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Chapter 23: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Key Notes
Time Period: Ancient Times to Present
Culture, beliefs, and physical settings
The Indus Valley civilizations were among the most advanced for their time.
Cultural centers in India became the home of great civilizations and dynasties.
Some of the world’s greatest philosophies and religions developed in India.
Early Indian religions often separated the cosmic from the earthly realm. All the religions in this area (i.e., Hinduism and Buddhist) adopted this world view.
The Indian religions generated unique artistic expressions, such as the Buddhist stupa and the Hindu temple.
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism are image-friendly religions.
Cultural interactions
Asian art is influenced by global trends, and in turn influences global trends.
Trade routes connected Asia with the world.
Other religions such as Christianity and Islam have had a dramatic impact on the arts in India.
Material Processes and Techniques
The art of India is some of the oldest in the world with the longest continuous tradition.
Indian artists employ a wide range of materials including ceramics and metal.
Distinctive to India is the development of Buddhist stupas.
Indian art extensively employs stone and wood carving.
Indian art specializes in wall and manuscript painting.
Tapestry is an Indian specialty.
Audience, functions, and patron
Indian art has a rich tradition of depicting mythical and historical subjects.
Architecture is generally religious.
Theories and Interpretations
Art history as a science is subject to differing interpretations and theories that change over time.
Historical Background
India's history is characterized by invasions and assimilations due to the attractiveness of the fertile Indus and Ganges valleys.
The invaders settled in India, leading to a cosmopolitan culture that is a layering of disparate populations.
India has eighteen official languages, with Hindi only spoken natively by 20% of the population.
India has diverse religious concentrations of Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, and tribal religions.
Geographically, India has a broad range, including the world's tallest mountains, vast deserts, and tropical forests.
India is considered one of the most diverse countries globally.
Patronage and Artistic Life
The arts have a critical role in Indian life, and most rulers have been generous patrons of art.
Buildings, sculptures, and murals were commissioned by rulers to enhance civic, religious life and their own glory.
The interconnectiveness of arts is essential to understanding Indian artistic life.
Monuments in India are conceived as a combination of arts with a single artistic vision led by an artist as a team leader.
Indian monuments have a surprising uniformity of style due to the interconnectiveness of arts.
The design of religious art and architecture was determined by a religious advisor to ensure agreement with canonical texts and diagrams.
Indian artists were trained comprehensively, including everything from making a brush to creating intricate miniatures or vast murals.
Artistic training in India is highly organized, with artists trained as apprentices in workshops.
Key Terms
Ashlar masonry: carefully cut and grooved stones that support a building without the use of concrete or other kinds of masonry
Bas-relief: a very shallow relief sculpture
Bodhisattva: a deity who refrains from entering nirvana to help others
Buddha: a fully enlightened being. There are many Buddhas, the most famous of whom is Sakyamuni, also known as Gautama or Siddhartha
Cella: the main room of a temple, where the god is housed
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
Horror vacui: (Latin, meaning “fear of empty spaces”) a type of artwork in which the entire surface is filled with objects, people, designs, and ornaments in a crowded and sometimes congested way
Hypostyle: a hall with a roof supported by a dense thicket of columns Iconoclasm— the destruction of religious images that are seen as heresy
Mandorla: (Italian, meaning “almond”) an almond-shaped circle of light around the figure of Christ or Buddha
Mithuna: in India, the mating of males and females in a ritualistic, symbolic, or physical sense
Mudra: a symbolic hand gesture in Hindu and Buddhist art
Nirvana: an afterlife in which reincarnation ends and the soul becomes one with the supreme spirit
Puja: a Hindu prayer ritual Sakyamuni: the historical Buddha, named after the town of Sakya, Buddha’s birthplace
Shikara: a bee-hive shaped tower on a Hindu temple
Shiva: the Hindu god of creation and destruction
Stupa: a dome-shaped Buddhist shrine
Torana: a gateway near a stupa that has two upright posts and three horizontal lintels. They are usually elaborately carved
Urna: a circle of hair on the brows of a deity, sometimes represented as focal point
Ushnisha: a protrusion at the top of the head, or the top knot of a Buddha
Vairocana: the universal Buddha, a source of enlightenment; also known as the Supreme Buddha who represents “emptiness,” that is, freedom from earthly matters to help achieve salvation
Vishnu: the Hindu god worshipped as the protector and preserver of the world
Wat: a Buddhist monastery or temple in Cambodia
Yakshi (masculine: yaksha): female and male figures of fertility in Buddhist and Hindu art
Buddhist Philosophy and Art
Buddhism is the dominant religion in Southeast Asia and is still practiced today.
