I took the photo above at Ancient India: Living Traditions. It shows the bright colours within the British Museum's new exhibition, but can't let you experience the wonderful sounds and scents too. Flickering projections of votive candles and the smoke of wafting incense make the gallery seem like a living temple. The exhibition aims to be a multi-sensory journey through the devotional art of the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religions, starting with an exploration of ancient nature spirits. It goes on to examine ideas of community, continuity, and change, showing how ancient religious practice has shaped living traditions today.
The exhibition looks at the origins of three major world religions through the emergence of early India's sacred art, exploring the enduring devotional practices of today. Thousands of years of religious imagery have been brought together to trace the transformation from symbolic representations to the human forms we recognise today.
This is a large exhibition with more than 180 objects, including 2,000-year-old sculptures, paintings, drawings, and manuscripts relating to gods, goddesses and nature spirits. The photo below shows Jain goddesses of knowedge.
Ancient India: Living Tradition is at the British Museum in London. It's open Saturday to Thursday 10am to 5pm, with late evenings on Fridays. Tickets are £20, or free for members. https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/ancient-india-living-traditions
No comments:
Post a Comment