scholars believe the cult of Kr.s.n.a to have had connections to the city of
Mathura ̄, a city where Buddhism was also strong, and that Kr.s.n.a, at the least,
thus offered a vaidikaalternative to Buddhism. But other themes and issues
were addressed – these include: an articulation of the appropriate forms
thatdharmashould take; a reconciliation of dualistic (sa ̄m.khya) cosmologies
and monistic ones; reconciliation of the ways of wisdom (jña ̄na); action
(karma) and devotion (bhakti); and integration of various soteriological paths
(sacrifice, asceticism, yoga). Not least of all, it highlighted theism and
devotion to Kr.s.n.a as the summum bonumof religious practice, especially
as an alternative to Buddhism. In the process it taught disciplined action
(karmayoga) and lack of attachment to the fruit of one’s action (karma-
phalasan.ga).
Aesthetics and the arts
In the later urban age, and especially by the time of the Guptas, the arts were
flourishing and fundamental principles which informed artistic expression
were in place. Clearly art was not an afterthought or an appendage to the
creativity of the period; rather it was a consistent part of the total landscape,
if not a driving force in the shaping of that landscape. Whether in Maha ̄ya ̄na
Buddhist or brahmanical hands, human expression, like much of nature
itself, assumed a sacral character. Especially in the hands of brahmanical
synthesizers the expression of art was a form of ritual; further, it represented
the incorporation of themes and motifs from the pluralistic landscape
including borrowings from Buddhist and “folk” sources which were in turn
linked to vaidikamotifs. It is as if all of culture was sacralized.
Aesthetic expression made several statements about the nature of the
universe and the human being’s place in it. For one thing, the arts were a
celebration of the material world and of life itself. The world was increasingly
seen as lı ̄la ̄– the playground of the gods. Matter and society had become an
arena in which the sacred (whether brahmanor buddhahood) was present.
Further, the body, for example, in dance or icon, was affirmed. The body
was used as the medium through which the sacred was depicted; the body
and its gestures and pose replicated the reciprocity between body and
cosmos insofar as in the body, cosmic rhythms and sacred moods could
be re-enacted. Moreover, sound and speech as used in drama, music, or
ritual chant were intended to have resonance with the creative process of
the universe itself. At the same time, the stories told in drama ennobled the
stories found in “folk” culture and enacted emerging mythologies. Creativity
itself became a form of “yoga” – a means of bringing both artist and audience
closer to the realm of the sacred. That is, the artist became an embodiment
72 The Urban Period