THE GUPTA AND POST GUPTAS PERIOD

GROUP-12

Presented by: L.ANUSH NAIK,12384

ABHISHEK YADAV,12035 VIRENDRA MEENA,12818

SHAFEEQUL ISLAM,12646 JAY PANDYA,12349

A.RAJEEV BHATT,11077

INTRODUCTION

• The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire, founded by Maharaja Sri Gupta, which existed from approximately 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent.

• The period of Gupta rule is known as the Golden Age of India, as it was a time marked by peace, prosperity, and the flourishing of arts and sciences.

• The Gupta dynasty patronized Hindu as well as Buddhist and Jain art and culture.

• The Ajanta cave paintings as well as Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh were created in the Gupta period.

• Some of the great artists and thinkers that flourished in the time of Chandragupta II include Kalidasa, one of the greatest authors of Sanskrit poetry and drama, and Aryabhatta, a brilliant and influential mathematician and astronomer.

• The Ajanta cave paintings as well as Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh were created in the Gupta period.

• In addition to patronizing the art of the Hindu religion, which the majority of the rulers subscribed to, the Guptas were known also for their support of Buddhist and Jain art and culture.

• In particular, Gupta period Buddhist art was quite influential in most of East and Southeast Asia.

• The Ajanta caves, Buddhist rock-cut architecture dating from the 2nd century BCE to 600 CE, contain wall paintings that were created during the Gupta period.

• The paintings depict the Jataka tales and are considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art .

• Great works of Hindu art and architecture from the period include the Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh .

• In addition to the arts, the various sciences also made great advancements during the Gupta period.

GUPTAN PERIOD : TEMPLE,SCULPTURE AND ART• The art of the Gupta period is marked by a deep spiritual quality and

a vision which tries to record the higher and deeper truths of life.

• While the early Gupta period shows an emphasis on Hindu art, the climax of Buddhist art, with all the previous tendencies combined into a classical statement, comes during the later period.

• The Gupta period is specially marked for the development of new temple styles.

• The glorious of the Gupta age proper (C. 350-650) have been made permanent through the visible creations of its art.

• It is contended that during the Gupta period the proto-type of Hindu temple came into existence.

• The Gupta period gerally regarding as a classic peak of north Indian art for all the major religious groups.

• Although painting was evidently widespread, the surviving works are almost all religious sculpture.

• The period saw the emergence of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu art, as well as the Buddha figure and Jain tirthankara figures, these last often on a very large scale.

• The two great centres of sculpture were Mathura and Gandhara.

• The most famous remaining monuments in a broadly Guptan style, the caves at Ajanta, Elephanta, and Ellora (respectively Buddhist, Hindu, and mixed including Jain) were in fact produced under later dynasties, but largely reflect the monumentality and balance of Guptan style.

Jainsamaj,Karnataka A mural at the Thiksey monastery

Mural painting in Ajanta caves Art of temple sculpture from Gupta period

GUPTA PERIOD: SCULPTURE• The Gupta period saw the classic phase of Indian sculpture.

• It is however in the field of sculpture that classical heights were reached in the Gupta period.

• The Gupta sculpture was at its best in giving shape to the images of the deities and divinities, both of the Brahminical and Buddhist faiths.

• Countless numbers of images were cut into shape at several centers for their installation in numberless temples and shrines.

• Sculpture making became a major occupation, and the sculptors with their skill played a prominent role in the religious revolution of that period.

• The standing Buddha of Mathura, and the colossal copper statue of Buddha which is now in a British museum are some other excellent examples of the Gupta sculpture.

• The Hindu images, too, went by the physical beauty of their figures, dignity of their divinity, and grace of their spiritual being.

• The images of Siva and of other Hindu gods and goddesses were made in large numbers at various places.

• All of them possessed dignity.

• Their faces revealed spiritual expression and moods of divinity according to the puranic descriptions of their individuality.

• It seems, as if, the sculptors were translating the themes from Sanskrit texts into religious versions on stones.

The seated image of Buddha belonging to Sarnath has been rightly regarded as the finest of all Buddha images in India. It seems to

convey the true messages of Buddhism.

• The style of Gandhara School of art and sculpture had attained an unprecedented excellence during the Gupta period.

• The style had originally developed in Mathura, which was carried to perfection in Sarnath and where Buddha had turned the wheel of law.

• Gupta sculpture outgrew the sculptural phrase of Bharhut and Sanchi, where the subject matter was animal figures and trees.

