This essay discusses some key aspects of Indian sacred art, including the interconnection between spiritual and technical elements. It provides examples of how Indian sacred art expresses spiritual concepts through the human body, such as portraying women in a positive light focused on fertility rather than temptation. The essay also examines the role of the human body as a means to connect the inner psychic world with the outer physical world. Overall, it explores how Indian sacred art uniquely brings together spiritual and artistic elements to depict philosophical and religious ideas.
With this module we open up our study of the connections (and disconnections!) between visual imagery and religious belief. Considering only two of the major religious traditions in India, we take a look at what we see and how
Sacred Space On Earth : (Spaces Built By Societal Facts)inventionjournals
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International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI) is an international journal intended for professionals and researchers in all fields of Humanities and Social Science. IJHSSI publishes research articles and reviews within the whole field Humanities and Social Science, new teaching methods, assessment, validation and the impact of new technologies and it will continue to provide information on the latest trends and developments in this ever-expanding subject. The publications of papers are selected through double peer reviewed to ensure originality, relevance, and readability. The articles published in our journal can be accessed online.
With this module we open up our study of the connections (and disconnections!) between visual imagery and religious belief. Considering only two of the major religious traditions in India, we take a look at what we see and how
Sacred Space On Earth : (Spaces Built By Societal Facts)inventionjournals
Â
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI) is an international journal intended for professionals and researchers in all fields of Humanities and Social Science. IJHSSI publishes research articles and reviews within the whole field Humanities and Social Science, new teaching methods, assessment, validation and the impact of new technologies and it will continue to provide information on the latest trends and developments in this ever-expanding subject. The publications of papers are selected through double peer reviewed to ensure originality, relevance, and readability. The articles published in our journal can be accessed online.
presentation on indian culture
There is no one definition of culture nor there is unanimity among various thinkers. Mr. A.L. Korelaber and T. Parsons in an article on the Concepts of Culture and of Social Systems American Sociological Review has defined culture as âa complex of values, ideas, attitudes, and other meaningful symbols created by a man to shape human behaviour and the anti facts of that behaviour as they are transmitted from one generation to the nextâ.
According to another author âculture refers to a set of values, ideas, anti facts, and other meaningful symbols that help individuals communicate, interpret, and evaluate as members of societyâ. Another writer feels that âculture is a set of socially acquired values that society accepts as a whole and transmits to its members through language, and symbolsâ. The culture may also be defined as âthe largest simple grouping of people sharing a distinctly unique social heritageâ.
India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to the composition of the
Upanishads in the later Vedic period. According to Radhakrishnan, the oldest of these constitutes the earliest philosophical compositions of the world. Indian philosophy will be explained in detail in this guide
Emergence of music therapy as an organised profession has occurred primarily during the past few years. Music is the closest art form for expression to human beings. The evolution of music has its roots in the most primitive time and it evolved through countless processes. Music been defined by musicologists as the art of expression in sound, in melody and harmony, including both composition and execution. Raga Rasa Siddhanta can be applied to music in which lyrics are predominant over Swara and Laya. The scope of the present research work is restricted to the fact that music evokes some kind of bhava, feeling or emotion in the mind of a listener. The bhava evoked from music calms the listener or alleviates the pain and this is the therapeutic effect of music. Savadatti Shridhar | Kamath Nagaraj | Ashvini SM | Lal Sarika "Critique on Music Therapy" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-7 | Issue-3 , June 2023, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com.com/papers/ijtsrd58584.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com.com/humanities-and-the-arts/music/58584/critique-on-music-therapy/savadatti-shridhar
ABSTRACT: The article entitled "Learning from Bima" in the perspective of a myth is a scientific writing
that contains the story of the birth of Bima to the process to get a set of life-guiding beliefs. In the process, many
events that are passed through related to the nature of the natural and cultural environment that is not entirely
logical or have hidden logic, but require leaps of extra careful logic, because it gets beyond habits that cause
myths appear to be irrational. The story that was worked on was Bima character who eventually met Dewaruci,
his God. In this research, we used a qualitative method that emphasizes the full involvement of researchers in
digging for and collecting data to conduct analysis, as well as compiling reports, and articles. Myth theory is
used to reconstruct a symbolic mythological understanding of living energy such as water, wind or its
composition that is converted into fire/apui, water/udgata, wind/maruta becoming a symbol of God, namely
AUM. The results of the research were descriptive understanding of the use of water, wind, and fire as sources
of vital energy for life that can be obtained through samadi.
presentation on indian culture
There is no one definition of culture nor there is unanimity among various thinkers. Mr. A.L. Korelaber and T. Parsons in an article on the Concepts of Culture and of Social Systems American Sociological Review has defined culture as âa complex of values, ideas, attitudes, and other meaningful symbols created by a man to shape human behaviour and the anti facts of that behaviour as they are transmitted from one generation to the nextâ.
