Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
the
feminised pnvate domam, the East reigned spmtually
had the task of modernizing India, women, even those haVIng acqmred
western education, were required to uphold Hindu religiosity. At this
juncture, worshipping and tradition became interlo:ked with gender
and art. Goddess worship in particular was already considered degenerate
by most colonialists and many Hindu nationalists. The of
Hindu art also proceeded in terms of the women who worshipped the
deities of polytheistic Hinduism. With the bifurcation of culture, the task
of performing rituals, particularly devotions to the god?ess,
women's work.
43
Many scholars saw these rituals, and the Icons at their
centre, as genealogically linked to a feminised :hus
Hindu art became doubly feminine, by its associatlon w1th medieval
Hinduism and by its centrality to women's rituals.
Patriarchal nationalists also asserted that discarding the degenerate
traditions of medieval Hinduism and returning to advaita would facilitate
the national reformation project. This collusion of nationalism with-, _
religious and societal reformation had a impact on the of
Indian, particularly Hindu, art. As the natlonahst agenda was
and consolidated with the changing relationship between India and
Britain, literary texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas gained
dominance over other texts and discourses. While Indian literature had
long been valued and studied in the European search for
logocentric European scholars devalued indigenous
Hindu nationalists too turned largely to literature to claim then own
origins and create an authentic Hindu tradition. But an even m?re
important factor in the marginalization of Hindu art was the perceptlon
of both nationalists and colonial scholars that the subject matter of much
artistic production, particularly sculpture, was too sensual in
content. Voluptuous women, copulating couples, gods by
phallic symbols and goddesses by vaginal symbols were all considered too
obscene, especially in a context where art and religion had been
inseparably linked.
The nationalist embarrassment extended particularly to the
"immodesty" of the women depicted in Hindu art. 'Whereas the literary
tradition could more easily be reconstituted, ancient Hindu artifacts
exhibiting women as sensual and sexual beings could not as easily be
erased from the national landscape.
44
For the nationalists, the best
34 ANNAPURNA GARIMELLA
tradition was to ignore or mask those aspects of older artistic production
that proved embarrassing. However, since women are a central theme in
anciei!lt Hindu art, the process of marginalizing these "embarrassing"
aspects led to the diminution of Indian art in general and Hindu art in
particular.
Counterdiscourse
Until this point in my argument, I have read Indian art history as
a gendered discourse which seeks to identifY and evaluate a lack or
an absence. The question remains whether gender, as a representational
technology, enables an empowering counterdiscourse. I offer the
writings of Ananda Coomaraswamy as one such counterdiscourse.
Perhaps the most eminent nationalist historian of Indian art,
Coomaraswamy utilized the technology of gender to achieve two
simultaneous yet contradictory effects. First, he ascribed the fallen
status of Indian philosophy to insensitive European scholars who
perverted it into effeminacy. Taking colonial and European critiques
of Indian art into account, he wrote
Asia is like the artist in the modern city-doing nothing great, mainly
because nothing is demanded of him: it is enough if he pleases and amuses
us, we do not take him seriously. It is with something of this romantic
attitude that Europe and America have regarded India. The merely
philological studies of the universities have been conducted in such an arid
fashion as to be comparatively inaccessible to artistic spirits: on the other
hand, Indian thought has been popularized and perverted in many forms
that are vague, mysterious and feminine, and so brought into disrepute.
45
(italics mine)
Second, Coomaraswamy sought to reverse colonial characterizations
of Indian thought. To achieve this end, he adopted the strategy of
gendering Indian thought as a masculinised discourse. Reversing a
Hegelian dialectic which represented India as a lack, Coomaraswamy
utilized Sanskrit texts and Hindu and Buddhist art objects to reconstruct
Indian culture through the tropes of"vigour" and "calmness." Realigning
the colonial scholar's rhetoric oflndian passivity, he argued that Indian
thought was essentially vigorous and the Indian mind essentially calm.
But various colonial forces and their westernizing, "progressive" missions
corrupted this idyllic state.
46
India's antiquity and Indians' natural
intellectual vigour and calmness meant that Indians had arrived at
solutions for weighty philosophical matters long before the West.
