Transcript religionartpart2postx

HINDUISM
• Hindu Religion and Art
-Oldest continuous religious tradition (from 2500 BC)
-has a centrality of god which exposes itself through many
manifestations
• Brahma: creator
• Vishnu: sustainer
• Shiva: destroyer
• -this multiplicity of manifestations gives artwork an important
role in Hindu Art
-Rigveda is the oldest known religious text.
-art rose to prominence in the Gupta Period (320-415 AD)
TEXTS
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Upanishads
Ramayana
Mahabharata
Bhagavad Gita, or the "Song of the Blessed Lord
OVERVIEW OF TENETS
• Karma. The law that good begets good, and bad begets
bad. Every action, thought, or decision one makes has
consequences good or bad � that will return to each person
in the present life, or in one yet to come.
• Reincarnation. Also known as �transmigration of souls,� or
�samsara.� This is a journey on the �circle of life,� where
each person experiences as series of physical births, deaths,
and rebirths. With good karma, a person can be reborn into a
higher caste, or even to godhood. Bad karma can relegate one
to a lower caste, or even to life as an animal in their next life.
• Nirvana. This is the goal of the Hindu. Nirvana is the release
of the soul from the seemingly endless cycle of rebirths.
Kandarya Mahadeva (temple of Shiva). 10th-11th C.
Garbhagriha: inner room: literally ‘womb house’
Relief Sculpture from the Kandariya Mahadeo Temple
Relief sculpture, ca. 1000, depicting mithuna figures
stands on the south outer wall of the antarala of the
Kandariya Mahadeo Temple, Khajuraho, India.
OVER 600 figures on the exterior. 200 interior
Mukteshvar Temple of Shiva. Bhubaneshvar. Orissa, India. 950. Sandstone.
Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - Houston
BUDDHISM
• Quest for Enlightenment (Nirvana)
• 2 paths: ascetic growth through meditation OR prayer and
faith
• FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (Dharma, Law)
• Three Jewels of Buddhism: Buddha, Law, Community of
Monks
• Siddharta Gotama
• Enlightened one: Shakyamuni
CORE TENETS
• samsara: the cycle of birth, death, disease and decay.
• karma: the universal law of cause and effect.
• maya: the illusionary nature of the phenomenal world,
including skepticism of the physical world and a desire to find
the truth beyond it.
• mokśa: liberation, release from samsara.
• nirvana: the possibility of release from samsara and release
from samsara (suffering) the cycle of birth, death, life, pain,
and misery.
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS:
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Life is suffering
The reason for suffering is desire
Suffering must be caused to cease by overcoming desire
Suffering will cease if one finds the path to deliverance which
is the Eightfold Path
EIGHTFOLD PATH:
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Right knowledge or Understanding
Right purpose or resolve
Right speech
Right conduct or action
Right occupation or a livelihood conducive to salvation,
preferably the monastic life
• Right effort
• Right awareness or self-mastery
• Right meditation
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Madhya Pradesh, India
c. 150-50 BCE
Built by King Ashoka; enlarged;
elaborate gateways added
Buddhist shrine
Dome built from rubble/dirt, faced
with dressed stone, covered with
shining white plaster; replication
of dome of heaven
Mast at very top bears 3 stone
disks/"umbrellas"
Umbrellas: Buddha, Buddha's Law,
Monastic Orders
Mast itself is an axis mundi
(connects Cosmic Waters below
earth with celestial realm above it
to anchor everything in proper
place)
GREAT STUPA, SANCHI
W 3.14 Yakshi from east Torana.
W 3.13 North Torana.
W4.6 Caves at Ajanta. Maharashtra India. 450-500 CE
W4.1 Chaitya Hall, Karli.
Maharashtra, India. CE 50-70.
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1st century BCE-1st century CE
123 ft long, 46 ft high
Largest, most developed chaitya hall
Arched windows (imitating facade of
multistoried palace)
Chaitya window/sun window provides light
Panels of mithuna couples flank
entrances (male and female figures that
evoke harmony, fertility)
Barrel vault ceiling
Wide central aisle, two narrow side aisles
lead to stupa in apse
Stupa placed at end with ambulatory that
allows for ritual circumambulation
Basilican form with long nave defined by
colonnade
Bell-shaped capitals on columns
SECTION OF THE CHAITYA HALL AT KARLA
Images of the Buddha
•religious leader and thus in religious garb,
•alalways frontal, and
•ways on a throne with usually lions in support beneath.
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The common mudras:
Abhayamudra: fear not
Varadamudra: gift bestowing gesture
Bhumisparsamudra: the earth touching gesture
Dharmacakramudra: the First Sermon
Dhyanimudra: meditation or balance
Namaskaramudra: greeting, prayer, or adoration (hands
folded at the chest)
Seated Buddha from
Gandhara
Buddha and Attendants. Kushan period, c. late 1st – early 2nd century CE.
Red sandstone. height 27 1⁄4" (69.2 cm).
From Katra Keshavdev, Mathura, Madhya Pradesh. India. Government Museum, Mathura.
[Fig. 04-07]
The Gupta Period and the Standing
Buddha
• Gupta power: 320-486 CE
• Buddhism reached its greatest influence in
India
• Two schools: Mathura & Sarnath
• Standing Buddha embodies Sarnath style
• Mildly relaxed pose
• Plain robe (unlike Kushan images); distinctive
of Sarnath style
• Focuses attention on perfection of body
• Body: graceful, slight
• Downcast eyes: otherworldly introspection;
gentle, open posture relates to humans
• NOT represented as superhuman
• Fully enlightened AND fully human
474 CE
Sandstone; 6'4"
Seated Buddha. Northern Wei dynasty, c. 460 CE.
Stone. height 45' (13.7 m).
Cave 20, Yungang, Datong, Shanxi, China. Wolfgang Kaehler. Wolfgang Kaehler/CORBIS.
[Fig. 04-15]
Pentad, Central Binyang Cave, 508–523 C.E., Longmen Caves, Luoyang, China,
photo: Miguel Discart (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Monastery of Horyuji. Nara, Japan. Late 7th C.
Title Japan: Pagoda at Horyuji Temple, Nara, 1895.
Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), Todaiji,
Nara, Japan, 743, rebuilt. c. 1700 (photo:
author, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Borobudur. Java. C. 800.
Corridor at Borobudur. First Gallery
Borobudur.
462 Angkor Wat. 1120-1150 CE
One Pillar Pagoda
Tiếng Việt: Chùa Một Cột
Hanoi, Vietnam
Buddhist Temples in Houston
Chung Mei Buddhist Temple . International Buddhist Progress Society
of Houston.
12550 Jebbia Lane, Stafford, TX 77477, USA.
Vietnamese Buddhist Temple Houston.
Collapsed. 2014