BRONZES

The archaeological excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa have brought to light figures of dancers and animals (especially bulls). Within a few centuries the lost wax casting technique spread to Maharashtra and southern India, but the finds are still rare, first of all due to the obvious practice of reusing the precious material, in addition to the survival of bronzes and artefacts in metal casting has been influenced by historical events and political-religious conflicts.

The delicate and complex process of the lost wax method meant that the images were always performed by specialized craftsmen who had to have reached the necessary level of technical skill as well as an iconographic knowledge that includes the detail of ornaments, headdresses, garments, attributes, pedestals, prabhas, etc., all according to religious rules, taste and local traditions. The creation of figures of divinities in Hinduism is linked to the ritual of visualization of the divine - darshan - which plays the central role for the devotee. His life is linked to a network of divine forces: he visually contemplates divinity in an effort to perceive divine energy and obtain the benevolence of the god. It is the cycle of reincarnation that determines his present life, which, in order to be faced, requires divine protection and assistance. In India there is no country or village that does not have a temple or an altar consecrated to one of the major Hindu deities.

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