Turning to his own historical moment, Coomaraswamy lamented that
"the impetuosity of youth cannot completely compensate for the insight
of age," therefore he demanded from "a coming race that men should
"""lrt- "' ... ,..;t-h ,:::.no10rr-ru -::anrl t-hinlr "':Arith Ac:.i-::atlr r".:\lTn "47 J..fp
Engendering Indian Art 35
peacefully, while each remained ontologically separate. The difference
in his dialectical model is that, ideally, there would be no hierarchy; both
the East and the West were equals engaged in the complementary task
of constituting a new world order. But because Asia was currently
devalued he took on the task of elevating its culture. Through his
writings, he endowed Indian culture, particularly artistic production,
with a quality which European scholars generally regarded as lacking:
the agency to produce through conceptual thought. It is exactly this
agenda that compelled him to state
the whole process, up to the point of manufacture, belongs to the
established order of personal devotions, in which worship is paid to an
image mentally conceived ( dhyatva yajet); in any case, t.."lle principle
involved is that true knowledge of an object is not obtained by merely
empirical observation or reflex registration (prayaksa), but only when the
knower and known, seer and seen, meet in an act transcending distinction
(anayar advaita).
48
By linking the Indian artist's creative process with conception and
advaita, Coomaraswamy reinserted intention and idealism into the
creative act. The Indian spirit is no longer a blind force residing mome-
ntarily in the empty vessel of the artist's body; instead the relationship
is one of interaction, a conscious coming together of distinct beings who
wilfully transcend their individuality for the creation to take place.
Refuting Hegel's characterization of Hinduism and Hindu art as
overwhelmed by a propensity for delusion with a dependence on the
imagination or fantasy, he turned to the Hindu philosophical construct
of maya (usually defined as illusion), and stated that "maya is not
properly delusion, but strictly speaking creative power, shakti, the
principle of manifestation."
49
Whereas, for many European scholars,
maya had been indicative of the sorry state of India's feminised
consciousness and deformed creative capacities, Coomaraswamy
the concept to reassert Indian intellectual superiority. For him,
maya entailed acknowledgment of the idea that all creation is illusory,
and that Indian intellectuals have historically recognized its value and
limitations.
50
By linking artistic production to maya and shakti (both
feminine and feininise'd abstractions), Coomaraswamy accepted a
gendered art Yet this gendering extracted art from the
domain oflack or absence, and located it in the domain of plenitude and
presence.
This rhetorical manoeuvre allowed him to return image worship into
the hierarchy of ritual and intellectual worship, although he remained
ambivalent about the value of image worship in and of itself. Writing
about the instrumentality of icons, he stated
-- __ , ---- : ______ ,_ --- .......... 1 ............
:I
_;\NNAPURNA GARIMELLA
visited temples and worshipped images, and certainty these greatest
thinkers did not do so blindly or unconsciously. A human necessity was
recognized, the nature of the necessity was understood, its psychology
systematically analyzed, the various phases of image worship, mental and
immaterial, were defined, and the variety of forms explained by the
doctrines of emanation and of gracious condescension. 5
1
tasks of analysis, systemization and definition were performed
the "intellectual orthodoxy," that is the Brahmin male elite.
52
'maraswamy thus reintegrated image worship into the range of
;ible theological stances assumed by a sentient worshipper, but only
n a feminised Hinduism was refined and made rigorous under the
lage of Hindu priests. While refuting Mill's characterization of
:sts as oppressors, he continued to imagine an intellectual and
tical hierarchy where. benevolent and enlightened priests guided a
:eful populus. Ultimately, Coomaraswamy used this argument to
rt Hindu monotheism by stating that "Indian religion adapts herself
t infinite grace to every human need ... the multiplicity of the forms
nages, coinciding with the development of monotheistic Hinduism,
es from various causes, all ultimately referable to the diversity of need
n.dividua:ls and groups."
53
Multiplicity of images is then what allows
theological synthesis" and "growth of theological speculation."
