With this module we open up our study of the connections (and disconnections!) between visual imagery and religious belief. Considering only two of the major religious traditions in India, we take a look at what we see and how
Real Kala Jadu, Black magic specialist in Lahore and Kala ilam expert in kara...
Art299Module6
1. ART 299 VISUAL CULTURE GLOBAL CONTEXT
M6 REPRESENTING
THE DEITY
2. agenda
In the first part of the course, we considered
the relationship of art to power. Now we are
examining the relation of visual culture to a
variety of religious beliefs.
India
China
Islamic art
Judaeo-Christian art
3. INDIA
1. now
2. Indus Valley civilization
3. Vedic religion
4. Buddhism
5. “Hinduism”
18. VEDIC RELIGION
based upon written texts called the Vedas
varna (caste)
Brahmans (priests)
Kshatriyas (warriors)
Vaishyas (farmers and herders)
Shudras (manual laborers, servants)
avarnas (without caste, untouchable)
large pantheon of deities
offerings, prayers, rituals
19. aniconic
the absence of figurative representation. This
absence may be the result of a taboo against
depicting the gods, a preference for
nonfigurative depictions of belief, or a
combination of both.
20.
21. lingam—representation of male genitals
yoni-representation of female genitals
They are most frequently represented together.
Sometimes called the “Shivalingam”
Shiva+Shakti
22.
23. Buddhism
Hinayana: the narrow path, teachings of the
Buddha, the doctrines he preached during his
lifetime
Mahayana: the wide path, elaborated later as
the Buddha became deified and was joined
by a number of avatars and bodhisattvas
32. Mithuna:
loving couple; a
frequent motif in
Indian art
Mithuna, 13th c.
Orissa, India
Stone, 72” high
33. This interest in sexual
union as an element of
divine worship reaches
its apogee in a
complex of temples
created in the town of
Khajuraho, in the
province of Madhya
Pradesh, India, during
the reign of the
Candela Dynasty
(10th-13th centuries).
34. “May the laughter of Shiva, while jesting with
his beloved wife Parvati, be for your
welfare.”
—inscription of Candela King
Dhangadeva, at Khajuraho,1002
36. Indian religion has pursued a variety of paths to spiritual awareness. One
path is asceticism: the renunciation of physical desire. People on this path
typically practice extreme forms of abstinence from food, drink and sex.
37. This sculpture depicts the life of the Buddha during his ascetic period, before
his enlightenment.
38. Fasting Buddha, 2d c.
Matthias Grünewald, Crucifixion from the
Isenheim Altarpiece, c. 1512
To eyes familiar with Christian representations such as
the Crucifixion, which depicts the body of Jesus
mortified and wracked with pain, it is not too difficult
to understand this image of the Buddha as religious.
39. Fasting Buddha, 2d c.
Matthias Grünewald, Crucifixion from the
Isenheim Altarpiece, c. 1512
How would you compare and contrast the depiction of the body
of Christ and the body of the Buddha in these two works?
What is the religious significance of these two bodies?
40. For Western viewers, it tends to be harder to understand this as a religious
image. Our goal today is to understand how this sculpture functions in
relation to Hindu belief.
41. Certainly, for the earliest Westerners to “rediscover” the temples at
Khajuraho, it was difficult indeed. English Captain T.S. Burt wrote a vivid
description of his discomfort at seeing these works of art.
42. “I found in the ruins of Khajuraho seven large
Hindu temples, most beautifully and
exquisitely carved as to workmanship, but
the sculptor had at times allowed his subject
to grow rather warmer than there was any
absolute necessity for his doing; indeed,
some of the sculptures here were extremely
indecent and offensive; which I was at first
much surprised to find in temples that are
professed to be erected for good purposes,
and on account of religion.”
—Captain T.S. Burt, report of 1839
43. “But the religion of the Hindus could not have
been very chaste if it induced people, under
the cloak of religion, to design the most
disgraceful representation to desecrate their
ecclesiastic erections. The palky
bearers, however, appeared to take great
delight at the sight of those to them very
agreeable novelties, which they took good
care to point out to all present.”
44. Palky: two long poles of strong wood, with a
seat affixed at the center where the client
sits.
Palky bearers: two men in front, two in back
who haul the palky in rhythmic steps.
45. Map of India showing the location of Khajuraho,
an important city during the Candela Dynasty, 10th-13th centuries
46. Map of the temple complex at Khajuraho,
Madhya Pradesh, India
49. What is the sculptural program of
these temples?
Images of deities carved in the round
Attendants, either in medium or high relief
Apsaras--beautiful women in various
postures (removing thorn from foot, putting
on makeup, squeezing water from hair)
Secular figures--
dancers, musicians, soldiers, teachers, peopl
e at work or home
Sexually explicit scenes.
Mythical animals.
50.
51. Apsaras in a variety of poses
(removing thorn from foot, looking in mirror, adjusting garment)
54. Note that these scenes are more graphic in closeup photographs than they
are at the site, where they are viewed from a distance and from below.
55. How might we understand the inclusion of this sort of scene on a temple?
56. Terms for Understanding Hindu Art
& Culture
Shaivism: worship of the god Shiva
Kaula: one of the Shaivite
sects, known for esoteric tantric practices
(prominent during 10-11th centuries when
these temples were being built)
Tantra: ritual
57. Hindu belief has always contained
within it a wide variety of spiritual
paths
Bhoga: enjoyment
Yoga: discipline; literally, “yoke”
Asceticism: renunciation of bodily desire
58. The “Five M’s” of Tantric practice
Matsya- fish
Mamsa- meat
Mudra- grain
Mada- wine
Maithuna- sex
59. In Tantric practice, energy from the lower chakras is progressively
channeled upward to the Seventh Chakra, or the “Thousand-Petaled
Lotus.” In this way, sexuality is disciplined, controlled, and ultimately used to
connect with the divinity.
60. Could this be a depiction of Tantric worship? Or a way of representing of
the fusion of the human and the divine?
61. Today Khajuraho is a tourist site. People from all over the world visit these
temples to see the architecture and sculpture.
62. When he visited in 1839, Captain Burt was allowed to roam freely
throughout the complex, with the exception of this temple, which is still an
active shrine to Shiva today.