Drgambhrni: The Syntax and Semiotics of Sculpture and Indian Linguistic Theories

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Introduction: The temporal and the spatial. 2. Sanskrit semantics and significations: Nirvacanasastra and Saktivada. 3. The emergence of visual semantics: Drsyapada and Dhyeyabhuta abhidha. 4. Interpreting the visual text: Akanksa and Tatparyasakti. 5. The supreme aesthetic accomplishment of language: Laksana and Rasadhvani. References and select bibliography. Index.

Language, being a culture specific phenomenon, will have to be studied in the cultural context and the same is true about the visual language of a certain civilization, despite the avowed universal nature of it. The non-verbal languages transcend the orbits of a single culture but they too cannot escape the culture specificity. The Indian sculptural expression, that is why would betray its secrets and its lingual intricacies if investigated in the light of Indian linguistic theories. 

The master sculptors of India have explored various possibilities to build up meaningful expressions, using their understanding of language, though not linguistics. They coin their morphemes, their syntactic tools and successfully impart the meaning and sentiments of the narrative, without the formal understanding of grammar and linguistics. The ‘reader’ of this text too may not need the formal knowledge of the grammar to read and decipher the meaning. As observed by Noam Chomsky we are born with basics already present in our brains. However, a systematic study of this linguistic interaction is certainly warranted and this is an effort to investigate into its rationale.