54
one rhetorical stroke, Coomaraswamy both reimagined Hindu
vtheism as essentially monotheistic and gave Hinduism the cachet of
losophy. Hinduism now is even better than "dogmatically
n.otheistic" religions like Christianity and Islam because of its sponge-
' feminine nature. In its capacity to embrace many diverse ways of
shipping, a flexible Hinduism reaches a wider audience, peacefully,
le maintaining its monotheistic essence.
utilized gender to individuate and portray an "othered"
stic production as well. In t.l,.e now well-known art historical debate,
countered his primary challenger, French scholar A. Foucher
) argued for the Greek origin of the Buddha image in Gandhara,
characterizing these Hellenized images as faulty. Coomaraswamy
ued that Gandharan Buddhas and Boddhisattvas with their "listlessness
l effeminate gestures" failed to "reflect the intellectual vigour or
devotional passion of Buddhist thought."
55
Applying the same
torical brush used by colonial scholars like Cunningham, the Indian
ionalist scholar dismissed these works. Because Gandharan Buddhas
e listless and effeminate and because they used a "foreign" artistic
abulary, they could not possibly be true, Buddhist creations. According
Coomaraswamy, the beauty of a truly Indian, Buddhist image
:ded to reflect the .rigorousness and devotion of a passionately
mind-set. Because Gandharan Buddha images are faulty
I
. '
Engendering Indian Art 37
" certain Indian formulae and Indian ideas are misrepre-
at Gandhara, for misrepresentation implies the
pre-existence of a type to
Through this
the origin of the Buddha Image IS once agam returned to an Indian
provenance.
Conclusion
Throughout this essay, I have read art history as a
cultural discourse by tracing its progressiOn through the wntmgs of
both colonial and nationalist scholars. In the writings of Ananda
Coomaraswamy, I identified a counterdiscourse which sought tq resist
colonial representations of India and Indian culture through a process
of masculinisation. I have also read this counterdiscourse as a process
characterized by an ambivalence to Indian artistic production. while
Coomaraswamy masculinised Indian thought, Hinduism and its art
remain feminised in his writings. This allowed him to construct and
maintain his concept of a feminised Hindu tradition while allowing
for masculine intellectual stewardship. In a dialectic such as
Coomaraswamy's, feminisati.on may be empowering but only to the
degree that masculinised forces are in control. Clearly,. one cannot
speak here of feminisation as an empowenng mode of
representation. Feminisation here is a cultural proce.ss. can only
exist in relation to its -dominant counterpart, mascuhmsatwn.
Cultural historian Pupuljayakar,justifying the title of her book, states
that, "Reviewing the book, I felt the title The Earth Motherwould be more
appropriate, for the book deals with that germ of female energy
which all manifestations-nature, the arts, ritual and symbol-emerge."o
7
Striking an apocalyptic, note on the devaluation of tradition and
femininity, she seeks to refeminise an artistic tradition in order to save
the Goddess and her material manifestations from extinction. The
language Jayakar uses is familiar; Mill, Hegel,
Coomaraswamy, and many others have used it both to demgrate and
elevate Indian art. While I laud her mission, I cannot but see it as trapped
by its own binarism. The spectre of feminine inadeq_uacy and its polar
opposite, masculine supremacy, is always present; gender, as a mode of
representation, culls its metaphoric power from this polarization. With
this, I am left asking if feminisation as representational strategy
signifies anything but an inadequacy or lack? For Jayakar, the answer 1s,
yes. F eminisation allows her to wrench Indian art from a space of
modernity, westernizations and cultural disenfranchisement. But the
terms of her valorization-tradition, female energy-are historically so
overdetermined that their continued uncritical usage further embodies
these problematic constructs. A simple reversal begins the
.
ANNAPURNA GARIMELLA
.t art to a discursive space created by colonial and nationalist
olarship. In this intellectual and political sphere, feminisation is a
Jious strategy for empowerment.
What does all this mean then for the writing of Indian art history?
tere can a scholar find cracks and crevices to tease out other
;sibilities in the discourse? In colonial and neo-colonial writings on
lia's cultural history, India is arrested in history, occasionally prodded
) movement by the injection offoreign genius. Nationalist historians
i their sympathizers insert a dialectic through oppositions such as
.ovation versus tradition, royal versus lay patronage, women's versus
n's patronage, originality versus imitation, to reinscribe the process
:hange and contestation in India's cultural history. Yet such dialectical
noeuvres too, as Partha Chatterjee has argued, are gendered
tstructions.
