midterm study guide

README.md

Thesis:

One of the many difficulties of studying Indian art is the lens of perception which the western upbringing we all share imposes upon us. We experience Indian culture as something fundamentally other, and the varied methods for this culture to reach us are fundamentally flawed in eigther the accuracy of the message they impart, or the size of the audience which can be reached by said message. Here, I seek to examine some of these methods, and to discuss their perceived quality in informing the layperson.

Structure:

• popular media/oriental lens

  • indiana jones
  • gerome, ingres
  • accurate enough that lies woven in can be taken as truth
    • jones - kali
    • jones - actual hindi
    • gerome - accurate clothing for natives
    • gerome - compelling, "realistic" paintings
  • sensationalized
    • jones - ceremony
    • jones - chilled monkey brains
    • jones - scene with people trying to touch indy
    • gerome - supernatural with snake charming
    • gerome - nudity and posing of the harem
  • warped perceptions
    • jones - contrast between poverty of village and opulence of the palace
    • gerome - servitude of non-whites in harem
    • gerome - opulent over-pleasuring of the harem

• western comic books

  • in one sense, an evolution of indian narratives e.g. chitrakathas
  • varying accuracy
    • amar-chitrakathas try to be as faithful as possible
    • later comics take a much more western approach, remaking gods into a form much more reminiscent of archetypal hero
  • latter comics lend themselves to a sensationalization of heroes and dieties, painting them in a western hype.

• class

  • accuracy
    • as accurate as possible, while keeping unknowns unknown
    • seeks to avoid specific agenda or sensationalization that accompanies the need to sell
    • scholarship is self-correcting, and scholars seek accuracy
  • disadvantages
    • not as compelling of a medium as movies or comics
    • does not reach as many people
    • requires more effort from each person

• does accuracy matter?

  • in one sense, yes.
    • lies and half truths can influence people to further an agenda, whether economic or political
    • being informed of the facts helps us understand the other in a manner which sensationalization cannot
  • in another, no
    • culture is constantly be recreated
    • who knows what direction indian and hindu culture will take in the next 100 years and what that'll make the last 1000 years mean? We examine the past through the lens of the present

The hindu concept of darsan, as an integral part of worship, reflects a belief that the divine is all around us. Darsan is about putting oneself in a context where worship can happen. The devotee seeks darshan and the diety gives it, allowing the devotee and diety to interact for a time. The divine may present itself to the devotee anywhere -- in the form of a temple, in the form of an idol, even in a rock.

• kumkum + rock
• form of the temple (kajuraho)
  • division of temple into parts of purusha
  • mountainous form
    • people take pilgrimages for the darshan of real mountains too!
  • cave form
• linga (both formed and natural)

The eyes are a central part to hindu worship as the exchange of vision that is darsan serves to establish a direct connection between the diety and the devotee, and to be seen by the diety is to interact with it directly. emphasis on the visual via image and image making also serves to make seeing extremely important for darsan.

• power of initial gaze must fall on an offering
• size of eyes

What is bhakti and puja?

bhakti - a love for god that is developed and expressed via darsan and puja (personal and loving relationship with diety) puja - a ritual of adoration towards a god where the diety is welcomed into the home of the devotee or the temple and given the treatment of a royal guest

These concepts feed off of each other. Puja is meant to be performed out of bhakti, and the act of performing puja and caring for the diety is meant to grow the devotion of the one performing puja. Knit into all of this is darsan, or the seeing and interacting with the diving, which serves to make the whole experience personal.

exemplified by

• kumkum + rock
• popularity of calendar prints in the hindu home

• Sanchi

  • stupa - circumambulation
  • enter via one of the decorated gates and follow circumambulation path
  • vihara looking at stupa allowed for easy access for monks
  • favour by funding a piece of art for the
  • a monument for the people

• Ajanta

  • worship mostly for monks in viharas.
  • viharas contained private buddha
  • ceiling and wall paintings mostly used to set a mood, not meant to be read
  • only 2 chaitya halls
    • apsidal end for circumambulation
  • nature and depth of caves made them hard for the public to engage with en masse

• Mamallapuram

  • made political statements as much as religious ones as to the benevolent rule of king mamalla
  • rathas more for the king (playground) rather than public worship
    • largely unfinished inside
  • relief on rock hints as to the role of the king in society
    • elabourate puns
    • mainly utilized religious imagery, but not clear that it was meant for worship
  • cave, temple more used for worship
    • circumambulation, various shrines (2 to shiva, 1 to vishnu)

