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Vol. II-1996
Style and Composition in the....
83
east side of the courtyard (J-12), which are symmetrical, or mirror-images, but here, Sarvānubhūti folds the wrong leg. In Cave J-13, which is inside the lower level of the Indra Sabhā excavation, on the west end, there is the same lack of symmetry in the matter of the folded leg (Plates 40 & 41) but the organization, as a whole, is much more effective and the animal heads both face the observer, on the inside, toward the shrine door. The striking similarity of style and posture to that of the figures directly above, on the verandah, suggests that this is an adaptation of that example to the position of flanking figures. Last of all, we consider the cave on the east end of the lower level, inside the Indra Sabhä сave (J-17), and therefore directly below the verandah Ambikā at the foot of the stairs. Here is not an adaptation but an imitation. The figures are composed and posed in an identical way, except that the elephant's head is in three-quarter view rather than facing the observer, and the natural bearing of the figures and animals has been lost. An attempt at symmetry has been made in the wedge-shaped trees, but the fact that the cave itself is not a symmetrical design is reflected in the casual disposition of the parts. The same lack of symmetry prevails in the excavation of the other two anomalous examples, J-6 and J-13. THE JAINA AESTHETIC :
Some indication of how what appears to be the taste of the patrons is perhaps related to the symbolism with which religious art is primarily concerned may be found in a comparison of cave-temples of the different sects represented here at Ellorā, and closely related chronologically. The Jaina aesthetic would appear to relate more closely to the Buddhist than to the Brahmanical, a reflection, perhaps, of the more detached, contemplative character of these two sects, as contrasted to the more active Hinduism. It might, by some, be considered a more intellectual, or at least cerebral, approach; but, in another sense it is more sensual. More use is made of repetition, as in the rows of Tirthankara images, which, like the repeated Buddhas, set up a hypnotic rhythm, a kind of visual mantra or aid to concentration. The method of communication is to use an element of purely visual stimulation to the senses directly relating to the spiritual experience, in contrast to the more indirect, literary method of story. telling art, by which the devotee is invited to share in a dramatic scene of action, and in which the gods seem to share more vividly the vicissitudes of mundane life. An important function of ritual is, precisely, to transcend mundane experience, and it is this function which is served by the less dramatic, less active, more iconic imagery employed here. Some later observers attribute the repetition to a dearth of creative imagination! Such a criticism reveals a lack of understanding of the nature of creativity in art. "Imagination," the making of images, neither begins nor ends with the invention of new or varied subjects. If it did, then the attribution of responsibility for the quality of works of art to the authors of
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