Page:Hindu Art - its Humanism and Modernism.djvu/35

 The joy of life in all its manifestations is the one grand theme of all Hindu art. It is futile to approach the sculptors and painters of India with the notion of finding a typically Hindu message in them. The proper method should be to watch how far and in what manner the artist has achieved his ends as artist; i. e., as manipulator of forms and colors. Interpretation of life, or "criticism of life" may be postulated of every great worker in ink, bronze, or clay, whether in the East or in the West. The only test of a masterpiece, however, is ultimately furnished by the questions: "Is it consistent in itself? Does this handiwork of man add to the known types of the universe? Has it extended the bounds of Creation?"

Human ideals are the same all the world over. One piece of art in India