1. Comprised of Modern Nations India and Pakistan
The Art of South Asia
Comprised of Modern Nations India and Pakistan

2. Subcontinent of South Asia
Modern nations of India and Pakistan have much diversity in culture and religion. In India, the people speak 20 languages!
During mid-third millennium BCE (time of Sumerians and Ancient Egyptians), a large civilization developed in the Indus River valley.
Important sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had streets oriented toward the compass points and multi-storied houses made of mud bricks. The cities had water supply and sewage systems with private bath facilities in homes.
Sites of temples or palaces are not clearly defined as such.
Surprisingly, we find little art from this period and what we do find is small. Most artwork we find are small seals with animal or narrative and not-yet translated script. The back has a knob or hole to allow the seal to be worn or hung on a wall. Seals were sometimes used for securing trade goods wrapped in textiles.

3. Seal with seated figure in yogic posture, from Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan ca B.C.E. Steatite coated with alkali and baked, approximately 1 3/8 x 1 3/8 in. National Museum, New Delhi. Seals were used to make impressions in clay and were used to wrap traded goods in fabric. Animals most frequently used included the bull, elephant, rhinoceros and tiger portrayed in profile. Many seals showed sacred trees. This particular seal depicts a man with horned headdress and perhaps three heads in yogic pose. Yoga “to yoke” is a way to control the body and relax the mind.

4. Vedic and Upanishadic Period
Little artwork survives from this period, yet the Aryans moved to India from central Asia.
They were mobile herders who lived in the Punjab (NW India) and called themselves Aryas (Noble Ones) and spoke Sanskrit the earliest language known to South Asia.

5. Samsara, Karma and Moksha
The next civilization developed along the Ganges River valley from 800 to 500 BCE.
Religious leaders wrote texts called Upanishads. The texts explored samsara, karma and moksha (nirvana).
Samsara – individuals are born again after death in endless rebirths and could be human or animal
Karma – individual’s past actions, either good or bad, determine rebirth outcome, goal is to escape cycle of rebirth by becoming individual self and is called moksha (Hindus) or nirvana (Buddhists).
Hinduism becomes the dominant religion of India. Both Hinduism and Buddhism have roots in Aryan religion of South Asia.
Both religions use images of gods and holy people in religious rituals.

6. Buddhism
Founded by Buddha who advocated the path of asceticism or self-discipline to free oneself rom attachment to people or possessions and ends in rebirth.
Buddha (the enlightened one) born in 563 BCE, eldest son of king of Shakya Clan. A prophecy said he would become either a world conqueror or great religious leader.
At 29 the prince, left the palace, wife and kids and encountered the pain of old age, suffering and death. He renounced the rich life and in six years achieved complete enlightenment or Buddhahood while meditating under a pipal (Bodhi) tree at Bodh Gaya (Place of Enlightenment) in eastern India.

7. Four Noble Truths: Core of Buddhism
Life is suffering
The cause of suffering is desire
One can overcome and distinguish desire
The way to conquer desire and end suffering is to follow Buddhas’ Eightfold Path of right understanding, right through, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
The Buddha’s path leads to nirvana, the cessation of cycle of painful life, death and rebirth. Buddha preached until his death at 80 years.

8. Form of Buddhism
Earliest form is Theravada (Path of the Elders) popular in India, Sri Lanka and mainland SE Asia, then came Mahayana (Great Path) and the third is Amitabha Buddha (Infinite Light and Life) popular in Japan.
Mahayaha revere bodhisattvas (Buddhas-to-be) who hold back on the threshold of nirvana and aid others to achieve Buddhahood. (Popular in northern India, China, Korea, Japan, Nepal and Tibet)

9. Buddha as Art Form
Originally he was depicted as a robed monk with elongated ears, from wearing heavy jewelry in youth, sometimes with a halo or sun disk behind head.
Also feature mudras or hand gestures:
Dhyana (meditation) with hands overlapping in lap
Bhumishparsha (earth touching) with right hand to ground
Dharmachakra (teaching) right thumb and index form circle
Abhaya (do not fear) right hand up, palm down
Episodes of Buddha’s life are most popular subjects.
Standing Buddha
Sarnath, Uttar Pardesh, India
Gupta
474 CE

10. Columns were erected on pilgrimage routes to sites
Lion capital from a column erected by Ashoka at Sarnath, India, ca. 250 BCE. Polished sandstone, approx. 7’ high. Archeological Museum, Sarnath.
When Alexander the Great retreated, the Maurya Dynasty developed ( BCE) and the ruler, Ashoka, spread Buddhism teaching throughout India.
Ashoka developed a legal code based on Buddha's dharma and inscribed laws on pillars to be spread across lands. The pillars connect the ground/earth to sky forming an “axis of the universe”.
Columns were erected on pilgrimage routes to sites
Associated with Buddha.

