THE AIMS AIN7D METHODS OF INDIAN ART. 39

such art is not, of course, in the same sense consciously
religious; the simple expression of delight in cunning
workmanship, or of the craftsman's humour, or his fear or
his desire, are motifs that inspire the lesser art that belongs
to the common things of life. But yet all art is really one,
consistent with itself and with life ; how should one part
of it be fundamentally opposed to another? And so we
find in the decorative art of India the same idealism that
is insepaiuble from Indian thought; for art, like religion, is-
really a way of looking at things, more than anything else.

Eastern decorative art is characterised especially by
rhythm, definite form and clear outline. It is the entire
lack of these, and particularly of rhythm, in T art nouveau,*
and in f naturalistic decorative' art generally, which best
explains their failure to dignify an object ornamented, or
to satisfy the eye or heart.

The love of nature in its infinite beauty and variety-
has impelled the Oriental craftsman to decorate his handi-
work with the forms of the well-known birds and flowers*
and beasts with which he is most intimate, or which have
most appealed to his imagination. But these forms ho
never represents realistically, they are always memory
pictures, combined with fanciful creations of the imagina-
tion, into symmetrical a,nd rhythmic ornament.

Take, for example, the treatment of lions in decorative
art. Yerses of the canon relating to animals often show
that the object of the canon has been as much to stimulate
imagination, as to define the manner of representation.

" The neigh of a horse is like the sound of a storm
his eyes like the lotus, he is swift as the wind, as stately
as a lion, and his gait is the gait of a dancer.

" The lion has eyes like those of a hare, a fierce
aspect, soft hair long on his chest and tinder his