You probably carve as a hobby. Many people take up wood carving as a pleasure activity. You either carve bird figures or animals or sometimes even human caricatures. Most carvers strive to make their carvings as close as possible to real objects.
I too do wood carving. Not so much as a hobby, but as a mode of meditation. They say that in Buddhist monasteries, young disciples are taught wood carving to hone their skills on mental concentration and meditation. Carving, especially wood carving, needs lot of concentration.
I am talking about the sculptures of the east, most prominently from the Indian subcontinent. I am not restricting myself to today’s India but a region spanning several countries – from Afghanistan in the west, to Cambodia in the east, from Nepal in the north to Indonesia in the far south.
Can you believe that for thousands of years this vast land had nurtured a highly evolved sculpture tradition, that is live even to this day, at least in India!
If you visit some South Indian villages, you can find sculptors who follow the same old tradition of their ancestors. For them, sculpting is religion and not merely an art and far from a hobby.
Can you believe that you can see gigantic monoliths carved more than thousand years ago in many of these lesser known villages – well preserved and still maintaining their pristine beauty? The one I saw in a small village in southern India was probably the tallest monolith in the entire world, carved more than a millennium ago.
This monolith of a Jain sage, almost 60 ft tall, stands atop a hill and if someone has the mistaken idea that Indian sculptures are rarely realistic, should see this to believe. The figure looks so realistic with clear facial expression.
How did ancient Indians manage to carve such huge monoliths? What models did they use? There is no way they could have depended on mere visual guidance, given the gigantic sizes.
The secret lies in the idea of ‘carving by the book’. Yes, these sculptures were carved as per the detailed measurements given in books called ‘Shilpashastra’.
These Shilpashastra or carving manuals were used throughout the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years, and that is the reason why you see broad uniformity among these sculptures in terms of proportions, style, and grandeur.
The book I am talking about is mainly based on this ancient but still living tradition of Indian sculpture. This is a huge subject. But I have tried to give a quick overview of this wonderful tradition, that can take you into an altogether new magical world.
It is not just human figures, these manuals also give detailed measurements for a wide range of beings starting from various Gods, demigods, humans, spirits, imps, ghosts and so on. They also cover dwarfs and kids making the set even richer.
In the western traditions we generally talk about ‘head size’ measurements. But these manuals give detailed measurements of all body parts including even those considered to be private! These measurements are given in such a way that they can be easily scaled to suit the size of the figure you wish to carve.
On the cover page, I have given samples of various types of figures supported by these sculpture manuals. You can see the giant 60 ft tall nude figure of the Jain sage Bahubali. You can also see a dwarf used as a stylistic lamp holder. I have also depicted some of the well-known gigantic wooden figures of spirits called Bhootas.
In this book you can find examples of several ancient sculptures from this vast region. To provide the proper setting, I have also briefly described the mythological background of these images that are often used for worship.
I can’t say that you can become a skilled sculptor in these traditions by merely reading this book. But I can assure you that this book can provide you a whole lot of new ideas to try out.
So, if you are serious sculptor either as a hobbyist or a professional, you should read this book. That is sure to enrich you and take you to a new world.
Where can I find this book?
You can find this book in almost every online store that sells books, such as amazon, apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, scribd and so on. This book is available both in e-book as well as in print book formats.
I am sure you will greatly get benefited by reading this book.
Bye then, till we meet again, week after next, with another of my books.
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