• Kajuraho

  • temple as a huge mountainous structure
  • imagery of cave in mountain
  • temple meant to be circumambulated with corner shrines
  • puja performed by priest in garba griha

• common themes of cricumambulation, use of pan indian imagery

• imagery used on temples was also used in a non religious context

• Hindu vs Buddhist

  • similarities
    • pan indian imagery
    • structure is considered just as much an object of worship
    • circumambulation as worship
  • differences
  • merit via sponsorship (buddhism) vs glorification of dynasty (hindu)
  • private worship in ajanta, hindu sites mainly meant for communal experience
  • mamallapuram and king's playground

• Goals in worshipping at sites?

• why would worshipper be interested

• what are their topics

  • Sanchi - a place for communal worship
  • Ajanta - merit via sponsorship, especially by the rich
  • Mamallapuram - glorification of the king, artistic interest of the ruler
  • Kajuraho - glorifaction of the dynasty, artistic interest of the ruler

what types of art objects have been found associated with the indus valley civilization?

• seals

• priest statue

• regular gridded city plan with drainage system

• large public pool What can they tell us about the nature of this civilization?

• very well organized, according to rules

• no heavy distribution of wealth. seemingly egalitarian

• trade heavy

• dependent on forests for brick firing

• unsure as to why About its possible religion?

• worshipping gods of the earth (as opposed to the aryan gods of the sky)

• buffalo headed figure reminiscent of proto shiva in yogic pose

• priest king kneeling

• pool for ritual bathing perhaps

• female fertility images (small terracotta images, votives) mother goddess

  • represented childbirth, health

• bull figures for male fertility (seals, teracotta figurines) About how its society might have been organized?

• rule governed, extremely trade oriented (we know they traded with mesopotamia)

  • talk about seals used for sealing goods

• not a huge amount of ownership

• no indications of huge concentrations of wealth

  • seals evenly distributed
  • largest sculpture we could find was 8 inches tall. not much in the way of monuments How might we explain the long period of consistency seen in the visual evidence found at Indus Valley sites?

• perhaps tradition and its strength kept this society together for the 600-700 years it was in strength

  • very little change

• trade, exchange may have helped maintain authority

• value for extreme detail, small things could explain length. People didn't use up huge amounts of resources on monuments and the like

History of anthropomorphic buddha can be divided into 3 parts

1. before anthropomorphic

• symbolic, aniconic
• give examples of aniconic images
  • stupa
  • tree
  • umbrella, horse, footprint
• how were they used?
  • stupa used to cover holy relic, umbrella at top reflecting axis mundi imagery
  • tree, stupas at top of north gate indicate different buddhas
  • umbrella, flywhisk, horse, footprint used to indicate shakyamuni (last life) in the great departure

2. anthropomorphic image created

• when did this happen
  • 1st century AD
• what do earlies buddha images look like? Describe
  • Mathura Buddha
    • muscular body, arm in fist, fear not
    • form fitting clothing, emphasizing strength
  • Gandhara Buddha
    • flowing, intricately folded robes
    • mole at the center of face
    • wavy hair tied into a bun
• What are their source?
  • mathura - yaksha hindu prototype
  • gandhara - hellenic and western sources

3. anthropomorphic image type was accepted

• what images did we see at ajanta
  • mixed imagery of buddha and stupa
  • paintings
  • carvings on facade
• how were they used
  • buddha image in rear shrine of vihara at cave 1 used for worship for the monks
    • allowed them to live and worship in the same place
  • buddha + stupa imagery in chaitya hall
    • apsidal end allowed worshippers to enter and circumambulate
    • buddha and stupa seen as one and the same
  • paintings for creating sacred space
    • setting for the sacred space, not intended to be read
  • facade carvings mainly for merit from the populace
• where were they placed
• how important was the buddha image at ajanta? How do you know?
  • held a great deal of power as an image of worship, bhakti
    • size of buddha statue, stupa
    • repetition of buddha images on wheelbarrow roof
• How did the images compare in importance to the stupa?
  • images and stupa were both seen as representations of the same
  • made clear by the buddha stupa repetition
  • buddha image in stupa, indicating that buddha is inside the stupa/one and the same as the stupa

