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Puja and Piety

Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Art from the Indian Subcontinent
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TITLE: The Gods Adulate Durga, the Great Goddess (detail)

CREDIT: Folio from a Devimahatmya series. India, Himachal Pradesh, Kangra, early 19th century. Color and gold on paper. Lent by Narendra and Rita Parson.

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TITLE: Head of Buddha with Prominent Topknot

CREDIT: Ancient Gandhara, present-day Pakistan, 4th – 5th century. Stucco with traces of color. Anonymous Gift.

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TITLE: Digambara (Sky-Clad) Icon of the Nine Divinities (Navadevata), with a flame border and “face of glory” (kirtimukha) at the apex to ward off evil. 

CREDIT: India, Karnataka, 15th century. Brass. Lent by Narendra and Rita Parson.

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TITLE: Balarama, the Eighth Avatar of Vishnu and Elder Brother of Krishna

CREDIT: India, Madhya Pradesh, 11th century. Sandstone. Gift of Wright S. Ludington.

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This exhibition celebrates the complexity of South Asian representation and iconography by examining the relationship between aesthetic expression and the devotional practice, or puja, in the three native religions of the Indian subcontinent. Drawn from SBMA’s collection and augmented by loans, the exhibition presents some 160 objects of diverse medium created over the past two millennia for temples, home worship, festivals, and roadside shrines. From monumental painted temple hangings to meditation diagrams and portable pictures for pilgrims, from stone sculptures to processional bronzes and wooden chariots, from ancient terracottas to various devotional objects for domestic shrines, this exhibition aims to examine and provide contextualized insights for both classical and popular works of art.

This exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue featuring an introduction by the eminent art historian and curator Pratapaditya Pal, and accessible essays on each religious tradition by John E. Cort, Stephen P. Huyler, and Christian Luczanits.