There are some differences between the sculptures of India and Greece as well as similarities. The name of India first appears in Greek literature in the 5th century BC during the first Indian empire, that of the Maurya dynasty. The word India is derived from the Indus River and in the Greek, India is only meant for the Indus region, which is belong to Persian Empire. According to Gappossy (2009), the culture of India is the most richest and ancient in the world. The art of sculpture is the most cherished medium of the artists. Paintings in India comprise of the religious deities and kings and this painting is belonging to the paintings of Greece. Sculptures in India are started from the Indus valley civilization.
There is some similarity and differences in the art forms of India and Greece. Despite the two regions being far way and holding different beliefs, they depicted the same theme that is gods and goddesses, animals, myths and sports. They both use the lot of gold for making the jewelry. In sculptures, Greece mostly used stones while India uses large number of other materials. The paintings made by India and Greek are almost similar in design. However, their architectures were different. Greece customarily used the golden ratio to make their buildings mostly of marbles (McEvilley, 2012)
While Greek used the red-figure pottery style, with black backgrounds and red figures that only were shown after they were fired in the kiln, the Indians applied simple but beautiful painted, unglazed pottery. They both placed emphasis on sports but comparatively, the Indians, did not overemphasize on sports in sculpture like the Greeks. On the other hand, the Ancient Greeks sculptures depicted gods and goddesses, royalty, animals, and sports, like Olympic events whereas the Greek’s depicted stories, myths, everyday life, and sports too. Ancient India made statues of gods, goddesses, kings, Buddha, and men and women dancing that were usually made of bronze or stone (Rowland Jr, 1936).
Sculptures in Greece always found more sufficient ways to represent the human figures. “The Greek developed a standing nude male sculpture called the Kouros or Apollo. The Kouros served to depict gods and heroes.”(scholastic.com) The Kora was more graceful and was used to portray maidens and goddess. The winged female figure that was created was created to be the personification of victory. The Greeks placed statues in temples or carved as part of the temple which was created to be a representation of gods. They worshipped outdoors and their most important function of the sculptures was to honor gods and goddesses.
Greek sculptures concentrated their energies on a limited number of problems may have helped bring about the rapid changes that occurred in Greek sculptures between .7th century and the late 4 century B.C ( McEvilley, 1986.) Just as the Greek sculptures, the Indian sculptures were as well nude but the difference was with the Indian the nudeness represented the body as a symbol of spirit and to reveal the image shapes of god. The sculptures were as well human focus however; the Indian ones were used to teach people in the truths of the Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain religion (McEvilley, 2012). The Indian multiple heads 3 and arms of sculptured Hindu divinities were exhibited to diverse attributes of these gods power. The Indian sculptures had more of a spiritual connotation to them than the Greek sculptures. The Indian sculptures was created for the utmost spiritual beauty or the significance of which the human form is capable of not the emotional and beauty. The body made a form of soul is its idea and secret (Pal, 1986).
The Indian and Greek had their own beliefs of their sculptures and way of impacting their society in different ways. The Greek sculptures was more so praising people while the Indian sculptures were more of a representation of gods beliefs and spiritual beauty
In summary, Greek and Indian sculptures had many resemblances and variances. Despite being far away from each other and the fact that they held different beliefs, they depicted the same themes such as Gods and goddesses, animals, royalty, myths, everyday life, and sports. Greeks mostly used stone, and Indians used a range of materials. Their paintings were also very similar. Architecture was dissimilar in that the Greek architecture used the golden ratio, and their buildings were usually made of marble. They used Doric and ionic columns to hold the roof of the building up. Indian buildings had decorative designs carved in them, like people dancing, or gods and goddess.