To Whome We Are Devoted
The appearance of Hindu temples, and the comissioned works of great leaders, all illustrate the practice of perfecting the image of religion in conjunction with shaping someones social and political image. With the emergence of major Hindu architecture, we have physical evidence of the evolution of mans relationship to god and gods, or so it would appear. This relationship to god seemed to change cross religions into a more specific devotional practice that now had elaborate centers at which one could properly focus their devotion. This can be explained by looking at the development of architecture and mathematics and at the organization of governments and their growing need to persuade the actions and beliefs of large numbers of people. The first known extant example of Hindu architecture is the Vishnu Temple at Deogarh thought to be built circa 500 CE. This temple may have even been buit by the same atrists that completed the construction of the Buddhist Sanci temple very near by. From what we know about the personality and attributes of different Hindu deities, we can say with some certainty that the sculptural reliefs and pannels on Hindu architecture are meant to be viewed in a specfic order. The ritual practices as the heart of Hinduism helped to shape Hindu temples. A central idea of importance in Hinduism is mans release or moksha from the illusion of life and rebirth. The organization of Hindu structure is meant to aid in this transcendance from this wold to “disolve the boundaries between man and the devine.” (Michell, Hindu Temple) This desire drove individuals that already had power to further disolve this boundary and compare themselves to gods. Devotion now had specific sites with built in directions for practicing devotion. We do not have a known patron for the site at Deogarh, but we do know that whoever paid to have this site erected had plenty of money and a good enough reason to use it. As a result, it would appear to theologians that man’s relationship to god was becoming increasingly stronger due to the abundant manifestation of beautiful sacred spaces. Hindu and Buddhist sites seemed to become more and more ornate in correspondance with the growing monitary support for their organization, while comissions of grandure and magnitude become increasingly precise and mathematically beautiful based on the ammount of ambition and power behind the motivated patron. This development can be attributed to the changing times, as the arenas of mathematics and architecture became more advanced over time. We can look at sites comissioned by prominent Indian figures to illustrate the parallels between royalty and deity. Some may attribute the need for the increasingly ornate dedicational site to the popularity of the Bhagivagita. …show more content…
In this tale, the prince Arjuna is on a battlefield and meets an incarnation of Krishna. This was a huge moment in religious history, for from this moment on there was a great need for gods to show up when needed. This did help to transform the façade of religion in India and may have been writen as a catalyst for this change, however, this transformation of the structure of religious practice combined with the dual nature of art and material as a form of media, would eventually become a form of propoganda. In Frederick Ashers Histoical and Political Allegory in Gupta Art, he very logically explains why a perosn may need to have the gods on their side to gain support or prove ones piety, as well as tells us how one might accomplish this. He illustrates that not everyone was born into a holy blood line and could present themselves as “the sons of gods” and therefore needed a means for which to send a powerful message of achievement and religious apropriation. Candra Gupta II for example, dedicated in 402 A.D., according to an inscription on the early Gupta relief of Varaha at Udayagiri, a massive illustration of the “lifting of the earth from beneath the cosmic waters”, showing great motivation and self entitlement to his reign. (Asher, Allegory in Gupta Art) Mamallapuram is another great example of what grand developments may result from one such motivated patrons driving force. Mamallapuram is an entire port city founded by king Nsrasimha, or “Mamalla” meaning “Great Warrior”. Within this city are examples of anchient leaps in the advancement in mathematics and architecture, such as models
The appearance of Hindu temples, and the comissioned works of great leaders, all illustrate the practice of perfecting the image of religion in conjunction with shaping someones social and political image. With the emergence of major Hindu architecture, we have physical evidence of the evolution of mans relationship to god and gods, or so it would appear. This relationship to god seemed to change cross religions into a more specific devotional practice that now had elaborate centers at which one could properly focus their devotion. This can be explained by looking at the development of architecture and mathematics and at the organization of governments and their growing need to persuade the actions and beliefs of large numbers of people. The first known extant example of Hindu architecture is the Vishnu Temple at Deogarh thought to be built circa 500 CE. This temple may have even been buit by the same atrists that completed the construction of the Buddhist Sanci temple very near by. From what we know about the personality and attributes of different Hindu deities, we can say with some certainty that the sculptural reliefs and pannels on Hindu architecture are meant to be viewed in a specfic order. The ritual practices as the heart of Hinduism helped to shape Hindu temples. A central idea of importance in Hinduism is mans release or moksha from the illusion of life and rebirth. The organization of Hindu structure is meant to aid in this transcendance from this wold to “disolve the boundaries between man and the devine.” (Michell, Hindu Temple) This desire drove individuals that already had power to further disolve this boundary and compare themselves to gods. Devotion now had specific sites with built in directions for practicing devotion. We do not have a known patron for the site at Deogarh, but we do know that whoever paid to have this site erected had plenty of money and a good enough reason to use it. As a result, it would appear to theologians that man’s relationship to god was becoming increasingly stronger due to the abundant manifestation of beautiful sacred spaces. Hindu and Buddhist sites seemed to become more and more ornate in correspondance with the growing monitary support for their organization, while comissions of grandure and magnitude become increasingly precise and mathematically beautiful based on the ammount of ambition and power behind the motivated patron. This development can be attributed to the changing times, as the arenas of mathematics and architecture became more advanced over time. We can look at sites comissioned by prominent Indian figures to illustrate the parallels between royalty and deity. Some may attribute the need for the increasingly ornate dedicational site to the popularity of the Bhagivagita. …show more content…
In this tale, the prince Arjuna is on a battlefield and meets an incarnation of Krishna. This was a huge moment in religious history, for from this moment on there was a great need for gods to show up when needed. This did help to transform the façade of religion in India and may have been writen as a catalyst for this change, however, this transformation of the structure of religious practice combined with the dual nature of art and material as a form of media, would eventually become a form of propoganda. In Frederick Ashers Histoical and Political Allegory in Gupta Art, he very logically explains why a perosn may need to have the gods on their side to gain support or prove ones piety, as well as tells us how one might accomplish this. He illustrates that not everyone was born into a holy blood line and could present themselves as “the sons of gods” and therefore needed a means for which to send a powerful message of achievement and religious apropriation. Candra Gupta II for example, dedicated in 402 A.D., according to an inscription on the early Gupta relief of Varaha at Udayagiri, a massive illustration of the “lifting of the earth from beneath the cosmic waters”, showing great motivation and self entitlement to his reign. (Asher, Allegory in Gupta Art) Mamallapuram is another great example of what grand developments may result from one such motivated patrons driving force. Mamallapuram is an entire port city founded by king Nsrasimha, or “Mamalla” meaning “Great Warrior”. Within this city are examples of anchient leaps in the advancement in mathematics and architecture, such as models