12. 192. Great Stupa at Sanchi. Madhya Pradesh, India
192. Great Stupa at Sanchi. Madhya Pradesh, India. Buddhist: Maurya, Late Sunga Dynasty. c. 300 BCE – 100 CE. Stone masonry, sandstone on dome.

13. Great Stupa at Sanchi
Buddhist monasteries consisted of temples, viharas (where monks lived, and large stupas.
At the Great Stupa worshippers entered the gate and walked on lower path, then climbed stairs to upper level. There are over 600 inscriptions showing donations of donations of individuals over a third being woman who made the construction possible.
Reliefs on the four toranas (gateways) at Sanchi depict Buddha’s life story and also of his past lives. Buddha never appears as human, but rather, as symbols such as footprint, empty seat, etc.
The stupas were modelled after South Asian burial mounds, however, the stupa is not a tomb , but rather a monument housing the relics of Buddha. The Buddha’s relics were buried under the stupa, but in the mid-third century BCE, the stupas were opened and relics were spread to thousands of stupas.
Buddhists walked in circumambulation in clockwise direction, in path of sun, making devotion in harmony with the cosmos.

14. The life and death of the Buddha, frieze from Gandhara,
Pakistan, second century CE. Schist, 2’ 23/8” x 9’ 6 1/8”.
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
This frieze is one of the earliest pictorial narrative cycles
Where Buddha is in human form.
Sensuous women called yakshi are goddesses which personify fertility and vegetation.

15. Classical Buddha Statue
Gupta Empire, r. ca. 320 – 450
Under the Guptas, the canonical image for Buddha emerged.
Buddha wears monastic robes, turns eyes downward, hands in Wheel-turning gesture and preaches the sermon.
Wheel of the Law seen below the figure. The body is smooth body emphasizes the figures spirituality.
Seated Buddha preaching first sermon, from
Sarnath, India, second half of the fifth century. Tan
Sandstone, 5’3” high. Archaeological Museum, Sarnath.

16. Hinduism
Hinduism recognizes no founder or great prophet, but means the “religion of the Indians”. Name has root in the Indus River.
Literary origins can be traced to the Vedic period.
Ritual practice is central practice to please the deity in order to achieve release or moksha from the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth (samsara) and become one with the spiritual universe.
Hinduism has many gods:
1.Shiva (supreme god in Shaivism)
2. Vishnu (supreme god in Vaishnavism)
3. Devi (supreme god in Shaktism, Shakti is the female creative force)

17. Shiva, Vishnu and Devi
Shiva is the destroyer, but is regenerative. Can be seen as a linga (cosmic pillar). Frequently has multiple limbs and heads to show he is superhuman and is crowned by crescent moon. Sometimes as a serpent scarf and has a third eye on forehead.
Vishnu is the preserver of the universe. He often has four arms and holds various poses. Sometime a serpent in the water or in different forms, avatars or incarnations like a boar, fish, tortoise and Krishna, the divine lover, and sometimes Buddha.
Devi is the Great Goddess who takes many forms or names including: male Parvati or Uma, wife of Shiva, Lakshmi wife of Vishnu and Radha, lover of Krishna. She is kind, but also terrible, creates and destroys.

18. Vishnu asleep on the serpent Ananta, detail of the façade of the Vishnu Temple, Deogarh, India, early sixth century.

19. Hindu Temples
Hindu temples were home to the gods on earth and the place where they make themselves visible to humans.
The garbha griha, womb chamber, houses symbols or images of the deity were only to be entered by the Brahmin priests to make offerings to the gods.
Worshippers and priests go through a series of more and more sacred spaces on east-west axis. The plan was a sacred geometric design (mandala) of the universe.
There are two styles of Hindu temples:
Northern or nagara: has a beehive tower (shikhara) mountain peak capped by an amalaka (ribbed cushion-like form) shaped like an amala fruits that was believed to have medicinal properties. Also, has tower- like roofs over the halls.
Southern or dravida: have flat roofs over shorter-towered shrines and resemble more of a pyramid.

20. 200. Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho, India. Hindu, Chandella Dynasty. c
200.Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho, India. Hindu, Chandella Dynasty. c. 930 – 950 CE, sandstone.
The kings of the Chandella dynasty patronized the arts and built many temples, palaces and complex irrigation systems. Khajuraho has 20
large temples alone. The temples
were dedicated Shiva, Vishnu and Surya.
Devotees approach from the East and walk around in circumambulation in clockwise direction.

21. Vaikuntha Vishnu, womb chamber (garba griha), Lakshmana temple
Vaikuntha Vishnu, womb chamber (garba griha), Lakshmana temple C.E., sandstone
Section of a narrative frieze encircling the temple at the level of the plinth, Lakshmana temple, Khajuraho, Chatarpur District, Madhya Pradesh, India, dedicated 954
Many sculptures depict ideal feminine beauty which was seen as auspicious and protective. Different types of women were
Included to show fertility, growth and progress. Sculptures also depict daily life, love, war and historical events from the
Chandella dynasty.

