asian art history: museum paper(chinese painting)

JIANG

Prof. Ema Kubo Thomas

ARTHIS193-1147

Will Jiang

Museum Visit Paper

March, 21, 2018

The Hindu Deities Shiva

In the social setups of the world's vast cultures, artwork constitutes a fundamental part of the majority of the cultures. Each community in its capacity process its own artwork ranging from the primitive forms to the complex ones still seen to date that is, some artworks once seen can be used to describe a particular group irrespective of where it is seen. In the Asian context, the artwork has been influenced by various parameters of social existence including religious beliefs as well as the cultures of the individual communities making the Asian continent. They include paintings, sculptures, and abstractions from the originally done works. The Asian art is endowed with various arts including Cambodian art, Thai art, Vietnam's art, Nepalese art, Chinese art, Indian art among other various arts.For this piece, the art of particular concern is the Indian art which was mainly socially oriented as they formed important aspects of the Hinduism deity.The art of particular concern is the Shiva Buddha sculpture which formed part of the six traditions within Hinduism. The piece also seeks to identify its physical components, iconography and its general outlook.

The Shiva Buddha sculpture was an artwork done portraying the general outlook of slaying demons with fiery characters. From these characteristics, the Shiva is considered all powerful with the ability to solve numerous life challenges. The fierce aspects of Shiva also make it extraordinary which would make foreigners shun away hence it identified solely with the Indian community.

The Shiva art was composed of several iconographies of which each had unique functions. It had a snake-like portrait tied around its neck, this showed the ability of Shiva to regenerate the blessings based on the ability of snakes to regenerate their skin, it also had a crescent moon and a third eye which was put on its forehead, this showed the powerful ability of Shiva to see and experience things which ordinary human beings could not access or do. He also had a weapon known as the Damaru, This showed his ability to create and destroy at will. A river considered to be sacred flows from the hair of the portrait. This showed the ability of Shiva to promote the prosperity of the lands1. The Shiva when looked also portrays a meditating facial expression showing his versatility to deal with the numerous, life challenges.Also; the Shiva had rosary beads which he carried on his right hand showing the grace and good life associated with him. Finally, the Shiva had a blueish throat which was due to the sacred fluids which Shiva drank meant to appease him when an occurrence considered destructive was foreseen. All these iconographs majorly portrayed the characteristics of Shiva as a god.

The Shiva Buddha sculpture has a long history since its inception. It has existed long ago ever the existence of the Indian race. Research on its inception is always majorly based on speculations but available evidence shows that the Shiva sculpture emerged as an amalgam of several deities which existed several years back2. Local deities which were representing and portraying different forms of worship began to merge forming a god which was worshiped as Shiva. The Shiva worship also became more widespread throughout the periods through Shiva based writings, which stressed that Shiva, man and spiritual mentality of man was one thing, became the norm of operation in the Indian social platform. The Shiva worship has advanced and has remained part of the Indian social system up to date.

The Shiva was made from rock materials which were articulately curved to portray the required attributes. An area considered sacred is considered like a temple where the Shiva would be housed, the Shiva is represented by lingam always put in different forms.At some instance, the face of Shiva is seen to be curved in a stone and some other instance the lingam is made to stand tall with the representation of entire Shiva's body in it. This just shows some of the major forms with which the Shiva carvings could be made

The posture once made was put in the temple with an upright standing posture where the worshippers could look directly into. The Shiva was made with proportionality larger than the normal humans, that is, it was enormous to show its powerful abilities. Moreover, the region where the Shiva was placed was always enclosed with some unique drapery which was mainly placed during some special occasions.As a way of portraying naturality, the Shiva is curved in a way to show a dancing posture. These dancing styles are always some of the Indian ways of operation hence depicting originality. Additionally, the third eye shows originality in Indian culture as seen in the red mark always seen on the forehead of the Indian people.

Finally, Shiva had similarities to “Vishnu” who was the life preserver a function which is done on the Shiva portrait by having a snake rolled on its neck to foster regeneration of lives3.However, the Shiva had differences with the other artworks in that it is considered a god on its own while the other portraits are always enhancements to appease the gods which are considered unseen. Additionally, the shiva on itself is made up of a different artwork that is it is an amalgam while the other artworks are always individually made.

In conclusion, The Shiva Buddha sculpture since its inception into the Indian culture has played a fundamental role in their social set up. He is considered to be a god of destruction who would be appeased by making it drink some specially prepared fluids. Additionally, the Shiva has different roles which are depicted in its architecture, for example, the snake tied around its neck to show the regeneration capability. It is also seen that Shiva could be curved in into specific forms based on requirement. Due to the modernizations, the Shiva is made portable hence can be moved from one region to the next depending on the religious requirement.

References

1 Kinney, Ann R., Marijke J. Klokke, Lydia Kieven, and Rio Helmi. 2003. Worshiping Shiva and Buddha: the temple art of East Java. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

2 Brown, Rebecca M., and Deborah S. Hutton. 2011. A companion to Asian art and architecture. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

3 Low, Patrick Kim Cheng, and Balakrishnan Muniapan. "Organisational development and the Hindu trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva on leadership, culture and change." International Journal of Indian culture and business management 4, no. 5 (2011): 491-505.