A New Approach for the Study of Indian Art

Abstract

This article is a first report on the development and application of a quantitative approach for the study of Indian art utilizing imaging technology. It outlines the cultural and historical reasons why Indian art is particularly suited to the application of such an approach. Central to these is the Indian artist's use of a system of construction for composing and proportioning his images. Currently used by traditional artists, these constructive systems or devices can also be analyzed on the basis of iconometric passages preserved in early Sanskrit texts. Here a passage from the Visnudharmottara is analyzed and the device it implies is found to be comparable to those used in living practice. The proven ability to reveal this device, not just through textual analysis but also through the analysis of measurements taken from ancient images, is outlined, and the new level of analysis of the image's morphology that this makes possible is defined in relation to specific examples. The implications of the adaptation of imaging technology for the further development of this approach are summarized with respect to their impact on both the sources and methods of Indian art history.