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Piety, Puja, and Visual Images

May, 2016 by Pratapaditya Pal

‘Puja and Piety: Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Art from the Indian Subcontinent’ is a major new exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art which opened April 16th, 2016. The exhibition celebrates the complexity of South Asian representation and iconography by examining the relationship between aesthetic expression and the devotional practice, or puja, in the three native religions of the Indian subcontinent. read more

A History of Indian Art Through Five Masterpieces Part 1: The Splendor of Ajanta

January, 2016 by William Dalrymple

The murals of Ajanta that I saw that winter morning in 1984 embraced subject matter that was at once both profoundly spiritual and strikingly sensuous. Although the images were originally intended for a monastic audience and the occasional passing pilgrim, what puzzled the 19th century Orientalists who first worked on them was this unexpected yet heady mixture of two worlds normally considered incompatible. read more

HISTORY OF INDIAN ART THROUGH FIVE MASTERPIECES - Part Four: Nainsukh of Guler

May, 2016 by William Dalrymple

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Punjabi hilltown of Guler was Florence of the Himalayan foothills. Behind its walls, amid a region wracked by warfare and bitterly divided between a patchwork of rival principalities, its rulers were discerning patrons of the arts: poetry, dance and music all flourished in this remote valley on the edge of the Himalayas. read more

Manifesting Shakti: Five Elements Yantra Guide

July, 2016 by Ekabhumi Charles Ellik

A step-by-step instruction to create a simple yantra suitable for use with the Five Elements Meditation (Tattva Shuddhi). read more

Dancing Forth the Divine Beloved: A Tantric Semiotics of the Body as Rasa in Classical Indian Dance

December, 2015 by Dr. Jeffrey S. Lidke

In this essay I explore the connections between the temple-originated dance traditions of Andhra Pradesh, the hermeneutics of rasa articulated in both Tantric and alamkaracontexts, and the reflections on the danced-body by contemporary exponents of dance. This presentation reflects preliminary work on a larger book project on the embodied mysticism in Indian arts. In that work I seek to adopt Timalsina’s challenge for an application of a Tantric hermeneutics to Indian culture... read more

Malathi Iyengar on Dance, Yoga and Rasa

January, 2016 by Lea Horvatic

Malathi Iyengar is a Los Angeles based choreographer, dancer, teacher, writer, and visual artist. Iyengar holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Choreography and Performance from University of California, Los Angeles. Iyengar studied Bharatanatyam (classical dance of India) with guru Narmada of Bangalore, India and choreography and improvisation under the mentorship of Marion Scott. read more

Sacred Roots: India's Divine Music

October, 2015 by Naren K. Schreiner

The human voice was recognized to be the original and perfect instrument of sound. When the need for verbal communication arrived and language was created, words merged with vocal sound; lyrical song was born and became a powerful form of expression. The word for musician became bhagavatar, one who sings the praises of the Supreme. In time, instruments were developed in order to accompany or mimic the myriad expressions of vocal music. read more

Reimagining the Mahabharata: In Conversation with Karthika Naïr

January, 2016 by Vikram Zutshi

The more I look at the past, the more I feel that multiplicity of perspectives and guidelines and divergence of thought is not a modern phenomenon as we often pigeonhole it. And absolutisms and binaries can be very reductive; they are also more often the non-practitioners’ predilection. Most of the dancers and choreographers I know are keener on collaborating, on finding ways of entering each other’s worlds than in drawing up hierarchies. read more

Shakti, Bhakti, Yoga and Darshan: Practice and Experience in the Religious Art of India (Video)

July, 2016 by Debashish Banerji

Reflections on Early Indian Terracotta Objects

July, 2016 by Pratapaditya Pal

From times immemorial the humble clay has remained one of the most popular materials to be shaped the human hands into objects of utility, beauty and spirituality. In the Indian subcontinent today, while modernity is in full swing with all its mechanical and digital inventions, pots of diverse shapes and sizes of unfired clay are still used in both villages and urban areas for quotidian purposes, such as cooking, storing, eating and drinking. read more