Buddhism teaches individuals how to cope with a world full of misery.
The central figure of Buddhism is Buddha, who rejected worldly concerns and sought fulfillment as an ascetic.
Buddha is not considered a god in Buddhism.
In Buddhism, life is believed to be full of suffering and an endless cycle of birth and rebirth.
The aim of every Buddhist is to achieve oneness with the supreme spirit and end the cycle of birth and rebirth.
This can only be achieved by accumulating spiritual merit through good works, charity, love of all beings, and religious fervor.
Buddhist art has a rich cultural iconography. Some of the most common symbols include:
The Lion: a symbol of Buddha’s royalty
The Wheel: Buddha’s law
Lotus: a symbol of Buddha’s pure nature. The lotus grows in swamps, but mud slides off its surface.
Columns surrounded by a wheel: Buddha’s teaching
Empty Throne: Buddha, or a reminder of a Buddha’s presence.
Buddhas are portrayedin a compact pose with little negative space, typically seated in a lotus position with a wheel marking on the souls of their feet.
Treatment of drapery varies from region to region, with Central India having tight-fitting drapery and Gandhara featuring heavy robes.
Buddhas are generally frontal, symmetrical, and have a nimbus or halo around their heads.
Bodhisattvas, helpers of the Buddha, are usually depicted near the Buddha.
Buddhas' moods vary but most suggest meditation. Hand gestures called mudras, reveal Buddhas' actions and feelings.
The head has an ushnisha or top knot, hair has tight curls, and extremely long ears.
Yakshas and yakshis are distinctive figures that appear frequently in Indian popular religion and are often incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon.
➼ Gandharan
Details
By Buddha from Bamiyan
400–800; destroyed in 2001
cut rock with plaster and polychrome paint,
Found in Afghanistan
Form and Content
First colossal Buddhas.
Two huge standing Buddhas, one 175 feet tall, the other 115 feet tall.
Smaller Buddha: Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha.
Larger Buddha: Vairocana, the universal Buddha.
Niche shaped like a halo—or mandorla—around the body.
Buddhas originally covered with pigment and gold.
Cave galleries weave through the cliff face; some contain wall paintings and painted images of the seated Buddha.
Function
Pilgrimage site linked to the Silk Road.
Pilgrims can walk through the cave galleries into passageways that lead to the level of the Buddha’s shoulders.
Legs are carved in the round; originally pilgrims were able to circumambulate.
Caves were part of a vast complex of Buddhist monasteries, chapels, and sanctuaries.
Context
Located near one of the largest branches of the Silk Road.
Bamiyan, situated at the western end of the Silk Road, was a trading and religious center.
These Buddhas served as models for later large-scale rock-cut images in China.
Destroyed by the Taliban in an act of iconoclasm in March 2001.
Image
➼ Jowo Rinpoche enshrined in the Jokhang Temple
Details
From Yarlung Dynasty
believed to have been brought to Tibet in 641
gilt metals with semiprecious stones, pearls, and paint; various offerings
Found in Lhasa, Tibet
History
Statue thought to have been blessed by the Buddha himself; believed to have been crafted in India during his lifetime; said to have his likeness.
Believed to have been brought to Tibet in 641.
Temple founded in 647 by the first ruler of a unified Tibet.
Disappeared in 1960s during China’s Cultural Revolution.
In 1983, the lower part was found in a rubbish heap and the upper part in Beijing; restored in 2003.
Enshrined in the Jokhang Temple, Tibet’s earliest and foremost Buddhist temple.
Function
Served as a proxy for the Buddha after his departure from this world.
Often decorated, clothed, and presented with offerings.
Context
Depiction of Buddha Sakyamuni as a young man around the age of twelve.
Most sacred and important Buddhist image in Tibet.
Jowo means “lord.”
Khang means “house.”
Image
Buddhist Architecture
The stupa is the main place of early Buddhist worship and is a mound-shaped shrine without an interior.
