Term Paper on "Aesthetic and Religious Significance of Traditional Hindu"

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aesthetic and religious significance of traditional Hindu art. The focus of the paper stems from the fact that we were privileged enough to have access to a major contribution in scholarship in South and Southeast Asian art when the museum acquired aspects of the Alsdorf collection. In other words, because we have been exposed to a collection of objects including sculpture, jewelry, paintings, and architectural elements from India, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Java, and elsewhere, it is important for us to examine the underlying sources of influence such as that of Hinduism on the region's art.

The Alsdorf collection was collected over many decades so it is important to grasp the concept that Hinduism and art have influenced Asian art and architectural elements from 200 BC through to the twentieth century. Even though the collection of Hindu materials on display was not large, they were very illustrative of the Hindu influence and by understanding the distinction between the Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art influences, it is possible to understand the notions of how gods and supreme beings concepts were integrated in to the cultures of the time.

Hinduism has been found to have originated throughout northern India and eventually migrated south. It was also thought that over time it spread all over the mainland of Southeast Asia and Indonesia. No true founder has ever been credited and historians believe that the religion more or less developed over a period of centuries by India's various pantheistic cults. This is because the religion was not founded on any single text and in fact has many writings, tales, myths and legends throughou

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t its past. Therefore, Hindu art and Hinduism in general entail an extremely diverse body of religion, philosophy, and cultural practices.

The philosophies were however native to and predominant throughout India. The underlying ideals can be characterized by a strong belief in reincarnation and supreme beings; however, these entities can be packaged into many forms and natures. "A common sight in India is a crowd of people gathered in the courtyard of a temple or at the doorway of a street side shrine for the Darsan of the deity. Darson means 'seeing.' In the Hindu ritual tradition it refers especially to religious seeing, or the visual perception of the sacred." (Eck, 1996)

Making generalizations about Hinduism, the influence on art and on the visually influenced culture may not be completely possible because the culture was in fact so diverse. In other words, generalizations such as thinking that understanding that 'the eyes' were the only insight into the thoughts and minds of Hindu and Indian artists lacks depth. A major feature of Hinduism for example can be the underlying notion that all living beings form part of an eternal cycle of reincarnation and the only way for humans to break free from this cycle is with great effort. Hinduism basics are that the existence of the world is a part of this cycle. Creation occurred, it now exists and it will eventually be destroyed. (Singh Brothers, 2005)

The all knowing eye sees and understands this cycle and therefore must prepare in this life and for… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Aesthetic and Religious Significance of Traditional Hindu" Assignment:

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II. Art Institute Project.

Requirements: A pithy essay of at least 4 pages (excluding separate page for title information), following Style Sheet: Mechanicals, employing image/images in the Art Institute, and themes (and possibly images) from Diana Eck's Darsan. You may use other books assigned for this course, and you may use books on Indian art not assigned for this course, but you may not use other books on Hinduism.

Goals: To explore the aesthetic and religious significance of a particular image/group of images in the Hindu tradition. To integrate new information and perspectives from the sources mentioned above into the primary knowledge stream of the course.

Background: The collection of Hindu material on display at the Art Institute is not large but it is illustrative. Right now we are in a frustrating period because the museum recently acquired the Alsdorf collection, one of the most amazing collections of South Asian, Southeast Asian and Himalayan objects in the world. After its initial display several years ago ("A Collecting Odyssey"), almost all of it was put into storage due to lack of space. Right now we'll have to content ourselves for the moment with a limited number of materials.

In this section of the Institute you will notice objects not just from India but from the larger Indian cultural world, which at various times has comprised not only the Indian subcontinent, but also the Himalayan region (e.g. Nepal, Tibet, etc.) and Southeast Asia (from Thailand to Java). At various times in the past these regions were dominated by Indian cultural forms through a combination of political power, trade, and religious movements. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions are represented, though obviously you will be concentrating on Hindu materials. (Double check to make sure you are describing Hindu materials; objects from both religious traditions appear side by side when they are stylistically similar.)

You might, for example, want to describe different examples of images of the same god or goddess and relate the iconography to the mythology associated with that figure. You will need to consider as well the religious/spiritual use of the object (as in Eck and the “Meeting God” website). You will probably need to refer to Knott, especially chapters 4 and 5.

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