Shilpa Shastras

Shilpa Shastras (शिल्प शास्त्र ) literally means the Science of Shilpa (arts and crafts). It is an ancient umbrella term for numerous Hindu texts that describe arts, crafts, and their design rules, principles and standards. In the context of Hindu temple architecture and sculpture, Shilpa Shastras were manuals for sculpture and Hindu iconography, prescribing among other things, the proportions of a sculptured figure, composition, principles, meaning, as well as rules of architecture. Sixty-four techniques for such arts or crafts, sometimes called "external or practical arts", are traditionally enumerated, including carpentry, architecture, jewellery, farriery, acting, dancing, music, medicine, poetry etc., besides sixty-four or "secret arts", which include mostly "erotic arts" such as kissing, embracing, etc. (Monier-Williams s.v. ). While Shilpa and Vastu Shastras are related, Shilpa Shastras deal with arts and crafts such as forming statues, icons, stone murals, painting, carpentry, pottery, jewellery, dying, textiles and others. Vastu Shastras deal with building architecture – building houses, forts, temples, apartments, village and town layout, etc. Shilpa (शिल्प) refers to any art or craft in ancient Indian texts, while Shastra means science. Together, Shilpa Shastra means the science of art and crafts. The ancient Sanskrit texts use the term Shilpin (शिल्पिन्, male artist) and Shilpini (शिल्पिनी, female artist) for artists and crafts person, while Shilpani refers to works of arts of man. Shilpani, works of art of man, imitate the divine forms, by employing their rhythms, they metrically reconstitute, and interpret the limitless knowledge, of the sacred hymns, from the limits of being human. The meaning of Shilpa, according to Stella Kramrisch, is complex. She writes that it consists of "art, skill, craft, labor, ingenuity, rite and ritual, form and creation." The range of crafts encompassed by the term Shilpa extends to every aspect of culture, includes sculptor, the potter, the perfumer, the wheelwright, the painter, the weaver, the architect, the dancer, the musician, the arts of love, and others.

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Related concepts (5)

Vastu shastra

Vastu shastra (वास्तु शास्त्र, – literally "science of architecture") is a traditional Indian system of architecture based on ancient texts that describe principles of design, layout, measurements, ground preparation, space arrangement, and spatial geometry. The designs aim to integrate architecture with nature, the relative functions of various parts of the structure, and ancient beliefs utilising geometric patterns (yantra), symmetry, and directional alignments.

Shilpa Shastras

Hindu temple

A Hindu temple, or mandir, devasthana, pura, gudi, koil or kovil in various languages, is a structure designed to bring Hindus and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion, thought of as the house of the god to whom it is dedicated. The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temple are rooted in Vedic traditions, deploying circles and squares. It also represents recursion and the representation of the equivalence of the macrocosm and the microcosm by astronomical numbers, and by "specific alignments related to the geography of the place and the presumed linkages of the deity and the patron".