It is a reliquary that contains sacred objects, and worshippers gain spiritual merit by being in close proximity to it.
The worshipper ascends a staircase from the base to the drum, while walking in a clockwise or easterly direction.
The stupa's distinctive shape, like a giant hemisphere, and the direction of prayer with the sun, give it cosmic symbolism.
The stupa represents Mt. Meru, the mountain at the center of the world in Buddhist cosmology that connects the earth and the heavens.
Stupas, like the one at Sanchi, have a central mast of three umbrellas at the top, symbolizing the three jewels of Buddhism.
The square enclosure around the umbrellas symbolizes a sacred tree surrounded by a fence.
Four toranas at the cardinal points of the compass act as elaborate gateways to the structure.
➼ Great Stupa
Details
From Buddhist, Mauyra, late Sunga Dynasty
300 B.C.E.–100 C.E.
stone masonry, sandstone on dome, Sanchi
Found in Madhya Pradesh, India
Function
Pilgrimage site.
A Buddhist shrine, mound shaped and faced with dressed stone containing the relics of the Buddha.
The worshipper circumambulates the stupa clockwise along the base of the drum; circular motion suggests the endless cycle of birth and rebirth.
Form
Three umbrellas at the top represent Buddha, Buddha’s law, and monastic orders.
A railing at the crest of the mound surrounds the umbrellas, symbolically representing a sacred tree.
Double stairway at the south end leads from base to drum, where there is a walkway for circumambulation.
Originally painted white.
Hemispherical dome is a replication of the dome of heaven. Seated Buddha from second level from the Later Gupta period.
Toranas
Four toranas, or gateways, at cardinal points of the compass, grace the entrances.
The orientation of the toranas (east, south, west, and north) and the direction of ritualistic circumambulation correspond with the direction of the sun’s course: from sunrise to zenith, sunset, and nadir.
Torana: richly carved scenes on the architraves:
Buddha does not appear himself but is symbolized by an empty throne or a tree under which he meditated.
Some of these reliefs may also represent the sacred sites where Shakyamuni Buddha visited or taught others about the jataka stories or past lives of the Buddha.
Horror vacui of composition.
High-relief sculpture.
Pre-Buddhist Yakshi figures symbolize fertility.
Context: Donors’ names are carved into the monument: 600 inscriptions reveal the project was funded by women as well as men, common people as well as monks.
Images
➼ Borobudur Temple
Details
From Sailendra Dynasty
c. 750–842
volcanic stone masonry
Found in Central Java, Indonesia
Form
Pyramid in form; aligned with the four cardinal points of the compass.
Square-shaped plan with four entry points.
Rubble faced with carved volcanic stone.
Built on a low hill rising above a wide plain.
Content
This massive Buddhist monument contains 504 life-size Buddhas, 1,460 narrative relief sculptures on 1,300 panels 8,200 feet long.
72 openwork stupas containing a Buddha, each with a preaching mudra.
Six identical square terraces are placed one atop the other, like steps;
three smaller circular terraces are placed on top;
the lowest level functions as the base of the structure, with a square floor plan;
the second level recedes 23 feet from the edge of the base so that the space is wide enough for processions.
Each terrace is a level of enlightenment.
On the top is an enclosed stupa.
Divided into three sections, representing three levels of Buddhist cosmology:
Base: represents the lowest level of experience;
those who are aligned with their desires on Earth;
the world of desire and negative impulses;
sculptures here show the deeds of self-sacrifice practiced by the Buddha in his previous births and the story of his last incarnation as Prince Siddhartha.
Body: five terraces in which people abandon their earthly desires;
this is the world of forms—people have to control these negative impulses;
sculptures here show the pilgrimage of the young man, Sudhana, who sets out in search of the Ultimate Truth.
Superstructure: an area that represents a formless world, in which a person experiences reality in its purest stage, where the physical world and worldly desire are expunged.
Function
A place of pilgrimage.
Built as a stupa.
Context
Meant to be circumambulated on each terrace; six concentric square terraces topped by three circular tiers with a great stupa at the summit.
Iconographically complex and intricate; many levels of meaning.
Queen Maya riding a horse carriage retreating to Lumbini to give birth to Prince Siddhartha Gautama
Densely packed scene; horror vacui.
The queen is majestic and at rest before giving birth.