Compare and contrast patronage associated with Sanchi, Ajanta, and Mamallapuram

• who commisioned the monuments of these sites and what were their motives?
  • Sanci - popular financing, merit
  • Ajanta - elite financing, merit for personal or others' gain
    • upendragupta, buddabhadra
    • later became popular financing after war (small buddha images)
  • Mamallapuram - royal patronage
    • meant to show power glorification of mamalla, personal interest in art, enjoyment, representing kingdom in port city?
      • rathas and their variety
• using specific examples, discuss how art and religious movements represent the political and social agendas of the patrons and their religious goals and interests.
  • Varahadeva - to glorify oneself via merit, paint himself as the ideal ruler
    • inscription on shrine
  • Mamalla - cast himself as the ideal king, on the level of the gods
    • image of mamalla on the side of ratha with gods
    • descent of ganges/arjuna's penance
      • ideal king - defends people via ultimate weapon, brings waters
  • upendragupta - merit, furthering buddhism because of a "belief" in buddhism
  • kajuraho - to establish the dominance of the chandella dynasty
• How do we know who patronized a work of art or a monument at each site?
  • ajanta - inscriptions
  • mamalla placed his image with that of the gods on one of the rathas
  • sanci - donative inscriptions, repetition of stories in reliefs
• From the evidence found in the three sites, can you tell the way patronage of art and monuments changed over time during the period of the three sites?
  • the populace's direct patronage slowly waned in favour of increasingly elite patronage
  • this led motives to be far more political, for individuals' gain
  • also led to far grander monuments

Discuss the meaning of iconography and the purpose of iconography in art history.

• Why is iconography particularly important in the study of indian art?
  • indian oral tradition was generally much more expressed visually than it was in writing
• Through iconographical analysis, identify each image. use the slides of each diety shown in lecture (buddha, shiva nataraja, linga, shiva with parvati, durga slaying mahishasura, and vishnu on the cosmic snake)
  • nataraja - twirling in a circle
    • multi armed to indicate diety
    • drum creates the beat, represents shiva's ability to create the universe
    • fire of destructions
    • stamping out the demon of ignorance
    • inviting the disciple to worship his feet
  • linga
    • phallic imagery to represent shiva's mastery of meditation
    • axis mundi
    • yoni - female imagery, represents vagina
    • could be a man made linga or a self-producing linga (rock polished in river)
  • shiva with parvati
    • parvati sitting on shiva's lap
      • holding mirror to look at shiva with
    • sons ganesha and kartikeya
    • nandi (vehicle)
  • durga slaying mahishasura
    • durga riding lion/tiger, each arm has a weapon
    • army of dwarfs (like shiva's), amazons
    • mahisha has body of a man head of a buffalo
    • his army is in retreat/falling over dead
  • vishnu on the cosmic snake
    • time between destruction of old and creation of new universe
    • snake - cosmic ocean from which the new universe will spring
    • weapons personified as figures which will destroy the demons seeking to kill vishnu
• what symbols are associated with each image and what do they mean?
  • see above
• can any of these images be considered an example of narrative? if so, how does the iconography relate to the narratives given about the images?
  • durga killing mahishasura
  • shiva nataraja

We have seen in this class that stories can be told in visual forms. We have seen the stories told through relief sculptures (sanci gates, descent of ganges at mamallapuram), in painting (jataka ajanta cave 1), and in modern popular media (film, comics).

• what are the stories told in each example?
  • great departure
  • vessantra jataka
  • desent of ganga
  • mahajanaka jataka
  • ramayana
  • devi mahatmya
• How effective is the telling for each example?
  • hard to judge really. In modern times, sequential narrative makes the most sense as that's what we've been brought up with, but continuous narrative may have made more sense to people back in the day. It definitiely makes a better use of space than something sequential
• what are the advantages and disadvantages of visual narratives in comparison with written or spoken stories
  • more enjoyable to experience for more people (large swathes of the population are illiterate?)
  • serves dual purpose of communicating a story and decorating a structure
  • perhaps not as precise in the telling as written narrative
• we identified tow major ways of telling visual stories (continuous, sequential)
  • how do you define these and what examples can you give that we have studied?
    • continuous narrative - great departure, vessantra jataka
      • subject appears multiple times in the same frame to dictate the passing of time
    • sequential narrative - comic books
      • different frames are frozen in time to indicate passage of time
  • can such iconic images as of the buddha image or of shiva nataraja also tell a story? If so, how?
    • absolutely.
    • buddha *
    • shiva nataraja
      • story of shiva's creation of the universe