According to another author âculture refers to a set of values, ideas, anti facts, and other meaningful symbols that help individuals communicate, interpret, and evaluate as members of societyâ. Another writer feels that âculture is a set of socially acquired values that society accepts as a whole and transmits to its members through language, and symbolsâ. The culture may also be defined as âthe largest simple grouping of people sharing a distinctly unique social heritageâ.
India has a rich and diverse philosophical tradition dating back to the composition of the
Upanishads in the later Vedic period. According to Radhakrishnan, the oldest of these constitutes the earliest philosophical compositions of the world. Indian philosophy will be explained in detail in this guide
Emergence of music therapy as an organised profession has occurred primarily during the past few years. Music is the closest art form for expression to human beings. The evolution of music has its roots in the most primitive time and it evolved through countless processes. Music been defined by musicologists as the art of expression in sound, in melody and harmony, including both composition and execution. Raga Rasa Siddhanta can be applied to music in which lyrics are predominant over Swara and Laya. The scope of the present research work is restricted to the fact that music evokes some kind of bhava, feeling or emotion in the mind of a listener. The bhava evoked from music calms the listener or alleviates the pain and this is the therapeutic effect of music. Savadatti Shridhar | Kamath Nagaraj | Ashvini SM | Lal Sarika "Critique on Music Therapy" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-7 | Issue-3 , June 2023, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com.com/papers/ijtsrd58584.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com.com/humanities-and-the-arts/music/58584/critique-on-music-therapy/savadatti-shridhar
ABSTRACT: The article entitled "Learning from Bima" in the perspective of a myth is a scientific writing
that contains the story of the birth of Bima to the process to get a set of life-guiding beliefs. In the process, many
events that are passed through related to the nature of the natural and cultural environment that is not entirely
logical or have hidden logic, but require leaps of extra careful logic, because it gets beyond habits that cause
myths appear to be irrational. The story that was worked on was Bima character who eventually met Dewaruci,
his God. In this research, we used a qualitative method that emphasizes the full involvement of researchers in
digging for and collecting data to conduct analysis, as well as compiling reports, and articles. Myth theory is
used to reconstruct a symbolic mythological understanding of living energy such as water, wind or its
composition that is converted into fire/apui, water/udgata, wind/maruta becoming a symbol of God, namely
AUM. The results of the research were descriptive understanding of the use of water, wind, and fire as sources
of vital energy for life that can be obtained through samadi.
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An Essay On Spirituality In Indian Sacred Art Some Perspectives
1. Citation: Paulo Nuno Martins. An Essay on Spirituality in Indian Sacred Art: Some Perspectives. Sch J Arts Humanit
Soc Sci, 2021 Sept 9(9): 456-458.
456
Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Abbreviated Key Title: Sch J Arts Humanit Soc Sci
ISSN 2347-9493 (Print) | ISSN 2347-5374 (Online)
Journal homepage: https://saspublishers.com
An Essay on Spirituality in Indian Sacred Art: Some Perspectives
Paulo Nuno Martins1
,2*
1
Transdisciplinary Center for Studies of Consciousness, CTEC, Fernando Pessoa University of Oporto, Portugal
2
Interuniversity Center of History of Science and Technology, CIUHCT, New University of Lisbon, Portugal
DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2021.v09i09.011 | Received: 10.08.2021 | Accepted: 14.09.2021 | Published: 18.09.2021
*Corresponding author: Paulo Nuno Martins
Abstract Original Research Article
This essay describes some of the fundamental ideas that make Indian sacred art unique, namely the interconnection
between the spiritual and technical aspects present in several sacred artistic works carried out by various artists over
time. Thus, some practical applications of the âtheory of the evolution of consciousnessâ in Indian sacred art will be
discussed, including the role played by the human body, as a fundamental âinstrumentâ for expressing the devotion of
Indians.
