The Vastusutra Upanisad, ascribed to Rsi Pippalada of Prasna Upanisad, is the first-known Atharvavedic text on image-making. The book contains a critical edition of the text, an English translation and copious notes elucidating its meaning. Chapters are devoted to a discussion of the following subjects: stones, compositional diagram, carving, disposition of the parts of the image, the basic emotions connected with images, and the total composition of the image panel. The text deals with the basic symbolism of the compositional diagram, the micro-macrocosmic correspondences in sacred images, the derivation of the original anthropomorphic image from the symbolic pillar of sacrifice and the application of aesthetic experience of rasa and bhava to image-making. The metaphysical question of the origin of form and its importance for the attainment of spiritual realization or moksa is central to the text. A glossary of technical terms forms a useful part of the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alice Boner
Alice Boner (1889-1981) studied painting and sculpture, and worked as a sculptor in France and Switzerland. During the thirties, she visited India and studied Indian religious and artistic traditions. In 1962 her magnificent work on Indian art entitled Principles of Composition in Hindu Sculpture was puhlished (2nd ed. Delhi 1990). Her other important works in collaboration with Pandit S.R. Sarma include : Silpaprakasa (Brill, Leiden, 1966) and New Light on the Sun Temple (with R.P. Das, Chaukhamba, Varanasi, 1972). She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich, and in 1974 she was awarded the Padmabhushan by the President of India.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bettina Baumer
Dr. Bettina Baumer is an indologist from Austria, living and working in Varanasi since 1967. At present she is Director of Research, Alice Boner Foundation, Hon. Consultant, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, and Visiting Professor in Vienna University. Her main fields of research are Silpa.sastra of Orissa and Kashmir Saivism. She has edited 3 volumes of Kalatattvakosa, A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts (Vol. I, 1988; Vol. II, 1992; Vol. Ill, 1996), Silparatnakosa (Delhi 1994), and is the author of several books in German, and a number of research articles.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sadasiva Rath Sarma
Sadasiva Rath Sarma (died in 1989) was attached to the Jagannath Temple in Puri. A master of Indian traditional arts, he has been a collaborator of Dr. Alice Boner in her work on Orissan Silpasastra. He has been the recipient of Kalakosaratnakara from the Vidvatsadas of Kamakoti Pitha and was awarded Padmashri by the Government of India for his outstanding work in the field of the religious and artistic traditions of Orissa.
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