The Dance of Shiva

February, 2016 by Liesbeth Bennink Pankaja

There is only one place that can be called the Home of the Dancing Shiva and that is the sacred city of Chidambaram, in Tamil Nadu. In the large and ancient temple that is the heart of the city, Shiva as Nataraja is the presiding deity and is worshipped here as the Cosmic Dancer dancing in the Golden Hall. All other bronze Natarajas found in temples all over South India have been inspired by the deity of this temple, Nataraja dancing the Ananda Tandava, the Dance of Bliss. read more

Ancient Stepwells of Ahmedabad: A Conversation on Water and Heritage

May, 2016 by Riyaz Tayyibji

‘Stepwells of Ahmedabad - a conversation on water and heritage’ is a collaborative effort of a diverse group of researchers, practitioners, young graduates, students and concerned citizens to bring to light aspects of this recurring typology of water structures that are dispersed across the semi-arid and arid landscape of Western India. read more

Holy City of Benares: Daughter of the Ganga

February, 2016 by Pratapaditya Pal

Banaras is where all pious Hindus aspire to be liberated from the chain of rebirth, which is why it is characterized as ‘avimukta kshetra’ or the land of final emancipation. Also called Kashi, the city’s patron deity is Shiva as Vishvanath or Lord of the Universe whose temple, though not an ancient structure, remains the holiest Hindu shrine, which most adherents of the faith strive to visit at least once in their lifetime. read more

Art and Cosmology in India

December, 2015 by Subhash Kak

The Indian approach to reality is to seek a harmony that balances materiality with the spirit. It is this harmony that is the main goal of the artistic creation, and we see it expressed not only in the sacred arts, but also in music and dance. The Indian way offers a different perspective. Indian cosmology is not in conflict with science, although it does speak of the domain of spirit that lies beyond language and rational science. It makes claims regarding the nature of consciousness and transcenden... read more

Priya's Shakti: Addressing Gender Imbalance through Religious Art

November, 2015 by Sutra Journal

I think the most important thing we want to emphasize with the comic book is that change is possible. Trying to create a cultural shift is incredibly difficult, but not impossible. India is going through some remarkable and monumental changes in a short period of time. People’s views have not caught up with the speed in which things are changing in India. But, what was clear to me from the massive protests that happened all over India after the horrible rape on the bus is that we... read more

HISTORY OF INDIAN ART THROUGH FIVE MASTERPIECES Part Five: The Last Mughal Renaissance

June, 2016 by William Dalrymple

Zafar came late to the throne, succeeding his father only in 1838 when he was in his mid-sixties, and when it was already too late to reverse the inexorable political decline of the Mughals. But despite this he succeeded in creating around him a court culture of unparalleled brilliance, and partly through his patronage there took place in Delhi a last great literary renaissance. read more

Piety, Puja, and Visual Images Part Two

July, 2016 by Pratapaditya Pal

The earliest evidence for yoga is found not in texts but rather in art, in the material remains of the Indus, or Harappan, civilization. Much later it was this renunciate /ascetic tradition that was predominant in the philosophical literature known collectively as Upanishad, out of which—and in antagonism to Vedic sacrificial rituals—emerged Jainism and Buddhism, as well as theistic Hinduism. read more

Beauty and Memory

May, 2016 by Joseph Houseal

It is a choice to remember life in beautiful ways. Dance is an art made of life itself. The human body as medium contains within it every aspect of humanity. The body by becoming a symbol of meaning can probe deep levels of experience, and speak universally. It takes on style, shape, and decoration; it carries tradition, contemporary interpretation, and the ability to transform consciousness. read more

A History of Indian Art Through Five Masterpieces - Part 2: Mahabalipuram

February, 2016 by William Dalrymple

The great Pallava kings of South India were arguably the greatest of these South India dynasties who became rich and powerful from their control of the spice and silk trade. From their great port of Mahabalipuram, near the site of a former Roman trading station, the Pallavas sent naval expeditions to Sri Lanka, Thailand and to South East Asia, where the inscriptions they left still survive as witness to the scale of this first great Indian diaspora. An eighth century Tamil poem speaks of... read more

Devī Series by Keshav Venkataraghavan

November, 2015 by Keshav Venkataraghavan

A beautiful watercolor series of the devīs of Navaratri by Keshav Venkata Raghavan. An artist from childhood, Keshav lives both in Chennai and the world of Krishna’s Leela. He works at The Hindu as a cartoonist, and continues with his passion, drawing and painting. With guidance of ‘Chitrasutra’, (from the Vishnudharmottara) a treatise on painting, he sketched episodes from the Indian epics, revealing a treasure house of ... read more

