Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Benoy Kumar Sarkar, and the Śukranīti

Abstract

The English-raised Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, the twentieth century’s leading historian of Indian art, is well known for prizing tradition and anonymity and for upholding the position that visualization exercises were an essential part of the creative process. The first part of this article addresses the role of the English Arts and Crafts Movement and of such lesser-known figures as Sister Nivedita and Lionel de Fonseka in shaping Coomaraswamy’s views. The middle part consists of a discussion of the passages in the nineteenth-century Sanskrit treatise the Śukranīti that Coomaraswamy depended upon to support his opinions. The final part of the article is devoted to the writings of the sociologist Benoy Kumar Sarkar, author of the standard translation of the Śukranīti. As an opponent of the over-spiritualisation of Indian civilisation, he constructed a universal grammar of art. In this enterprise, he was heavily influenced by the American painter Max Weber.