2. South Asia
Dates and Places:
• 2600BCE to 1857CE
• Indian subcontinent
People:
• Cultural diversity & religious
tolerance, polytheism
• Indus civilization
• Buddhism, Hinduism (developed
in later centuries BCE and early
CE out of Vedic & Upanishad
texts)
• Buddha (figure who advocated
ascetism as end to rebirth
(samsara) and path to
enlightenment) Mithuna reliefs, Vishvanatha Temple,
• Islam (Mughal Dynasty) Khajuraho, ca. 1000. Fig. 16-14.
3. South Asia
Themes:
• Deities of Buddhism
and Hinduism
• Scenes from the
Mughal court
• Temples
Forms:
• Stupas, temples
• Idealized & stylized Vishvanatha Temple, Khajuraho, ca.
figures 1000. Fig. 16-13.
• Hieratic scaling
• Sensuality & sexuality
5. South Asia
Malwiya minaret,
Great Mosque, John Hancock
Samarra, Iraq, 848– Center,
852. Skidmore,
Owings &
Merrill LLP,
Chicago, 1965-
68
Diagram and view, Great
Stupa, Sanchi, third century
BCE to first century CE.
Fig. 16-4.
6. South Asia
• Kushan Dynasty
• Important Buddhist
monastery
• Stupa for relics of
Buddha
• Form based on burials
(world mountain)
• Three-dimensional
mandala (sacred
diagram of universe)
• Yasti corresponds to
axis of the earth (axis
mundi)
• Circumambulation to
worship, enclosed space Diagram and view, Great Stupa,
Sanchi, third century BCE to first
century CE. Fig. 16-4.
8. South Asia
#1
Yakshi, Great Stupa, Sanchi, mid-
first century BCE to early first
century CE. Fig. 16-5.
9. South Asia #1
• Kushan Dynasty
• Yakshi (goddess personifying
fertility and vegetation)
• Holds onto mango tree
branch
• Places left foot on trunk
(allows tree to flower)
• Archetype of femininity later
used to represent Maya, the
Buddha’s mother, giving birth
Yakshi, Great Stupa, Sanchi, mid-first
century BCE to early first century CE.
Fig. 16-5.
10. The Fertility Goddess
Virgin (Theotokos) and
Child between Saints
Nude Woman (Venus of Praxiteles Aphrodite of Theodore and George,
Willendorf) Knidos, ca. 350-340BCE icon, 7th century CE
28,000 - 25,000 BCE Greek Byzantine
Willendorf, Austria
11. South Asia #2
Life and death of the Buddha (Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya & First Sermon at Sarnath),
Gandhara, second century CE. Fig. 16-6.
12. South Asia #2
• Kushan Dynasty
• Stories from the life of Buddha (now
represented as robed divine figure)
• Early figural representation, narrative of
path to enlightenment
• Top: Bhumispharsha mudra – right
hand touches earth as witness to
enlightenment
• Bottom: Abhaya mudra – right hand in
blessing while preaching the Eightfold
Path to nirvana in the Deer Park at
Sarnath
• Attributes: ushnisha (cranial bump),
urna (dot between brows), halo (behind
head), Wheel of Law, thin robe
• Roman influence? (equestrian figures)
Life and death of the Buddha,
Gandhara, second century CE
13. South Asia
#3
Seated Buddha
preaching first
sermon, Sarnath,
second half of fifth
century. Fig. 16-7.
14. South Asia #3
• Gupta Period
• Standardization of Buddha’s
image
• Clinging robe, seated in lotus
position, ushnisha, urna, halo
• Eyes downcast in meditation,
hands make Wheel-turning
gesture (dharmachakra mudra)
• Wheel of Law (teaching) at
bottom (hieratic scaling)
• Smooth surface
• Indian version of idealized form
• For temple, not stupa Seated Buddha preaching first
sermon, Sarnath, second half of fifth
century. Fig. 16-7.