Ready to give birth to her son, Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.
She is brought to the city in a great ceremonial procession.
Images
Hindu Philosophy and Art
Hinduism is a complex religion with many sects, each devoted to the worship of one of its many gods.
The religion's name is an umbrella term meaning "the religions of Hindustan (India)".
Folk beliefs and sophisticated philosophical schools coexist within Hinduism.
All forms of Hinduism focus on the infinite variety of the divine, whether it is expressed in the gods, in nature, or in other human beings.
Orthodox Hindus accept the Vedic texts as divine in origin and maintain aspects of the Vedic social hierarchy, which assigns a caste of ritual specialists known as Brahmins to officiate between the gods and humankind.
Every Hindu is to lead a good life through prayer, good deeds, and religious devotion to break the cycle of reincarnation.
Shiva is one of the principal Hindu deities, who periodically dances the world to destruction and rebirth.
Other important deities include Brahma, the creator god; Vishnu, the preserver god; and the great goddesses who are manifest as peaceful consorts, like Laksmi and Parvati.
Hindu Sculpture
Temple sculpture is integrated with the architecture of the building.
Mithuna, pairs of divine couples, are depicted on some temple exteriors and doorways.
Sexual allusions are common but not obscene.
Hindu sculptures emphasize the curves and lines of the body and often depict dance poses.
Temple surfaces are ornamented with organic and geometric designs, such as lotus flowers, temple bells, and pearls.
Images inside the temple are considered idols and are treated with respect and deference.
Worshippers experience the divine through seeing the invoked image, or darshan, and performing puja, a ritual offering to the deity, which is mediated by temple priests.
➼ Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja)
Details
From India (Tamil Nadu), Chola Dynasty
C. 11th century CE
Cast bronze
Found in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Form
Shiva has four hands.
One hand sounds the drum that he dances to; another carries a flame of destruction; the other two offer the abhaya mudra, a gesture that allays fear.
Epicene quality showing an idealized, nearly nude, male figure.
Flying locks of hair terminate in rearing cobra heads. Often depicted in a flaming nimbus, vigorously dancing with one foot on a dwarf, the Demon of Ignorance.
Fire around Shiva represents the borders of the Hindu cosmos; covered with flowers when carried in processions.
Function
The sculpture becomes the receptacle for the divine spirit when people pray before it; therefore, the sculpture is royally treated with gifts, food, and incense.
The sculpture can be bathed and clothed.
A hole is at the bottom of the sculpture for the placement of a pole so that it can be used in processions and covered by flowers.
Context
Shiva periodically destroys the universe so that it can be reborn again.
He unfolds the universe out of the drum held in one of his right hands; he preserves it by uplifting his other right hand in a gesture indicating “do not be afraid.”
Shiva has a third eye barely suggested between his other two eyes; he once burned the god Kama with this eye.
The message is that belief in Shiva can achieve salvation.
The distribution of this figure due to the patronage of a queen, Mahadevi.
Image
Hindu Architecture
Hindu temples are not used for congregational worship, but as the residence of a god.
The temples are solidly built with small interior rooms, with a tiny cella at the center where the sacred statue of the main deity is placed.
Hindu temples are constructed with thick walls to protect the deity from outside forces.
Hindu temples have a more vertical character in northern India, with large towers and subsidiary towers imitating the shape at various scales.
In south India, major temples form "temple cities" with layers of concentric gated walls surrounding a network of temples, shrines, pillared halls, and colonnades.
Hindu temples found in Cambodia are based on a pyramidal plan with a central shrine surrounded by subshrines and enclosed walls.
Temple exteriors are covered with sculpture, filling every blank spot on the surface.
➼ Lakshmana Temple
Details
From Chandella Dynasty
930–950
sandstone
Found in Khajuraho, India
Form
The temple is placed on a high pedestal, or plinth, to be seen from a distance. It appears like rising peaks of a mountain range.
Compact proportions.
East/west axis: it receives direct rays from the rising sun.
The building is a series of shapes that build to become a large tower; complicated intertwining of similar forms called a shikara.
In the center is the “embryo” room containing the shrine.
The embryo, called a garbha griha, is very small with only space enough for a limited number of people. It is meant for individual—not congregational—worship.
Materials: Ashlar masonry; made of fine sandstone.
