THE AIMS AND METHODS OF INDIAN AKT. 21

ivhose heart is set upon the Unconditioned, is a mental
image useless as a centre of thought. These last are few;
-and for those that adore an Ishta Devata, or conditioned
.and special aspect of God, worship of Him consists
first in the recitation of the brief mnemonic mantram
•detailing His attributes, and then in silent concentration^
•of thought upon the corresponding mental image. These
mental images are of the same nature as those the artist
sees, and the process of visualisation is the same.

Here, for example, is a verse from one of the imager's
technical books (the Rupavaliya) :

" These are the marks of Siva, a glorious visage, three
•eyes, a bow and an arrow, a serpent garland, ear-flowers
-a rosary, four hands, trisula, a noose, a deer, hands betoken-
ing mildness and beneficence, a garment of tiger skin, His
vahan a bull of the hue of the chank."*

It may be compared with the Dhyana mantrams used
in the daily meditation of a Hindu upon the Gayatri
visualised as a Goddess :

" In the evening Sarasvati shotild be meditated
upon as the essence of the Sama Veda, fair of face, having
two arms, holding a trisula and a drum, old, and as
Biudrani, the bull her vahan"

Almost the whole philosophy of Indian art is con-
tained in the verse of Sukracharya's fiukranitisara which
enjoins this method of visualisation upon the imager :

" Let the builder establish images in temples by
meditation on the deities who are the objects of his devo-
tion ; for the successful achievement of (this) dkycvna yoga
'(yoga of contemplation) the elements and characteristics of
the image are described in books to be dwelt upon in detail,
In no other way, not even by direct and immediate visioa
* i.e., riding upon a snow-white bull.