Natural GeotextilesAs Depicted in

Ancient Indian Iconography

By Dr. A.S.Nene

Sakaladhikaraby Sage Agastya.

Shilpa-samhita on Iconography

Sakaladhikara

means

“A treatise on deities with embodied form”

Sage Agastya received from Lord Shiva deals with Saivite images

Shilpa samhita means Compilation of information

about “Shilpa

Shilpa, in its widest sense covers all arts and crafts requiring dexterity of hand. It covers all branches of Engineering and Architecture

Iconography

Idols or images are made of metal, stone, wood or Clay

Metal, stone or wooden images are made by molding chiseling or by carving.

An elaborate process has to be adopted for images made of clay, mortar stucco and other soft materialsin order to make them strong and durable

Five Stages of Idol Making

1.Construction of Frame work using selected wood (Shool-lakshyanaam)

Human Anatomical Term:

Bonny skeleton

2. Application of glue

Human Anatomical Terms Fat and marrow

Application of glue

A special glue, made out of eight natural adhesive materials (Astabandhana), ghee and oil, is applied to the wooden inner frame

3.Binding with Strings (Rajjubandhanam)

28 String arrangements

Human Anatomical Term 38 Arteries and nerves

•Strings are made of coconut shell husk.

•The coir fibers are threaded into strong cords. The thickness of these cords is specified as two” yava”(2-4 mm).

•The strings are made by twisting two

cords.

rJjub<Xanm! Binding with Strings

4. Plastering with Mud

(Mrutsamskar)

Human Anatomical Terms

Flesh and skin

Plastering with Clay Mass

Constituents

• Clay collected from lakes or Riverbeds

• Finely powered lac

• Decoctions prepared from barks of four milky trees and two non-milky trees.

• Fine sand

•Decoctions of three myrobalns namely Amalaka, Bibhitaka and Haritaka.

•Flours of Barley, wheat and black gram

•Resins of Srivestaka, Sarja and Kunderukska and Guggulu in powdered form

•Cotton Fibers

Consistency of Mud plaster

This constancy is determined by rolling the clay mass on the palms. When the lines of palm are clearly impressed on the clay mass the constancy is proper.

The water content for this consistency (Palm line limit) corresponds to a liquidity index between 15 to 20.%

Finishing of shape

•Fixing of fine white cloth

•Coating with fine lime

•Polishing

5. Painting with colors (Varnasamskar)

Human Anatomical Terms

Skin Pigmentation

Conclusions

1. Coir fibers & cotton was used for soil reinforcement in ancient India.

2. Soil stabilization with natural additives was well known to ancient Indian sculptors .

3. The correct soil consistency for mud plastering is specified in simple terms

4. Iconography was based on sound knowledge of human anatomy

1. Sakaladhikara by sage Agastya (1973) TSM Series 141,. Thajavur Maharaja Serfoji Saraswati Library (TMSSML), Thajavur (Tamilnadu state)

2. Banerjee J.N. ”Methodology on Hindu Iconography”

3. Chitraagastya Ms No 4009 Oriental manuscript library, Trivedraum( Kerala state)

References:

Dr.A.S.Nene M4 Laxmi Nagar, Nagpur (India) 440022 Email: nene_ashok@yahoo.com

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