Ch' 23 The Art of South and Southeast Asia after 1200

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Ch. 23The Art of South and Southeast Asia after
1200

• Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism are the principal
  religions that serve as the focus for Indian art.
  Sikh, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and other
  religions also exist in India. There are an
  estimated 138,200,000 Muslims in India today.
  (around 13.4 of their
• 1 billion plus population)
• Pakistan, a adjacent Muslim nation has about
  125,000,000 total people.

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Fig. 23-2 Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, 12th
century, gilt bronze, 10 highPrincely garments,
lotus flowers, relaxed, royal poseThe 3rd eye
signifies miraculous vision.The wheel on palm
shows the ability to teach Buddhist truth.
androgynous, sensuous!

• Buddhism Siddartha Gautama
• Shakyamuni (Buddha) taught that
• suffering is inherent in life and that
• one can be liberated from it by mental
• and moral purification.
• Nirvana enlightenment, a release from the cycle
  of reincarnation, (Nirvana is Buddhahood)
• Declining in India since the 7th century, Nepal
  and Tibet are now Buddhist strongholds
• Tantric Buddhism encouraged iconographic images
  of deities
• A Bodhisattva is a Buddha-to-be who chooses to
  put off Buddhahood in order to help others
  achieve nirvana. Bodhisattvas are worshipped as
  a deity or revered as a saint.
• Buddhism has a cyclical nature of existence, a
  rejection of religious authority, rituals and
  social restrictions

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Jainism traces its roots to Mahavira,the last of
24 saviors (pathfinders). It teaches that
rebirth in heavenrequires purification.
Privateexpressions (text illustrations) of
faith, not public expressions (temples) are key
(this may be due to early Islamic repression).
They are antiVedic (Hindu traditions) like the
Buddhists.

• Fig. 23-3 The Birth of Mahavira, manuscript
  illumination (from Kalpasutra), 1375-1400,
  gouache on paper 3 3/8 x 3
• The Jain Religious Texts include
• Kalpasutra  Agama Tattvartha Sutra 
• Sanmatti Prakaran
• SMALL!
• economy, depiction of the birth of Mahavira (in
  his mothers arms)
• Does this look familiar? (Hint Virgin and Child)
• 2D, sensuous, calligraphic, no chiaroscuro (an
  orientalized trait)

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Fig. 23-4 Outer Gopura (gateway), temple complex
at Madurai, mid 13th - 17th century- Fervently
Hindu (intense) - post and lintel devices- many
gateways in this add-on temple complex- The
gopuras "out-do" previous gopuras
as the complex grows. - thousands of sculpted
figures- over 100 feet tall- architecture/sculpt
ure combo

• Hinduism - The dominant religion in India (around
  80 today),emphasizes the gods Vishnu (the
  creator) and Shiva (the destroyer) both with
  multiple forms and avatars (gods in human form)
• Hindu temples are complex, monumental, are
  symbolic.
• Hindu dominance begins in the early medieval
  period (650-1100 CE)
• Temple complexes take the place of individual
  monumental temples in the late medieval period
  (1100-1526 CE)

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• Minakshi-Sundareshvara Temple, detail from south
  gopura

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Mughal Period (Islamic) influence and occupation
begins in the 8th century. The Mughals came from
central Asia. Islamic groups control most of
northern India at the end of the Mughal
period.
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Mosque - an edifice (building) for communal
Muslim worship
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Islam literally means submission to the will
of God. The religious faith of Muslims that
centers on the belief that Allah is the sole
deity and Mohammed (also spelled Muhammad) was
his prophet.
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Muslim and Islamic areinterchangeable terms.
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Mohammed or Muhammad in 610 (or 611) a merchant
named al Amin received a vision from the
archangel Gabriel. It was revealed that Mohammed
was a prophet and messenger of Allah. This took
place near Mecca, Mohammeds native Arabian city.
Islam was founded there. He preached with greater
success in Medina.
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Mohammed urged simplicity, abhorring vanity that
might lead to idolatry. This brought about a
prohibition of representational depictions in
Islamic art (o.k. for secular art though). Islam
is based on private, simple, and direct worship.
Islamic worship needs no elaborate liturgy.
(decorative art, little symbolism) When praying,
Muslims are directed to face the direction of
Mecca. Mecca is in what is now called Saudi
Arabia.
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There are about 1.1 billion Muslims today (20
are Arabs, the other 80 are from all the other
races). (world population 6 billion)
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Source http//www.gatewaycwm.org/cmh_miss_stats.h
tml

• World religion statistics

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• Mughal Architecture two fundamental structures
  the mosque and the tomb. The preferred space
  spanning devices are the arch and the dome.
  Eclecticism Indian, Persian and Central Asian
  sources for forts, palaces, mosques, tombs, and
  cenotaphs (funerary monuments without remains)

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Fig. 23-1, 10 Taj Majal, Agra, northern India
1632-48Originally a mausoleum (monumental
building used as a tomb) for emperor Shah Jahan's
wifeJahan was patron and collaborator for this
"earthly paradise"Minarets (towers from which
believers are called to prayer) at each
cornerChamfered square plan

• Geometric symmetry, central and flanking iwans
  (vaulted chambers) contribute to "weightlessness"
• Blind arcade (decorative arches in a row)
• Bulbous dome (Pantheon, Byzantine influence on
  Persia, or vice-versa?)

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• white marble with inlaid semi-precious stones

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Fig. 23- 12 Hamza's Spies Scale the
Fortress,illustrated page of the Hamza-nama (a
Persian classic about the uncle of Muhammad, so
Stokstad says), 1567-82, 30" x 24"

• one of 1400 illustrations, 12 volumes, 15 years
  to complete
• burnished watercolor/gouache painting technique
• Hamza's spies raid an enemy palace as they sleep.
• 3D/2D tension, patterns, naturalistic figures
  unlike Jain art
• sensuous landscape, botanical accuracy

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Rajput Painting regional Hindu princes outside
Mughal strongholds supported painters at their
courts. Free from Mughal influence, indigenous
Indian styles were perpetuated.Bhakti worship
of a recognizable image (icon) ofHindu deities

• Fig. 23- 14 Krishna and the Gopis, 1525-50,
  gouache on paper, 5 high
• Flat like Jainist art
• no chiaroscuro
• Color symbolism Blue Krishna sits in dalliance
  with women, Radha has a cool background
• Divine love allegory
• Bhakti

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Fig. 23- 15 Hour of Cowdust, c. 1790, gouache
on paper, 15 high

• 250 years newer than 23- 14
• more elaborate perspective
• chiaroscuro on animals but not on people
• Mughal naturalism influence
• All eyes on Krishna-Vishnu (Bhakti)
• Divine grace and purity

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Modern Period - The Mughal empire shrinks,
regional princes assert themselves, mercantile
interests of British East India Company (17th
century), then Imperial Britain in the 18th
century. Cultural transfers from the West are
seen (European Greco-Roman and Renaissance-based
traditions).
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• Fig. 23- 18 BP Mathur and Pierre Jeanneret,
  Gandhi Bhavan, 1959-61, Punjab University
• Lecture and prayer hall
• (Modern) International style and Indian idioms
  Sanskrit curves and angles, Mughal pools, Hindu
  bathing-ritual pools

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• Detail, Fig. 23- 18 BP Mathur and Pierre
  Jeanneret, Gandhi Bhavan, 1959-61, Punjab
  University

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The End