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

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”

4. contemporary corporate architecture in Bangalore, India

5. contemporary corporate architecture in Bangalore, India

6. contemporary corporate architecture in Bangalore, India

7. contemporary corporate architecture in Bangalore, India

8. night in Bangalore

9. early Indus Valley
civilization

11. compare cylinder seal from Uruk, Mespotamia, c. 3200 BCE

12. map of ancient civilizations and trade routes between them

15. map of ancient cities in the Indus River Valley
(contemporary Pakistan)

16. public baths, Mohenjo-Daro, Indus River Valley

17. “Dancing Girl,” discovered at Mohenjo-Daro, Indus River Valley

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.

21.  lingam—representation of male genitals
 yoni-representation of female genitals
They are most frequently represented together.
Sometimes called the “Shivalingam”
Shiva+Shakti

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

24. Great Stupa, Sanchi, India
c. 221 BCE

25. symbolic representation of the wheel of dharma

26. flag of India, including the same
symbol at its center

27. Ashokan pillar

28. http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html

30. Hinduism
 very large pantheon of deities
 variety of practices of worship, customs,
rituals, daily life

31. Mithuna, 13th c.
Orissa, India
Ivory, 6 1/4 x 3”

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

35. Fasting Buddha, 2nd c., Gandhara, India

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

47. Small temple at the complex

48. Larger temple at the complex

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.

51. Apsaras in a variety of poses
(removing thorn from foot, looking in mirror, adjusting garment)

52. Scenes of sexual passion

53. More embracing couples

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.

63. Shaivite priest seated next to decorated Shivalingam,
Khajuraho, Madya Pradesh, India