of a god with multiple heads they only wished to convey how they had multiple sides or personalities. “...When the god Shiva is portrayed with a triple head, the central face indicates his essential character and the flanking faces depict his fierce and blissful aspects" (Dehejia).
in their work. These artists often covered their outer halls and porches with sculptures. Sometimes, the artists would show different mythological stories that the deities were involved in. “In addition, temple walls feature repeated banks of scroll-like foliage, images of women, and loving couples known as mithunas. Signifying growth, abundance, and prosperity, they were considered auspicious motifs” (Dehejia).In the natural art world the artist has the power to depict certain images. Artists have that power over people and how they use this power is up to them. The Hindu religion has such a strong effect on its followers that it affects their whole life. The artists who are Hindu obviously have their life revolve around this fact and the way they depict their meditative thoughts. They also need to relay these thoughts to other people, to intertwine the religion with their culture, and to become closer to whatever higher power is driving them. “Sometimes lord Shiva, is visually represented as ‘King of Dance’ or Nataraja. This form of Shiva is considered as the most remarkable symbol of divine powers, which was ever created by Indian artistic genius” (Dehejia).
There must have been thousands of artists who helped spread this spiritual process because art has been found everywhere relating to this religion like Ellora, Ajanta, Elephanta and Karli caves in India. Ellora is a giant mountain where over many, many centuries artists have carved o
ut to depict Lord Shiva’s Mount Kailas (example of the cave reliefs above). It may be the most beautiful of all Hindu art but scholars are still confused on what tools were used to make them. Artists would also create mandalas (another form of meditation art) which are used as a source to center ones mind. This art form would take up to three years of study to even begin. “Indian art is related to Hindu religion and philosophy. It is hard to appreciate the Indian art unless one has insight into the ideals that govern the Indian minds. In the Indian art there is mostly a religious element, a looking beyond” (Dehejia). -Joe Hengst
