Hindu Art
Historical Background
"Hindu" refers to those living on other side of the Indus River after the 13th century. Hindus adhere to Vedas (sacred texts as early as 1700 BCE). Henotheistic (worship of a single god but accepting other deities).
The fertile Indus and Ganges valleys were too great a temptation for outsiders, and thus the history of India has become a history of invasions and assimilations. But those who invaded came to stay, and so Indian life today is a layering of disparate populations to create a cosmopolitian culture.
There are 18 official languages in India - Hindi, the one foreigners think of as the national language, is spoken natively by only 20 percent of the population. Geographically, India has enormous range as well, from the world's tallest mountains to vast deserts and tropical forests.
Hindu Philosophies
Many different sects of Hinduism
Belief in the infinite variety of the divine: nature, gods, humans
Orthodox Hindus accept the Vedic (ancient Sanskrit) texts as divine (sacred scriptures)
Vedic texts assign Brahmins (a caste of ritual specialists)
Enlightenment, or reaching Nirvana, ends the cycle, through good deeds and living a devotional life to charities, religious fervor, and love of all.
Hindu Iconography
Vishnu
Preserver & protector
Restores balance of good and evil
Controls everything
Brahma
Creator god
Epitome of knowledge
Supreme in triad
Shiva
Destroyer
Associated with time
Connected to death and rebirth
"Nataraja" = lord of dance
The Four Purusharthas
Goal 1 - Artha : "Security"; Pursuit of wealth, prosperity, or material advantage.
Goal 2 - Kama: "Pleasure"; Achieve love, desire, and pleasure from cultural, personal, or romantic/sexual interests.
Goal 3 - Dharma: "Righteousness"; A universal order maintained through righteous living and rituals.
Goal 4 - Moksha: "Liberation"; The ultimate goal of the soul to achieve freedom from the cycle of life, death, and rebirth known as "samsara." Moksha can be achieved while still living or after death, in which the person will rejoin the Supreme Being and attain divine level of understanding.
Hindu Swastika meaning "good fortune" and "happy" in Sanskrit. A holy an auspicious symbol in Hinduism.
The Om = 3 letters (a, u, m) combined to make a sacred sound. Considered to be the sound of the universe and all other vibrations manifest from it.
Hindu Sculpture
Temple structure is a complete integration with the architecture to which it is attached - sometimes the buildings are thought of as a giant work of sculpture.
Pairs of divine couples, known as mithuna, appear upon the exterior and doorways of some temples. Sexual allusions dominate and are expressed with candor, but not obscenity.
Hindu sculptures accentuate sinuous curves and lines of the body. Dances poses are common.
Temple surfaces are also ornamented with organic and geometric designs, including lateral bands that depict subjects such as lotus flowers, temple bells, and strings of pearls.
Images placed in the "womb" of the temple are idols in that they are invoked with the essence of divinity that the figure represents. To touch the image is to touch the god themselves; few can do this. Instead, the image is treated with the utmost respect and deference, and is occasionally exposed to public viewing.
Worshippers experience the divine through actively seeing the invoked image, an experience known as darshan and performing puja, a ritual offering to the deity, which is mediated by temple priests.
Hindu Architecture
The Hindu temple is not a hall for congregational worship; instead it is the residence of a god.
Temples are solidly built with small interior rooms, just enough space for a few priests and individual worshippers.
The center of a temple is a tiny interior cella that is called the "Womb of the World" where the sacred statue invoked with the main deity is placed.
Indian architects preferred corbelled-vaulting techniques to create a cave-like look on the inside with thick walls that could protect the deity from outside sources.
An antechamber where ceremonies were prepared precedes the cella, and a hypostyle hall is visible from the outside where congregants can participate.
Northern India: temples have more vertical character with large towers setting the decorative scheme and subsidiary towers imitating the shape but at various scales. They are also placed on pedestals.
South India: major temples form "temple cities" where layers of concentric gated walls surround a network of temples, shrines, pillared halls, and colonnades.
Cambodia: Hindu temples in Cambodia are based on a pyramidal plan with a central shrine surrounded by subshrines and enclosed walls.
Temple exteriors covered with sculpture to crowd every blank spot on the surface.
Artwork List (* = in addition to 250)
India
Lakshmana Temple
Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja)
Krishna and Radha in a Pavilion *
Southeast Asia
Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
Unit Vocabulary
DARSHAN - in Hinduism, the ability of a worshipper to see a deity and the deity to see the worshipper.
GARBHA GRIHA - a "womb chamber," the inner room in a Hindu temple that houses the god's image
MITHUNA - a popular icon in ancient Hindu art portrayed as a couple engaged in physical lovemaking.
MUDRA - a symbolic hand gesture in Hindu and Buddhist art.
PUJA - a Hindu prayer ritual.
SHIKARA - a bee-hive shaped tower on a Hindu temple.