Sculpture
Bands of horizontal moldings unite the temple.
The sculpture on the surface harmoniously integrates with the architecture.
The figures are sensuous with revealing clothing.
Erotic poses symbolize regeneration.
Sexuality is frankly expressed.
Function
It is a Hindu temple grouped with a series of other temples in Khajuraho.
The temple is dedicated to Vishnu.
Patron: Yashovarman, a leader in the Chandella Dynasty, built the temple to legitimize his rule; completed by his son, Dharga, after his death.
Context: Worshippers move in a clockwise direction starting at the staircase to circumambulate the temple.
Image
➼ Angkor Wat Temple
Details
The temple of Angkor Wat, and the city of Angkor Thom
From Angkor Dynasty
c. 800–1400
stone masonry, sandstone
Found in Cambodia
Form
Main pyramid is surrounded by four corner towers; a temple-mountain.
Corbelled gallery roofs; influenced by the Indian use of corbelled vaulting.
The entire complex is made of stone; most surfaces are carved and decorated.
Horror vacui of sculptural reliefs.
Sculpture in rhythmic dance poses; repetition of shapes.
Function
Dedicated to Vishnu; most sculptures represent Vishnu’s incarnations.
May have been intended to serve as the king’s mausoleum.
Hindu temples functioned primarily as the home of the god.
Patronage
Angkor Wat was the capital of medieval Cambodia, built by King Suryavarman II.
The complex was built by successive kings, who installed various deities in the complex.
The kings often identified themselves with the gods they installed.
Context
The complex has a mixed Buddhist/Hindu character.
Mountain-like towers symbolize the five peaks of Mount Meru, a sacred mountain said to be the center of the spiritual and physical universe in both Buddhism and Hinduism.
Image
Painting
Indian painting excels in miniature watercolor illustrations on paper, used for book illumination or as individual album leaves.
The Rajput School is a famous Indian painting school that illustrated Hindu myths and legends, especially the life of Krishna.
Indian painting also focuses on individual portraits with immediacy and freshness, and compositions tend to be crowded and colorful.
Perspective is upwardly tilted to show the surface of objects, while floral patterns contribute to the richness of expression.
Figures are delicately painted and seem small compared to the landscape, with a doll-like character that adds to the fairy-tale-like quality of the stories being illustrated.
Indian painting has a heightened and intense use of color, with black lines outlining figures, and figures often gesticulate wildly to show a wide range of emotions.
Nature is viewed as friendly and restorative, and Indian painting is generally anonymous, with few known artist names even among the greatest masters.
➼ Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings
Details
By Bichitr
c. 1620
watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
Found in Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Content
Jahangir is the source of all light; he is surrounded by a halo of the sun and moon.
Jahangir is near the end: seated on an hourglass throne; sands of time running out.
Jahangir wears a single pearl as a devotion to an eleventh century saint.
Sufi Sheik is handed a book by Jahangir, or perhaps the holy man is handing Jahangir the book—the book is placed on a cloth so that the sheik does not touch Jahangir.
The sheik was the superintendent of the shrine at Ajmer, where Jahangir lived from 1613–1616.
Holy men are placed above and rank higher than all others; the painting is thought to represent the importance of spiritual life over worldly power.
The Ottoman sultan (not a real portrait) is placed higher than James I, but shows deference to Jahangir.
James I of England is in the lower left-hand corner; less important than Jahangir, as his position implies; the portrait based on a diplomatic gift probably by artist John de Critz, given by ambassador Sir Thomas Roe.
The artist, a Hindu, holds a miniature with two horses and an elephant—perhaps gifts from his patron.
The artist is in lower left-hand corner; he symbolically signs his name on the footstool beneath Jahangir.
Quotations
Quotation, in frame: “Though outwardly shahs stand before him, he fixes his gazes on dervishes.”
Angels wish Jahangir a long life by writing on the hourglass, “O Shah, may the span of your life be a thousand years.”
Context
Jahangir had many artists follow him wherever he went; he wanted everything recorded.
He sought to bring together things from distant lands.
Cross-cultural influences from Europe: a Renaissance carpet is in the background; figures of small cherubs are copied from European paintings; there is a halo behind Jahangir.
Great interest in the Mughal court for European allegorical portraits, techniques, and motifs.
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