way of Arabia and the Islamic world. Similarly, the Ja ̄taka Taleswere folk tales
and fables purporting to tell anecdotes from Buddha’s life, and served
a didactic purpose. Myth was ascribed an aura of historicity (itiha ̄sa); it
embodied anecdotes and motifs derived from folk and other sources and
found its way into the epics and eventually into the Pura ̄n.as– collections
which began around the fourth century CEand continued to be written and
collected even into the seventeenth century. The Pura ̄n.asdrew upon the
social landscape and became a means for anonymous authors to address
major themes and describe the exploits of the deities.
The aesthetic principles informing not only literature but all the other
arts were recorded eventually in the Na ̄t.yas ́a ̄stra, the core of which was written
around the second to sixth centuries CEand enhanced in subsequent years.
Based on oral principles handed down by theatrical troupes, the Na ̄t.yas ́a ̄stra
offered considerable detail about the role of the artist. Central to this role
isbha ̄va– that which conveyed the meaning intended through words,
physical gestures, and facial expressions.^34 The art was “successful” insofar
as its audience shared in the fundamental moods intended. Art enacted
mythologies; speech, sound, and bodily gestures became expressions of
the sacred. The expression of art, in short, was ritual.
There were three basic principles informing artistic expressions by the
Gupta period. The first was rasa– literally, flavor, essence, taste, sentiment,
orientation.Rasawas the flavor of brahman. Eventually, rasasbecame the
eight major “moods” which both body and cosmos embodied: love, heroism,
disgust, wrath, mirth, pleasure, pity, and wonder.^35 By the eleventh century
(and the work of Abhinavagupta), gentleness and quiescence were added
to these moods. Rasawas acted out in art, drama, music, and literature – the
artist was the “conduit” who sought to enable the listener to be a participant,
to experience the “flavor” of the universe.
Another fundamental aesthetic principle was alam.ka ̄ra– ornamentation
or embellishment – it entailed the use of metaphors, puns, and other appro-
priate means to enhance the beauty and power of an artistic expression.
“Ornamentation” could take many forms. In literature, it was the use of
tropes, similes, and images which embellish meaning.^36 A woman’s eyes, for
example, were likened to “darting fish.” In acting, alam.ka ̄raincluded the
use of costuming, makeup, headwear, and especially the use of such primary
colors as white, blue, red, and yellow (colors which also evoked certain rasas).
Similarly, when priests are dressing an icon in the typical Hindu temple even
today they are performing alam.ka ̄ra– an aesthetic as well as religious
enterprise.
A third aesthetic principle was s ́ilpa– the “art of appearance.” S ́ilpa
included the guidelines for crafts and architecture from indigenous clay
art to sculpting, iconography, temple and city building. These arts were
74 The Urban Period