would argue that these strategies need to be criticized till they no
ger have the capacity to signifY historical practices in polarized,
tdered terms. Art production as practice, as object, as context, as text,
:ds to be historicized to the point that generalizations rendered in
Ldered language cease to hold water. For example, why did specific
trts sponsor eroticized representations in art and to what ends? Who
dered and negotiated these representations? What architectural
ts did they produce and with what kinds of meaning? Leaving aside
production sponsored by courts, what kind of representations were
:le outside of this ambit? Even in moments where information is only
[lable through elite texts, scholars need to read against the grain to
cgine alternative histories. If this process proves an impossibility, that
>ossibility needs to be theorized and an absence acknowledged in
er to create a presence. It is by performing such analytical tasks that
es of"v"omen and men as patrons, subjects, objects, producers can be
.ressed with the utmos.t degree of scholarly integrity and intellectual
ght. Femininity (and masculinity) as construct, as representation, can
n be articulated in differential terms. Perhaps it may become possible
rrite of other spaces, texts, times when gender operated in other ways.
Kknowledge, represent and structure this difference, scholars need
rrive at critical strategies that provide us with the capacity to deal with
orical specificities and nuances that result in the production of any
This essay has been one attempt to start that process.
tes
esa de Lauretis, "Semiotics and Experience," in Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics,
ema (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984), p.l8.
: Rogoff, "From Ruins to Debris: The Feminization of Fascism in
:man-History Museums," in Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles, eds.
liel T. Sherman anrl Trit Roo-nff r..f' 1\lf;_V\,....,Ol"r..t-..... P ...... .:.c-co
I
Engendering Indian Art
1 k "Femi.nism Art History and Sexual Difference," Genders 3 (1988):
3 Lisa 1c ner; ' d
99. Gayatri Spivak has described her attempts to gen eras represen-
P . 1n what ways in what contexts, under what kmds of race and class
taUon as ' ki d fth' "
u s gender is used as what kind of signifier to cover over what n o mgs.
situa on ' p t dern Art and
'th nr-'ter Adamson in Discourses: Conversatwns zn os mo
Intemew Wl vvd.l M . N M
Culture, ed. Russell Ferguson, et al. (New York and Cambndge, ass.. ew u-
of Contem orary Art and The MIT Press, 1991), p.107. . .
' French Thought," in Nature, Culture and Gender, eds: C.P. McCormack and
(New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), pp.25-
.
4
1. d. 1 1 dia (Oxford and Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell, 1990), 6 See Ron In en, magmzng n ..
.36-43, for a fuller account of these two of:vnung. . , .
an Prakash, "Writing Post-Orientalist Histones of the Th1rd m
and Culture, ed. Nicholas B. Dirks (Ann Arbor: Umverslty of
Michigan Press, 1992), p.355.
8
Ibid. . . 6
9Nicholas B. Dirks, "Introduction," in Colomalzsm and Culture, op. cit., P. .
here to underline the specifically character of
post-Enlightenment notions about the driving force orgamzmg thed For.
a discussion of this concept as well as "humanity," see Raymon I 1ams,
E ds (New York Oxford University Press, 1983), pp.188-89.
eywor . M h.M l' dMonsters (Chicao-o: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 12 Partha Mitter, uc a zgne "
p.73.
13 Prakash, op. cit., p.357.
14
Dirks, op. cit., p.9.
15 Mitter, op. cit., pp. 73 . . 11 l d
1s I d t p 43-44 First, it must come to the attenuon of mte ectua s an
n en, op. Cl ., P . d f Second
elites that have the capadty to affect imperial institutions an prac ,
the text must have the capacity to resonate with not stnctly mvolved
in the discipline, allowing its use by business and lea_ders as as
h l blc Thi'rd the text's authority rests on 1ts capac1ty to proVIde a
t e genera pu I , . 1 fil th
totalizing account of every aspect of Indian life, even scho ar I e
essence of Indiathrough one trope. Lastly, ach1evmg the t ree
the the_ discourse, forcmg all subsequent wnters to
contend with it in order to drum ngorousness. .
