Find Sacred
Art in India
When visiting India, with its rich and ancient history, sacred art is not difficult to locate. "Shilpa" (art) reflects Indian cosmology that experiences all life as reflections of the Divine. In India, art is an umbrella term that includes what Westerners think of as art, crafts, love-making, even engineering. Artists, "shilpin," are masters of sacred magic who create ways to experience the Divine in material life. Indian art, then, is less an artist's personal comment, rather he has tapped into the level of shared human unconscious, the realm of the archetypes. Visitors to India are invited to expand their assumptions about art.
Instructions
1. Look to Hindu deities for artistic expressions. Visit Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu for representations of Nataraja, Dancing Shiva. Shiva is the Lord of the Dance and is familiar to many visitors. He dances with one foot raised, encircled by fire, which represents nature's force. Shiva's dance is a dance of liberation, moksha, freedom that resides at the center of all being, regardless of material entrapments. Shiva holds a drum that echos the sound of the Universe, AUM. He holds his lower right in the mudra of no fear. "Om Nama Shivaya" is Shiva's chant, each syllable equated to Nataraja's five elements. Dancing Shivas are made from five elements, representing the unity found in all Indian sacred art.
2. Attend Classical Indian dance at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. Classical dances in which every movement has been performed for millennium, based on sacred texts' instructions. Considered to be the best classical dance representations of India's sacred cultural heritage, Chidambaram perform many legends. The Cosmic Dance of Shiva reenacts Shiva's and Kali's legendary duel.
3. Explore and enjoy Indian classical music with its roots in Indian Temple worship and the courts of Indian royalty. In the West, perhaps the best known is sitar music. However, there is much more to experience. Classical Indian music, which includes ragas, emits sacred vibrations that resonate within the listener at every level. Structured so that notes proceed from the ear to the energy core, shakti, some ragas resonate with the energies of different times of day. Karnatak and Hindustani music, the two forms of Indian classical music, are performed in South India's four states.
4. Catch, if you can, one of India's traveling puppet shows. With puppets that depict Hindu gods and goddesses, traveling puppeteers perform episodes from classic Indian texts such as the epic poem, The Mahabharata, from which The Bhagavad Gita is pulled. Puppeteers and their leather puppets are invited as part of village rituals throughout the year. This art form is losing ground in an increasingly modern and westernized India.
5. Attend an Indian craft fare. Rangoli is a classical Indian folk craft. Using colored rice powder and other colored media, such as flowers, rangoli patterns are created outside the entrances to homes. Generally, rangoli are painted from mid-December to mid-January.
Tags: Classical Indian, classical music, Find Sacred, Find Sacred India, five elements