Keywords: Fundamental concepts of Indian sacred art, theory of evolution and consciousness, human body and
devotion.
Copyright Š 2021 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original
author and source are credited.
INTRODUCTION
Generally speaking, the link between
spirituality and art has existed since time immemorial in
various cultures, as a way of expressing the essence of
all human beings. For example, Indian sacred art has
presented a remarkable plurality and diversity with
influences from different philosophies and religions,
such as, Buddhism Hinduism, Islam, Mongol,
Christianity; also it has been expressed in Elephanta
Caves (extolling Shiva cult of Hinduism), the Vimala
Temple (highlighting the Shakti of Hinduism), the Taj-
Mahal (from Mongolism) and the Church of St. John
(from Christianity) [1]. On the other hand, in Western
culture, the fresco called âFinal Judgmentâ by
Michelangelo on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel and the
work called âLast Supperâ by Leonardo da Vinci are
also examples that show the connection between art and
spirituality [2].
In this regard, an exchange between Eastern
and Western art has been sought by Martin Gurvich [3],
founder of the Indian Sacred Art Museum (MOSA), in
Belgium. He revealed Indian Sacred Art in Western
culture with works characterized by fundamental
concepts such as, truth (in Sanskrit, satyam), prosperity
(in Sanskrit, shivam) and beauty (in Sanskrit,
sundaram).
Studies carried on the intersection of Science
and Art have proposed that the âReality in an artistic
workâ [4] is created by the âconscience or the mind of
the observerâ. Thus, it is the âmind of the artistâ
(observer) that determines the work of art that will be
manifested [5]. In this sense, Einstein said that Science
and Art have a common source of inquiry which is the
search for the âMystery of Lifeâ [6]. So, both the
scientist and the artist seek to describe the âBeautyâ that
underlies all visible manifestation [7].
This essay aims to present some Indian sacred
art works [8], which Sushma Bahl [9] illustrated
through different artistic images to promote the
âpsychic unityâ of the conscious and unconscious
aspects of human beings for us to know our true Self
and the âBeautyâ of our soul.
METHODS
In this essay, 24 main articles and books in this
area of research, that is available in libraries, were
collected and analyzed. They were collected, based on
their âimpact factorâ and that of the âreferenceâ books
on this theme. This was considered for the books and
articles to be useful to readers who want to greatly
understand this subject.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In Western and Eastern spirituality, it is
admitted that the Divine or God is one entity who
constitutes the base of all beings and the source of their
Life. This Entity expresses Himself through three
dynamic aspects called âTrimurtiâ, namely the creation
aspect (in Sanskrit, Brahma), preservation aspect (in
2. Paulo Nuno Martins., Sch J Arts Humanit Soc Sci, Sept, 2021; 9(9): 456-458
Š 2021 Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences | Published by SAS Publishers, India 457
Sanskrit, Vishnu) and renewal aspect (in Sanskrit,
Shiva) that are painted according to culture itself. The
sculpture of Shiva Lingam (symbol of Shiva) is
associated with the primordial energy (currently
referred to as nuclear energy) that represents the
destruction and renewal process for the true creation of
the human Being or Sacred Art might occur
(symbolized by Brahma), so to perpetuate a new life on
Earth (symbolized by Vishnu). In Western spirituality,
this aspect of creation is described by the âTree of
Scienceâ in Genesis (in the Bible of Christians) and in
Kabbalah (in Judaism). For its part, another aspect of
creation is expressed in Indian sacred art work called
âTree of Lifeâ [10].
Different cultures have also tried to express the
âDivine on Earthâ or âavatarâ through the sacred
temples where the deities´ images of their devotion
appear on an altar, and it is linked to the experience of
Darshan (in Sanskrit, see the Divine) in Indian culture.
The manifestation of the Divine on earth also has a
human side, expressed through paintings and sculptures,
such as the figure of Ganesha (half-human and half-
elephant) [11]. However, in Western culture, the mind
and the body are presented in an antagonistic way,
perhaps as an expression of the Cartesian mind-body
separation. On the contrary, in Indian culture, the mind-
body is seen as being interconnected with each other;
the main objective is to expand the mind of the
conscious being (in Sanskrit, brah-manas), so that it can
express its spiritual side on Earth. This is described by
the âtheory of evolution of consciousnessâ through
various forms of manifestations from the simplest to the
most complex, expressed in Indian sacred work
designated by âVishnu´s ten main avatarsâ or
âDashavatarasâ [12].