22. From Khan Academy:
The Lakshmana Temple is an excellent example of Nagara style Hindu temple architecture.[5] In its most basic form, a Nagara temple consists of a shrine known as vimana (essentially the shell of the womb chamber) and a flat-roofed entry porch known as mandapa. The shrine of Nagara temples include a base platform and a large superstructure known as sikhara (meaning mountain peak), which viewers can see from a distance.[6] The Lakshmana temple’s superstructure appear like the many rising peaks of a mountain range.

23. Figural groupings on the temple exterior including Shiva, Mithuna, and erotic couples, Lakshmana temple, Khajuraho, Chatarpur District, Madhya Pradesh, India, dedicated 954

24. 202. Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja), Hindu, India, Chola Dynasty. c. 11th century CE, Cast Bronze/Copper alloy, 68.3 x 56.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Chola dynasty was a golden age of trade and artistic
Development.
Much of the artwork of this period was religious.
Nataraja –
Nata = dance/performance, raja = king/lord
Small sacred object intended to be movable and would
have been carried in parades by Hindu worshippers. Priests
Would chant prayers and offer blessings.
Sometimes the figures would be clothed, or decorated
in jewels.
Worshippers would pray and their faith would activate
the divine energy in the statue and Shiva would then be
Present.

25. Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja)
Shiva is the agent that brings destruction, but also allows for rebirth so the cycle can begin again.
Statue is embodiment of dance
Shiva holds a damaru (drum) within a ring of fire in endless cycle of death and rebirth.
Right foot is on Apasmara, a demon who embodies ignorance
Shiva’s face is calm and serene.
Shilpa Shastra = The Science or Rules of Sculpture:
Arms should be long like bamboo, eyes like almonds, specifies ideals for beauty.

26. Mughal Dynasty
In 1526, Muslim prince named Babur defeated the sultan of Northern India and declared himself the ruler of India and established the Mughal Dynasty (1526 – 1857) at Delhi.
Mughal = descended from the Mongols
A great art explosion occurred with the reign of Babur’s grandson, Akbar the Great, who took the throne at 14.
He kept an imperial workshop of about 100 painters busy. These artist signed their artwork unlike the Buddhist and Hindu artist of India.

27. 208. Bichitr, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings from the "St
208. Bichitr, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings from the "St. Petersburg Album," , opaque watercolor, gold and ink on paper, 18 x 25.3 cm (Freer Sackler: The Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art).
Bichitr allegorical portrait shows Jahangir, Akbar’s son, seated on the throne in miniature form from album made for the emperor.
The sands of time run out, cupids inscribe the throne with wish that Jahangir would live a thousand years. Jahangir’s head has a radiant halo with golden sun a and a white crescent moon.
Jahangir is center of the universe and its light sources. One inscription on the painting gives the emperor’s title, “light of the faith”.

28. On the left are four figures with the lowest, both spatially and in social hierarchy is the Hindu artist Bichitr, wearing a red turban. He holds a miniature within the painting of horses, elephant and gifts for the ruler. There is a portrait of King James I of England copied from a portrait of King James I of England from a painting that was gift from English ambassador.
Above king is a Turkish sultan. Above him is an elderly Muslim Sufi shaykh (mystic saint) who presents a book as gift.
Jahangir is thought to look inward for guidance and is allegory as him using words and pictures over to show him focusing on spiritual over worldly power.

29. 209. Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
209. Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. Masons, marble works, mosaicists, and decorators working under the supervision of Ustad Ahmad Lahori, architect of the emperor CE. Stone Masonry and marble with inlay of precious and semiprecious stones, gardens.

30. Entrance to the Taj Mahal

31. Taj Mahal
Monumental tombs were not used by Hindu or Buddhist tradition, but were used by Muslims.
Jahangir’s son, built the Taj Mahal as a memorial to his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and he was buried there as well.
The dome-on-cube shape is similar to early Islamic, but this one seems to be almost weightless and shines in white marble. mausoleums It seems to float above the pools and seems suspended.
A stairwell is hidden and the building is placed at one end of the garden.
The tomb has an octagonal plan, with niches that lead eyes upward.
The dome is shaped like a crown or taj. The building is as tall as it is wide.
The minarets reach toward Heaven and garden to paradise. Walls and gateways are inscribed with bits of the Koran.
The building was thought to be Throne of God perched above Gardens of Paradise on Judgement Day. In Islam, the best place to be buried is beneath the Throne of God.

32. Aerial View
Cenotaphs, Taj Mahal, Agra, India,