15. South Asia
#4
Dancing Shiva, rock-
cut relief in cave
temple, Badami,
India, 6th century CE,
fig. 16-9
16. South Asia #4
• Chaluykya dynasty
• Development of Hindu stone sculpture
& architecture
• Hinduism also polytheistic, no prophet
or founder
• Relief cut out of cliff
• Shiva (God of destruction & renewal)
one of most important gods
• Dances cosmic dance
• Multiple limbs (18) refer to superhuman
powers, perform different mudras
• Matted hair piled on head
• Rides bull (Nandi) & carries trident
• Ganesha (elephant god) mimics Shiva
• Hindu gods often part-man/part-animal
Dancing Shiva, rock-cut relief in cave
temple, Badami, India, 6th century CE,
fig. 16-9
17. South
Asia -
Mughal
Empire
BASAWAN and
CHATAR MUNI, Akbar
and the Elephant
Hawai, Akbarnama,
ca. 1590. Fig. 16-15.
18. South Asia
• Mughal Empire (16th century)
• Muslim prince Akbar
• Story of life of prince
(Akbarnama)
• Court painting workshop
(watercolor miniatures)
• Book illustrations
• Akbar tames wild elephant
• Allegory of strength and good
rule of prince
• Form to communicate event’s
chaos (collapse of bridge,
capsized boats)
• High horizon, intersecting
BASAWAN and CHATAR MUNI, Akbar
diagonals, depth, dramatic and the Elephant Hawai,
gestures Akbarnama, ca. 1590. Fig. 16-15.
20. South Asia
• Mughal Empire
• Painted watercolor miniature
• Famous artist (imperial workshop of
Jahangir, Akbar’s son & successor)
• Shows refined tastes & cosmopolitan
court
• European influences (Cupids inscribing
throne with wish for enduring rule)
• Seated on hourglass throne (sands of
time )
• Divine rule (Jahangir is haloed by sun
and crescent moon)
• Identifiable figures (painter at bottom
holding miniature & gifts, signature on
step stool)
• King James I of England, Turkish sultan,
Sufi mystic at top (at top of hierarchy
beneath emperor) BICHITR, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi
• Shaykh to Kings, ca. 1615–1618.
Significance of spiritual power
Fig. 16-16.
22. South Asia
• Mughal Empire
• Muslim monumental tomb (mausoleum)
built by Shah Jahan (Jahangir’s son) for
empress (Mumtaz Mahal)
• Dome-on-cube, illusion of
weightlessness (precedent in earlier
Islamic tombs)
• Iranian garden pavilion plan
• Octagonal plan of tomb, Iranian niches
(pointed arch), dome in crown shape
(taj), four minarets
• Proportional (width = height, dome
height = façade height)
• Interplay of light & dark
• Throne of God above the gardens of
paradise?
Secrets of the Taj Mahal, National Geographic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0n9UgiUL7o
Taj Mahal, 1632–1647. Fig. 16-1.
23. The Dome and the Pointed Arch
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of
Miletus, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (formerly
Constantinople), Turkey, 532–537 View, Great Mosque, Isfahan, Iran,
Byzantine 11th to 17th centuries, Islamic
24. Southeast Asia
Dates and Places:
• Beginning first
millennium CE
• Java, Cambodia,
Thailand, Myanmar
People:
• Influence of trade with View, Borobudur, ca. 800. Java,
Indonesia, Fig. 16-19.
India
• Buddhism, Hinduism
25. Southeast Asia
Themes:
• Temples
• Deities
Forms:
• Stone construction
• Regional taste
Angkor Wat, first half of 12th
century, Angkor, Cambodia
Fig. 16-20.
27. Southeast Asia
• Sukhothai kingdom (Thailand)
• Developed the Walking
#5
Buddha type (bronze)
• Thai attributes: broad
shoulders, narrow waist,
clinging robe
• Left foot forward, left hand
raised in abhaya (do not fear)
mudra, right arm hangs
loosely
• Flame shoots from head
• Focus on supernatural beauty
& perfection
Walking Buddha, Sukhothai, 14th
century. Fig. 16-21.