Throughout their long history the diverse peoples of India have shared a fascination with, and respect for, animals. Cattle have always been held in particularly high regard: by the prehistoric Indus Valley tribes, which left hundreds of seals like the one above, bearing meticulously worked carvings of bulls; by the later Aryan herdsmen, who considered cattle the basic unit of wealth and used them as currency; and by the Hindus, who forbid killing them even now.
This attitude went far beyond respect for the usefulness of animals. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains regarded all forms of life as equally important, considering them incarnations of a single energy or life force. They believed that when a creature died this energy was reincarnated in some other form. Killing a living thing was thus unthinkable, because even an insect might be vitalized by the soul of an ancestor or friend. On a still higher plane, Hindu mythology endowed the gods with animal attributes. Even the 16th Century Muslim conquerors of northern India were captivated by this attitude toward animals, and commissioned some of the finest representations of them in Indian art.
BIRDS: NATIVE, EXOTIC AND MYTHICAL
A TERRA-COTTA HEN. found in the Indus Valley, was probably used as a child's whistle. Many clay toys have been unearthed in the valley, most in the form of birds and other animals.
To the ancient Indians, as to other early peoples, birds soaring into the sky were a source of inspiration. They associated them with another denizen of the heavens—the sun, in India a searing force, ruthlessly drying up the land until the arrival of the blessed monsoon rains. As Hinduism developed, the sun's power was represented as a mythological half-bird, half-man called Garuda (right), while the principle of water was symbolized by sinuously curving serpents.
Real, as well as mythical, birds figured in traditional Indian life. The Indus Valley people left numerous representations of native birds, such as chickens and doves. Thousands of years later, the Muslim emperors of India were so intrigued by birds from far-off lands that they kept unusual varieties in aviaries and had their painters portray them realistically for court albums.
THE BIRDLIKE SUN PRINCIPLE, Garuda, is shown in this painting bearing Indian gods on his back. Since Garuda was known as a devourer of serpents, snakebite victims appeal to him.
A SPLENDID TURKEY was imported by a Muslim emperor, Jahangir, who was keenly interested in nature and commissioned many studies of birds, animals and plants.
A TREE OF LIFE represents creative forces in the universe. Sunhirds sit on the branches; a five-headed cobra, symbolizing water, rises from the trunk.
World History