Gods In Time: SBMA Exhibition Preview

March, 2016 by Debashish Banerji

In Hindu traditions, the divine who is permanent, changeless, infinite and eternal in his/her/its transcendental form, also becomes the cosmos and its creatures and in these cosmic and individual forms, subjects himself/herself/itself to the processes of birth, growth and death. read more

History of Indian Art Through Five Masterpieces Part 3: Sultan of the Sublime

March, 2016 by William Dalrymple

Ibrahim Adil Shah II, who ruled the central Indian kingdom of Bijapur in modern Karnataka, was an erudite scholar, lute player, poet, singer, calligrapher, chess master and an aesthete. Since he came to the throne in 1580, he oversaw a remarkable explosion of artistic activity, attracting to his court the greatest painters and poets of his day, from as far afield as Abyssinia, Turkey and Central Asia. read more

How Ravi Shankar Made Musical History

January, 2016 by Philip Goldberg

Many listeners felt that vibrational shift, and the euphoria it generated triggered a widespread exploration of India's spiritual treasures. For that reason, Ravi Shankar should be remembered as much for his contribution to contemporary spirituality as for his extraordinary virtuosity, his prolific output as a composer of concert and film music and his role in promoting his country’s musical heritage and world music in general. read more

Malathi Iyengar Choreography Videos

January, 2016 by Malathi Iyengar

Dance Performances Choreographed by Malathi Iyengar and performed by Rangoli Dance Company read more

Mark Baron on Collecting Early Lithograph Prints of Hindu Gods

March, 2016 by Vikram Zutshi

India’s Hindu god and goddess prints go back about a hundred and fifty years. Our collection focuses on the first fifty years, starting with mid-19th century woodblock prints from Calcutta. We have a large collection of 19th century lithographs, many hand-colored, from early Calcutta publishers/presses. read more

Pāṇini and Bharata on Grammar and Art

May, 2016 by Subhash Kak

What could Pāṇini, perhaps the greatest grammarian of all time, have to do with Bharata Muni and his theories of art, drama and music? But speaking of grammar in the same breath as art is not as incongruous as one thinks when it is noted that both language and creations of art are governed by rules and conventions. read more

Pratapaditya Pal: A Life Spent in Curating Art (Video)

May, 2016

The Aims of Indian Art

May, 2016 by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) was one of the great art historians of the twentieth century whose multifaceted writings deal primarily with visual art, aesthetics, literature and language, folklore, mythology, religion, and metaphysics. read more

The Music of Colliding Black Holes - Video

May, 2016 by Ha Chi Ming

Tibet's Secret Temple - Image Gallery

January, 2016 by Ian Baker

Ian Baker is the curator of Wellcome Collection’s major winter exhibition, ‘Tibet’s Secret Temple’, which uncovers the mysteries of Tantric Buddhism and the rich history of its yogic and meditation practices. Taking inspiration from a series of intricate murals that adorn the walls of the Lukhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet, the exhibition showcases over 120 outstanding objects from collections around the world that illuminate the secrets of the temple, once used exclusively by Tibet’s Dalai Lama. read more

Ananda Coomaraswamy - True Art

October, 2015 by Ananda Coomaraswamy

Primitive man, despite the pressure of his struggle for existence, knew nothing of such merely functional arts. The whole man is naturally a metaphysician, and only later on a philosopher and psychologist, a systematist. His reasoning is by analogy, or in other words by means of an 'adequate symbolism.' As a person rather than an animal he knows immortal though mortal things. read more

On Krishna: Interview with Artist Keshav Venkataraghavan

October, 2015 by Bhagavad Gita, Mirabai, Keshav

You are the primal God, the ancient Spirit, You are the supreme resting place of all the universe, You are the knower, the object of knowledge, and the supreme state. All the universe is pervaded by you.

Includes Interview with Keshav - Our understanding of art is to view it as a whole, not just painting, but the entire gamut of the fine arts – like sculpture, dance, music, architecture, etc. It is to make the artist complete in every sense of the term. read more

dharma	yoga	tantra
ayruveda	meditation	buddha

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