Flinders University Arts of Asia (Sources &

Contexts)

EDUC9884

Forms of the Formless

The Arts in India and South East Asia in pre-Modern times

The Role of the ArtistThe imager, on the night before beginning his work and after ceremonial purification, is instructed to pray: O Thou Lord of all the Gods, teach me in dreams how to carry out all the work I have in mind. Agni Purana

With its head to the east, the image should be bathed with water infused with plaksa-fig, holy fig, ficus, acacia,

and banyan trees, with plants deemed auspicious, and with

sacrificial grass; with mud from the shores of river confluences, anthills, and mud from lotus ponds; with the

five products of the cow and with water from holy bathing spots; and

with water containing gold and gems along with fragrant perfumes. The

bathing should be accompanied by the sounds of many instruments,

shouts of best wishes, and the recitation of Vedic hymns

Brhatsamhita 60.8-10

By you this universe is borne, by you this world is created.

By you it is protected, O Devi. By you it is consumed at the end.

You who are eternally the form of the whole world,

at the time of creation you are the form of the creative force,

at the time of preservation you are the form of the protective

power, and at the time of the dissolution

of the world, you are the form of the

destructive power.You are the Supreme Knowledge, as well as ignorance, intellect and

contemplation.

Devi-Mahatmya

Only when Shiva joins with you, O Shakti, can he exert his

power as lord.On his own he has not even

the power to stir,You are worshipped by Shiva,

Vishnu, Brahma and other gods

How dare I, meritless mortal, offer you reverence and

praise?

Saundaryalakiri [Waves of Beauty]

Devi with sword and severed headRajasthan c. 18th CGouache on paperCollection C. L Barany New Delhi

Hrim, O destroyer of time!Srim, O terrific one!

Krim, Thou who art beneficent!

Possessor of all the arts,Thou art Kamala,

Destroyer of the pride of the Kali Age ….

Mother of TimeThou art brilliant as the fires

Of the final dissolution

Adyakali [Primordial Kali]Hymn from the Mahanirvana Tantra

Devi YantraVarnasi

Uttar Pradesh India

Early 19th C

Private Collection

Kandariya MahadeoChandella DynastyKhajuraho c.11th C

Varahi, Seated on a Tiger, Tantric Devi

series, India, Punjab Hills, Basholi c1660-70

San Diego Museum of Art

Her lotus eyes quiver through drinking wine. Equal in glory to a thousand suns. Seated upon a lion with ten arms, In my heart I praise Varahi

Varaha, Dum Barahi, Kathmandu Valley

Devotee as Bhagavati or Vageshvani(Kali manifested in the form of a tiger,

Cheruvathue Muchilot Temple, near Payyanur, Kerala)

‘The male form, the female form, any form – all are undoubtedly Her

Supreme Form.Gandharva Tantra

Indra, lord of the immortals, [gave] a thunderbolt, having pulled it out of his own thunderbolt: The thousand eyed one gave her a bell from his elephant, Airavata. From the staff of death, Yama gave a staff, Varuyna a noose… Coburn, Encountering the Goddess p 41

Durga MahishasuramardiniAbove Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu 7th CLeft Calendar Print, Patna

Shiva Vrsabhavana

Dated 1011 A.D. Sponsored by Kolakkavan for Svetaranyesvara temple, Tiruvengadu, Tiruvengadu.(detail)

Rajaraja Museum, Thanjavur

A heron feather and the bright datura adorn his matted hair.His flame red body is covered by white ash.Over his girdle and loincloth he has bound a tigerskin encircled by lovely snakes.Thus, with anklets ringing, the Lord of Citticcaram shrine comes riding on his bull.

Tamil bhakti poet SambandharTr Peterson 1989: 104

Ekamukhalinga, Udayagiri, cave temple 4 Early 5th C

Siva Linga, Bhojpur Temple, central India

4-facedLinga Kathmandu Valley

Linga and yoni, Kathmandu Valley

“I am the originator, the god abiding in supreme bliss. I, the yogi, dance eternally”….”Having said this, the Lord of Yogis, the Supreme God, danced, showing his formidable, supreme reality”…

“In the spotless sky the yogis saw him dancing, the Great God who is Lord of all beings, whose maya is all that is here, and who activates the universe”

Kurma Upanishad .2.4.33 .2.5.1 .2.5.2-4

Nataraja, Elephanta Is.

In a flashtaking the mountain as your bow,with a single arrow shot with a roar from the bowstring,you burnt the Three Cities with their bannersto a charred ruin

Sundar, Hymn 7.9.4 in Shulman (ed) 1990 p 57in Chola Sacred Bronzes of Southern India RA 2007

Shiva as Tripuravijaya and ConsortBronze c950-60The Cleveland Museum of Art

Vishnu Narayan (Vishnu Anantasayin)Dasavatara temple, Deogarh 5th – 6th Century

Rama amd Sita, Ram Lila, Khumb Mela, Prayaga (Allahabad) 1996

Vishnu Narayan (Anantasayin)

Kathmandu Valley

Five Pillars of Faith

The Shahada; recitation of the “creed”PrayerFastingAlms giving (Paying the ‘poor tax’)Pilgrimage

Portrait of Prince Dara Shikohc1628-1630, Agra or Delhi, India

Morgan Thomas Bequest Fund 1940Art Gallery of South Australia

Viewing the Mughal Empire as a fusion of civilizations

• The great Mughals can be seen as Muslim but not necessarily Islamic (Akbar’s new religion fusing Islamic Sufism with sun-worship and identification of himself as the rising sun)

• The majority of the population of the Mughal Empire was Hindu, not Muslim

• The recognition by the Mughal rulers (until Aurangzeb) that stable empires cannot be maintained by violence

• Non-Muslims were protected (zimmi) and liable to pay tax (jaziya)• Non-Muslims were incorporated into the ruling structures• Islam in India incorporated local customs and traditions as well as

inviting European influence (Jesuits at the court)• Eventual decline of the Mughal empire may have been due to the more

‘Islamic’ policies of Aurangzeb especially

hThe Raj and The Taj

The Taj Mahal confirms and denies Orientalist assumptions of the BritishThe British Raj claimed that the Taj could not have been built by an Indian and thus must be the work of European [Italian] marble workers and architectsBritish Colonialism stressed that India ‘had no history’ worth the name (ref ‘Migrating Views’)The British established an ascendancy of civilization in India

Hindu idolatorsMughal despotsBritish ‘enlightened’ rule

Royal banner

Cirebon, West Java, Indonesia 18th century

Jakarta Textile Museum

ShieldKalimantan, Indonesia 19th centuryNational Museum of Indonesia

Ritual fan, joganRiau-Lingga, Sumatra, Indonesia 19th century

National Museum of Indonesia

Ceremonial drape or shroud cloth for bier

Cirebon, West Javafound in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

19th centuryNational Gallery of Australia

Charm vest

woven in Turkey, assembled in Malaysia

early 20th centuryDepartment of Museusms and Antiquities

Malaysia

Ritual jar, doraq

Fostat, Cairo, Egyptfound in Brebes, Central Java

Indonesia19th – early 20th century

National Museum of Indonesia

• Minimini Mamarika• The Malay prau• 1948, Umbakumba• Art Gallery of South Australia

• 1904-1972

• Groote Eylandt,

Larrakia people gathered for ceremony

1874-1880, DarwinNorthern Territory Library