Vishnudharmottara Purana

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The Vishnudharmottara Purana (or simply the Vishnudharmottara) is a Hindu text dedicated to the arts. It is a Supplement or Appendix to the Vishnu Purana.

Part III of the Vishnudharmottara gives an account of the various branches, methods and ideals of Indian painting. It deals not only with its religious aspect but also, and to a far greater extent, with its secular employment. It "proclaims the joy that colours and forms and the representation of things seen and imagined produce".[1]

Stella Kramrisch says that while the Vishnu Purana cannot be earlier than the 2nd half of the 4th century AD, the chapters of the Vishnudharmottara that deal with painting must have been compiled in the 7th century AD.[2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Kramrisch, Stella. The Vishnudharmottara Part III: A Treatise On Indian Painting And Image-Making. Second Revised and Enlarged Edition (Calcutta University Press: 1928). p. 3.
  2. ^ Kramrisch, Stella. op. cit., p. 5.

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