• The sculptures were rather exquisite and the figures were proportionate and balanced.

• The sculptors implemented exotic gestures and postures and the figures appeared to have fitted attire.

Hindu sculpture from Gupta period

GUPTA PERIOD :ART OF PAINTING• The excellence of the art of painting was yet another glory of the

Gupta Age.

• The fresco-paintings on the walls and ceilings of the world famous Ajanta caves are the brightest examples of that refined art.

• The painters of Ajanta were at work from much earlier times, perhaps from 1st century A.D. or even earlier.

• But it was during the Gupta period that most of the paintings were worked out.

• More than that, the art came to its perfection during that time.

• They used bright colors,adopted spiritual themes as well as secular as the subject matter of drawing.

• The scenes of their painting looked most natural, and the figures most life-like.

• Every piece of painting in Ajanta Caves is like a masterpiece of art.

• There are interesting palace scenes, scenes of gandarvas and apsaras, and scenes of social life.

• The Ajanta style of art aimed at covering most subjects of religious, spiritual and social values.

• The art aimed at carrying a deep appeal to the human mind to create a permanent impression.

• The gods and sages, kings and queens, men, women and children, birds and beasts, trees and flowers, palaces and houses, and the scenes of varying subjects, all painted in appropriate colour, carried their deeper meaning for men’s thought and imagination.

• Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of caves

Dancing girl in Ajanta fresco, showing deterioration between the cave now (left) and Robert Gill's copy

Cave 2, showing the extensive paint loss of many areas.

Section of the mural in Cave 17, the 'coming of Sinhala'. The prince (Prince Vijaya) is seen in both groups of elephants and riders.

Hamsa jâtaka, cave 17. This painting probably shows one of the previous lives of the Buddha

• Ajanta contains by far the most important survivals of painting from this and the surrounding periods, showing a mature style which had probably had a long development, mainly in painting palaces

• All the paintings appear to be the work of painters at least as used to decorating palaces as temples, and show a familiarity with and interest in details of the life of a wealthy court.

• Unlike much Indian painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal compartments like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre.

• The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture.

• Transparent drapery is used not to reveal the charms of the flesh but to conceal them.

• They painted the figures of Buddha, depicted his previous births, and showed the various incidents of his life as taken from the Jataka stories.

• They also worked out other themes to represent the realities of life and existence.

• Much of the Ajanta paintings did not survive the centuries of time. Of the 29 Caves, the paintings of 16 Caves continued to exist till last century.

• But most of those precious arts also got damaged or destroyed.

• Yet, whatever of that artistic wealth could survive till now, is considered as wonders of world art heritage.

A dancer with full complement of accompanying musicians. Mahajanaka Jataka, Cave 1

• The paintings in Ellora and Bagh Caves were also of high standard.

• Good portions of those works have not survived.

• Painting being a very delicate thing, it fails to resist the havoc of Nature.

• At many more places, as in Ajanta and Ellora, the art of painting of the past have succumbed to the ravages of time.

• The Indian art influenced the art outside. The Indian fresco-paintin gs were imitated in Central Asia and its influence entered deep into Buddhist China.

• For all these above mentioned reasons, the culture of the Gupta Age went by its unique value and excellence.

Cave in Ellora with paintings of Buddhist pantheon

Wall Mural, Ellora Caves

TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE OF GUPTA PERIOD• The Gupta Age indicated a new era in the history of temple

architecture.

• Free standing sculptural temple were the chief features of temple architecture during the Gupta period.

• For the first time they initiated permanent materials like brick and stone, instead of perishable materials like bamboo, wood etc.

• Structural temples, instead of cave temples were erected during this period for the convenience of idol worship.

• The Gupta architects had invented an artistic standard, which became the general rule of temple construction in the successive ages.

• The Gupta architecture is revealed through the cave and temple architecture of those times, which also include two Buddhist stupas.

• The stone temple in Deogarh of Dasavatara with its excellent carvings and panels on the walls is extant remains of Gupta architecture.

• The 'shikara' or top of the temple are the chief attractions about these constructions.

• The talent of Gupta architect found expression in the sculpture of the 'dome'.

• The Shiva temple at Nachana, the Parvati Temple at Ajaya Garh in Uttar Pradesh, the Vishnu Temple in Central Province, the Ekkalinga Shiva Temple at Satana, are some of the extant remains of Gupta architectural pieces.

Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh, Gupta dynasty, c. 500 CE.

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