In this regard, Indian sacred art highlights
Mother Earth (in Sanskrit, Bhudevi) [13] that is painted
as a great spiritual entity with a Yoni (in Sanskrit,
womb), the female sexual organ â counterpart of the
male sexual organ designated by Linga - that âgives
birthâ to the spiritual and physical body of all beings in
the Universe. Therefore, it has a central role to play for
the survival of species in Nature (cereals from earth,
water from rivers, fish from sea, fruit from trees, meat
from animals). It must be taken with care and in a
symbiotic way, in order to allow a sustainable
development and balanced life between the mundane
and the sacred [14]. It is necessary to mention that the
union of Yoni with Linga is called Shiva Lingam
mentioned earlier.
Furthermore, the human body [15] has played
an important role in Indian sacred art, reflecting the
cultural and philosophical diversity that India has had
over the centuries, where the spiritual and sensual facets
of the body are interconnected in a harmonious way.
However, in Western culture, the body (particularly of a
woman) is associated with temptation and sin; while in
Indian culture, the body (namely of a woman) is linked
to abundance and fertility, constituting an inspiring
source of positive values.
For example, the painting called âWoman
Holding a Fanâ (symbol of the sensuality of Indian
women) by Raja Ravi Varma and the painting called
âMother Indiaâ (symbol of the virtues of Indian
women) by Abanindranath Tagore show the
complementary facets of the Indian woman´s body [16].
In fact, in Indian sacred art, the human body is seen as
an âinstrumentâ that connects the âinner psychic worldâ
with the âphysical outer worldâ through the Yantras
[17]. From the earliest time to modernity, this important
aesthetic component [18] has been used in Indian sacred
art in different ways by various Indian artists [19],
where the death of the body and reincarnation of the
soul in another body make us to become aware of our
true Being [20].
In this regard, in Indian sacred art, the word
âdevotionâ (in Sanskrit, bhakti) could have several
meanings based on the context in which is applied. For
example, the sacred Indian art called âRadha and
Krishnaâ describes the conjugal love, in an equity
relationship where each person completes the other one
[21]; while in the sacred Hindu text called âBhagavad-
Gitaâ, this devotional aspect is expressed between
Krishna (the spiritual master) and the disciple Arjuna,
who is encouraged to conquer his soul (in Sanskrit,
Atman) [22]. Thus, the Hindu god called
Ardhanarishavara, whose left side is feminine and the
right side masculine (also known as the union between
Shakti and Shiva or Prakriti and Purusha) shows the
harmony and balance in human beings.
Fig-1: Ma Durga Mahishasur Vadh
Photo Source: Courtesy of Eesha Jayaweera
3. Paulo Nuno Martins., Sch J Arts Humanit Soc Sci, Sept, 2021; 9(9): 456-458
Š 2021 Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences | Published by SAS Publishers, India 458
CONCLUSIONS
In summary, Indian sacred art has particular
characteristics which distinguish it from all others,
namely the emphasis on focusing simultaneously on the
âconscienceâ (which is the âessenceâ of artwork) and
âtechnicalâ aspects (which is the âphysicalâ aspect of
artwork). Some examples of these characteristics are
expressed through the well-known figure called Durga
(in Sanskrit, invincible) and the sculpture called
Nataraja (in Sanskrit, dancing of Shiva). Durga is riding
a lion or tiger (the wife of Shiva and the mother of
Ganesha), and represents the goodness Shakti that
destroys Mahishasur (symbol of evil), as drawn in
Figure 1. Nataraja represents the god Shiva (the
renovator aspect of Divine) stepping on Apasmara
(symbol of ignorance). These are useful for the
conscience of all beings of the Universe to expand and
progress cyclically [23] in order to manifest the Divine
qualities of love, light and grace on Earth [24].
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author of this article wants to
acknowledge Mr. Eesha Jayaweera for authorizing the
free use of the photo in Figure 1 from
https://www.graphicspic.com/product/maa-durga-
mahisasur-vadh-religion-picture-free-photo/.
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