Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/215

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RELIGIOUS ART
131

objects of curiosity. Torn from their picturesque setting in shrine or temple, they are robbed of much of the religio loci, and now, obviously out of place, are collected in small groups "like monks turned out of their cells into the public streets." In the strange surroundings of a private room or art collection, although beautiful pieces of craftsmanship, they give but a faint conception of the unique quality of the complete art of the Newar. To understand this correctly it must be studied in situ, and in conjunction with the atmosphere of deep religious sincerity in which it was first nourished and developed. The original artists were upheld and stimulated by their implicit faith; they accepted the wildest legends and traditions, hence the earnest and honest nature of their compositions, a quality which still survives and is observable in a degree at the present day.

A reference has been previously made to the great religious and political storm-wave of Mohammedanism which swept over Hindustan during the "Middle Ages," and the effect this had on the institutions of the peninsula,