Sculpture as a Medium of Cultural Expression in India

Abstract

This article describes the use of sculpture in India for religious and other spiritual purposes and cultural and other contemporary purposes at the national and local levels․ Subjects covered in the article include determinants of meaning for sculpture and the movement of sculpture objects between community settings‚ public spaces‚ and museums․ Examples used in the article to illustrate points include a Chola Nataraja‚ a Bankura horse‚ a Dokra Durga‚ Ranjani Shettar's Aureole‚ a photo of a sculpture at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi‚ and two scrap-metal history sculptures at Shaheedi Park in Delhi․ Some information used in the article about the other examples and objects includes information from museum records; other information gleaned from images was limited to verification of information from other sources․ Findings indicate that meaning of sculpture is influenced by representational and other characteristics of sculpture and the settings in which it is displayed and circulated․ Limitations of the examples used in the article include underrepresentation of regions of India․ Totals for national heritage and digitization projects include many kinds of objects and should not be confused with counts of sculpture․ Conclusions from the article include a statement that many types of sculpture and other expressions combining traditional and modern elements are found in India․