A Field Survey and Research on the Mural Paintings of the Brihadisvara Temple at Thaniavur in India

在古代印度，世俗艺术的进步主要表现在壁画形式上。然而，印度壁画在中世纪时期与宗教建立了密切的关系。尤其是在印度南部，中世纪的印度教寺庙通常装饰着壁画。印度中世纪艺术在11世纪初在印度各地达到了风格上的顶峰。坦纳瓦尔的Brihadisvara寺庙建于11世纪初，是中世纪印度教寺庙艺术的代表。寺庙圣殿周围通道里的壁画清楚地展示了中世纪南印度绘画的成就。它们具有两个显著的文体特征。一是保留了古代壁画中的各种元素，既有人的描绘，也有动物的描绘。例如，人物和动物人物以不同的姿势表现，并使用阴影技术绘制。另一种是，墙体的宽敞表面没有像古代那样以统一的有机成分来处理，而是完全分成了许多层或隔间。后者是印度中世纪壁画最典型的特征。可以说，它确定了中世纪南印度壁画在那之后的发展方向。

In ancient India, the secular art made progress mainly in the form of mural painting. Indian mural paintings, however, built up the intimate relationship with religions through the mediaeval period. Especially in the south India, mediaeval Hindu temples were generally adorned with mural paintings. Indian mediaeval art reached the stylistic zenith in every part of India toward the early eleventh century. The Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, built at the beginning of the eleventh century, is representative of the mediaeval Hindu temple art. The mural paintings in the passageway surrounding the sanctuary of the temple show distinctly what the mediaeval south Indian paining accomplished. They possess two significant stylistic features. One is that they preserve various elements of the ancient mural paintings in respect of depictions of human figures as well as animal ones. For example, human and animal figures are represented in various stances and painted using the technique of shading. The other is that spacious surfaces of the walls are not dealt with in the unified and organic composition like that of the ancient times, but they are completely divided into a lot of strata or compartments. The latter is the most typical characteristic of the mediaeval mural painting in India. It may be safely said that it set the direction of development of the mediaeval south Indian mural painting after that time.