THE SCIENCE OF SYMBOLS
& THE PRINCIPLES OF HINDU RELIGIOUS ART
Reprint from The Visva-Bharati Quartely, May-July 1949.
Alain Daniélou

Ananda Coomaraswami once wrote
that Indian Art imitates Nature not so much in its external forms as in its mode of operation. This may not be true of Indian Art in its entirety, but certainly corresponds to the basic conception of Hindu religious art. The outlook through which the artist tries to re-create a world similar to the natural world, is known as the cosmological view of Art. Hindu philosophy considers that a question can be studied from a number of points of view; each point of view having its own limitations and leading to distinct results.

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