Of Kirtan, Bhog and Shringara as Modes of Worship
Parul Pandya Dhar
SHRINGARA OF SHRINATHJI FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE GOKAL LAL MEHTA by Amit Ambalal Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 2021, 192 pp., 9500.00
December 2022, volume 46, No 12

In his seminal essay, ‘Ornament’, published in the Art Bulletin (1939), AK Coomaraswamy had analysed the meaning, function, and symbolism of ornament, adornment, or embellishment in Indian artistic traditions. Towards this, he interpreted evidence from a range of textual sources—the Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, epics, Pali Buddhist canon, Jatakas, and the Alamkara Shastras—developing upon J Gonda’s earlier research on the terminological and semantic implications of the term alamkara (ornament/adornment). He studied the meanings attached to cognate terms such as alamkara, bharana, abharana, and aharya to conclude that in many of the ancient and medieval Indian art forms and practices, ornament was purposeful and intrinsic to the form or structure that it embellished. Its ultimate objective was to ‘render adequate’ or ‘make effective’ the form or structure. Ornament in this sense was not a peripheral additive; it was essential to the efficacy of a work of art and an integral factor in its significance. The shringara (adornment) of Shrinathji at Nathdwara in Rajasthan belongs to this long and living tradition, which draws from such integral understandings of adornment.

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