The British Museum’s Historic India, Residing Traditions exhibition brings collectively reveals on the sacred artwork of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It additionally encompasses the unfold of the devotional artwork of those traditions to different elements of Asia.
The exhibition speaks to spiritual id and relationships. Buddhism and Jainism distinguish themselves from the huge surrounding traditions that collectively we name Hinduism; however they’ve shut kinship with it in practices, beliefs and iconography. Museums which have offered sculptures in isolation have normally not tried to relate this advanced historical past.
Not all of the gadgets displayed, some going again 2,000 years, are of purely historic curiosity. There are representations of traditions which might be constantly residing in a method the gods of historical Egypt or classical Europe should not.
Essentially the most immediately recognisable instance for guests of such residing historical custom is prone to be statues of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha. Guests can see a uncommon and precious 4th century sandstone Ganesha on present. They’ll additionally see a small bronze model of that historical Ganesha that’s like the type you’d discover in individuals’s residence and to which a fast prayer could be addressed each morning.
The query of methods to respect that sense of the sacred whereas nonetheless mounting an exhibition is an ethical and aesthetic problem that few museums (together with in India) have began to deal with. It’s not unusual to see such items wrenched from the fact of their continued observe and offered in secular artwork shows. Right here, nonetheless, the curators have tried to make connections between “statues” on show and “icons” in temples and houses.
Lastly, there’s the problematic historical past of the imperial museum and its have to reckon with its previous. Most objects on show on this exhibition, and The British Museum extra broadly, have been offered with scarcely any acknowledgement of how they got here to be acquired.
The exhibition makes an earnest effort to sort out most of those points.
Historic however not useless
The areas of the exhibition are structured to be respectful of the historic and up to date sensitivities of Buddhism and Jainism. That is signalled by means of refined modifications of color and the location of translucent material, permitting for transitions between distinct Jain, Buddhist and Hindu shows.
On the identical time, conceptual and sensory commonalities are powerfully conveyed. The primary house focuses on nature spirits and demi-deities which might be shared throughout all the traditional traditions. The air is full of the sound of south Asian birds and musical devices. The explanatory labels draw consideration to the percolation of iconographic options between traditions, for example, these between the Buddha and the Jaina lecturers, or the direct inclusion of the deity of studying (Sarasvati) in each Hindu and Jain worship.
Additionally effectively offered is a remaining house on the unfold of south Asian iconography to central, east and southeast Asia. It is a lengthy story that wants its personal telling, however can solely be hinted at by means of some superbly chosen figures.
It’s the curators’ use of a neighborhood advisory panel of people that observe such traditions right now that provides the data its sensitivity. Their inclusion within the exhibition’s manufacturing will be seen in a marked mindfulness that the content material and symbols of those inert objects are alive and sacred to a whole bunch of tens of millions.
For instance, one Ganesha from Java in Indonesia attracts consideration to completely different parts of his iconography. There may be the trans-continentally secure depiction of his having a damaged tusk (which, as Hindus will know, he’s stated to have damaged off to write down down the epic Mahabharata). However this Ganesha additionally holds a cranium, which is exclusive to the Javanese model. The label gently factors out that “varied communities understood and worshipped him in a different way”.
The mix of neighborhood engagement and inventive presentation not solely conveys a way of respect for the traditions, but in addition elicits a respectful response from guests. These from inside the custom will be aware with satisfaction the outline of a logo or icon. These from exterior the traditions are invited to take a look at the reveals with consideration and care as they may in a cathedral.
I noticed a pair of younger Indian People a fossilised ammonite from Nepal that’s taken as a symbolic illustration of god for worshippers of Vishnu. They animatedly in contrast it to the one in their very own diasporic residence.
Elsewhere within the exhibition, I caught an aged English couple stood in questioning silence in entrance of a drum slab from the well-known 1st century BC Amaravathi Buddhist web site in south India. This slab was carved simply earlier than figural representations of the Buddha quickly gained in reputation. Right here, there are symbols related to him, however the Buddha himself is represented by the empty seat from whence he has gone.
How did all of it get right here?
One potential interpretive hazard lies within the emphasis on continuity between previous objects and current realities. Hindus right now from social backgrounds that didn’t have the privilege of reaching again to excessive sacred artwork would possibly ask the place they sit within the smoothed out historic narrative. Extra broadly, there isn’t any acknowledgement of the complexity of Hindu id and its formation throughout centuries, areas, social strata, languages and theologies.
The weakest a part of this exhibition’s usually progressive retelling is the faint-hearted method through which it obliquely acknowledges the doubtful acquisition means of the British Museum. To say one thing was “collected” by a serious common “whereas serving within the East India Firm military” is hardly going through as much as the query with which the exhibition boldly begins: “How did it get right here?”
This exhibition provides a strong visible narrative of the multi-spiritual traditions of historical India, mounted with sensitivity to their residing communities right now. Its immersive presentation is interesting, and the story it tells is respectful and progressive.
The duty of trustworthy self-representation and tough conversations on reparation stay. Inside that bigger crucial, Historic India, Residing Traditions is a step in the appropriate path. It’s a path in direction of addressing context, responsiveness and engagement that museums can not ignore.
Historic India, Residing Traditions in on at The British Museum, London till October 19 2025
Ram Prasad, Fellow of the British Academy and Distinguished Professor within the Division Politics, Philosophy and Faith, Lancaster College
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