G.  VAISHNAVIS  (VISHNUISM):  Vishnu  (the  Vedic  Heaveniy  King;
Cat.  188);  Vishvarupa  (the  almighty),  Vaikunthanatha  (Lord  of
Paradise),  Narayana  (creator,  also  Padmanabha,  Anantashayin,
Seshashayin),  Lakshminatha  or  Srinafa  (Lord  of  Sri-Lakshmi  the
goddess  of  luck);  24  old  forms,  such  as  Keshava,  Damodara,
Vosudeva,  and  others,  His  ten  incarnations  (Avatara)  are  more
populär:  Matsya  (fish),  Kurma  (fortoise),  Varaha  (boar),  with
Bhudevi  (earth),  Nrisimha  (man-lion),  Vamana  (dwarf),  the  same
as  Trivikrama  (conqueror  of  the  three  worlds),  Parashurama  (a
Brahmin  hero),  Rama  (the  hero  of  the  Ramayana  epic),  Krishna
(the  shepherd  god,  a  hero  of  the  Mahabharata  epic  and  teacher
of  the  Bhagavadgita,  the  holiest  Hindu  scripture);  the  wives  Rukmini
  and  Satyabhama,  Buddha  (reinterpretation  of  the  tounder
of  Buddhism)  and  Kalkin  (the  redeemer  of  the  fufure,  apparently
the  same  as  Yashodharman,  liberator  of  India  from  fhe  Huns  in
the  sixth  Century  A.  D.).  All  these  have  been  more  or  less  displaced
  since  the  fifteenth  Century  by  Krishna  and  Rama,  whose
names  today  for  practical  purposes  simpiy  mean  God.  The  myth
of  the  love  of  Krishna  for  the  shepherd-girls  (Gopis)  of  the  country
  of  Mathura,  parficularly  for  Radha  and  her  dancing  (Rasamandala)
  in  the  Brinda  Forest,  has  become  the  song  of  the
mystic  love  betweeen  God  and  the  soul.  Rama  and  Sita  (abducted
  by  the  giant  Ravana  and  set  free  again)  are  fhe  ideal
man  and  wife,  Rama  the  ideal  king.  The  monkey  king  Hanuman,
however,  has  become  the  most  populär  mediator  with  Rama.
The  part  played  by  all  these  godheads  and  their  types  has
changed  continuously.  Until  the  Gupta  period  Buddhism  dominated,
  at  first  only  hinting  al  Buddha  (footprints,  lotuses,  Tree  of
Eniighfenment,  Dharmacakra,  Wheel  of  Law,  Stupa),  then  representing
  him  as  a  clothed  Yogi  with  a  lock  of  hair  between  his
brows  (urna)  and  an  excrescence  (ushnisha)  on  the  crown  of  his
head.  The  Bodhisattvas,  however,  wore  princely  clofhing.  The
Jaina  sainfs  are  similar  io  the  Buddha  figures  (standing  or  seated
in  the  Yoga  Position),  but  they  are  naked,  generally  have  no
excrescence  on  the  crown  of  the  head,  and  are  accompanied  by
a  Yaksha  or  a  Yakshi.  The  flower  of  the  Sivaitic-Vishnuistic  sculpture
  falls  in  the  period  of  the  third  io  the  twelfth  Century,  persisiing
  in  the  south  up  to  the  present  day.  Siva  (black  or  white)  is
always  recognisable  by  his  ascetic  hair-style,  fhe  trident  (frishula),
the  drum  made  of  skulls  (damaru)  and  his  bull  Nandin.  Vishnu
(blue)  wears  royal  jewelry  and  a  crown,  holds  a  club,  a  lotus,
a  Shell  and  a  flywheel  and  rides  on  the  eagle  Garuda:  Rama
and  Krishna  are  blue-skinned,  wear  yellow  robes,  Krishna  with

peacock  feathers  in  his  crown  and  is  offen  playing  a  flute  (venu,
murali),  surrounded  by  cows.  In  the  art  of  the  Mohammedan
period,  especially  at  the  Rajpuf  Courts,  the  gods  generally  wear
the  Court  dress  of  the  period.  Religious  picfures  (murti,  pratima,
arca)  were  made  into  a  habitaiion  for  the  god  by  special  rites.
Applied  Art
The  character  of  Indian  handicrafts  is  decided  by  the  climate,
which  for  a  great  pari  of  the  year  favours  sitfing  and  lying  on
the  ground:  beds  of  very  simple  consfruction  (a  few  rods  and
Straps),  arm-chairs  and  thrones  (the  privilege  of  princes),  small
stools,  chesfs  (offen  of  mefal);  they  were  offen  inlaid  with  precious
  mefal  and  sfones  or  richly-carved  ivory.  Of  brass  (but  also
iron)  articles  it  is  usual  fo  find  oil  lamps  (offen  in  fhe  shape  of
a  girl:  Dipalakshmi),  jewel-cases  and  pomade-boxes,  perfume
flasks,  writing-cases,  wafer-pipes  and  eating  Utensils.  Silver  and
gold  were  used  for  jewelry  and  also  in  great  quantities  for  embossed
  and  chased  doors  in  temples,  fombs  and  palaces,  buf
iiffle  of  this  Work  has  been  preserved  from  ancienf  times.  For
swords,  Arabian  and  European  (including  many  German)  blades
were  offen  preferred,  the  hilf  consisting  of  steel,  walrus  ivory,
jade  or  crysfal  inlaid  with  silver.  A  characteristic  type  of  dagger
(Kattar)  has  an  H-shaped  stirrup  handle.  Cannon  and  muskefs
(although  known  In  fhe  fourteenth  cenfury),  came  into  general
use  only  from  the  sixteenth  Century  onwards,  generally  very  long
muzzle-loaders  with  a  forked  support.  Chainmail  and  plateamour
  were  known  since  the  Scythlan  Invasion,  but  owing  fo  the
heat  were  only  put  on  for  the  baftle  itself;  it  become  more
general  in  Mohammedan  times;  the  plate-armour  consisfs  as  a
rule  only  of  four  simple  breast-plates  (charaina),  offen  beaufifuily
  worked  in  niello.  Shields  were  of  hippopotamus  hide  or
metal,  offen  richly  incised  or  painted,  but  never  with  coats  of
arms.  Simple  potfery  ufensils  were  customary  from  fhe  earliesf
times,  offen  richly  painted.  Glazed  poftery  and  also  porcelain,
imported  from  China,  Persia  and  finally  Europe,  were  customary
almost  exclusively  with  the  Mohammedans;  it  was  rejected  by
fhe  Hindus  on  ritual  grounds,  although  the  Hindus  admifted
glazed  wall-tiles  and  decorative  vases.  Indian  applied  art  is  at
its  best  in  textiles;  Lunghis,  Odhnis,  Dopattas,  Saris,  Kamerbands,
etc.,  swathed  artistically  in  one  piece  round  the  whole  body,  the
hips,  the  shoulders,  the  head  (the  turban,  pagri),  transparent  as
a  spider's  web  or  heavy,  interwoven  with  gold  thread,  some-