I write this with the understanding that tracing a one-to-one, _lme_ar
correlation between Mill or Hegel and all subsequent writing in Indo logy_ Is fuule
and beside the point. A hegemonic text has the power to :he
it creates and is rooted in it precisely because its presence felt m d1rect
indirect ways. The models instituted by Mill and Hegel Indology m a
diffuse and diverse manner, even when __
40 ANNAPURNA GARIMELLA
did so using the information gathered by Orientalists. In other words, Mill's anti-
India campaign would not have been possible without Orientalism.
18
This text was later used by scholars, students and civil servants of the East India
Company to know and rule this colony.
19
James Mill, The History of British India, ed. H.H. Wilson (rev. ed., London:
]. Madden, Piper, Stephenson and Spence, 1858), I, p.131.
20
Gauri Viswanathan, Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India (New,
York: Columbia University Press, 1989), p.121. ..
21
Ibid., p.l22.
22
Quotced in Viswanathan, p.130.
23
Mill, II, pp.l-33.
24
G.W.F. Hegel, Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art, trs. T.M. Knox (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1975), pp.1, 14. I:Iegel was not particularly interested in writing a history of
India but rather in synthesizing its essence into his grand disquisitions on the
philosophy of religion, history, the mind and aesthetics. But in order to
produce an authoritative, totalizing work, he claimed that subjectivities of other
cultures, both past and non-European, needed to be taken into account. For ex-
ample, when he spoke of scientific ways of treating beauty and art, Hegel identi-
fied four basic requirements: the first is an easy familiarity with
"immeamrable realm of individual works of art, ancient and modern, some of
which have already perished in reality or belong to distant lands or continents
and which the of fate has withdrawn from our own inspection."
Second, a vast accumulation of historical facts; third, the possession of a good
visual memory to recall details at will and perform comparative work. Finally
when all this has taken place, of art can be generated. And scholars could
only generate wholistic and valid theories of art by emphasizing broadness of
material and scope. Hegel also emphasized looking beyond one's own
national boundaries; by analyzing the subjectivity of others, the scholar can de-
fine the self more accurately. The Hegelian dialectic is furiously at work in this
formulation: by opposing other cultures to his own, he was able to construct a
synthetic and totalizing philosophy of aesthetics.
25
Ibid., p.94.
26
Ibid.
27
Hegel, p.3.
28
Hegel, pp.3-4.
29
Ibid., p.4.
30
For an extended discussion and critique of the dialectical model in Indian art
history, see Mitter, op. cir., pp.189-220.
31
Ibid., pp.257-59.
32
Alexander Cunningham, The Bhilsa Topes or, Buddhist Monuments of Central hidia
Comprising a Brief Historical Sketch of the Rise, Progress and Decline of Buddhism with an
Account of the Opening Examination of the Various Groups of Topes around Bhilsa
(Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1966), pp.2-3.
33
Ibid., X.
34
Ibid:, p.22.
35
Christopher Pinney, "Underneath the Banyan Tree: William Cooke and
Photogral?hic Depictions of Caste," in Anthrf!Pology and Photography 1860-1920, ed.
Elizabeth Edwards (New Haven and London: Yale University Press and The Royal
Anthropological Institute, pp.1992), 165-73. He writes of some colonial photog-
............. t... ... :- T--1!- __ ,_!_1-" . - -
Engendering Indian Art 41
P
rocess which renders darkness increasingly visible and the
turn, a d' 1 'bl "
object of colonial scrutiny correspon mg y mVISI e.
36 Cunningham, op. cit., p.2. . C 1987) 301
3
1 A.L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (repnnt, Bombay: Rupa o., P
Experiments in the Sacred (New York: Harper Collins,
1991), p.69. . . . d
40 "Indian" in this discourse of rdentrty, means Hm u. . r d W .
41 Partha Chatterjee, "Colonialism, Nationalism and Coloma. rze omen.
The Contest in India," American Ethnologist vol. 16, 4 (Nov. pp.622-33.
42
da K Coomaraswamy, Dance of Shiva: Essays on Indzan Art and.
- New York: Dover Publica?ons, Inc., 1985) represents the art hrstoncal
aspect of this nationalist constructron. , p
1
43See Sumanta Banerjee's article titled "Marginalization of s Sopu
Culture in Nineteenth Century Bengal," in Recasting Women, eds. Kum urn angan
and Sudesh Vaid (Delhi: Kali for Women, 1989), pp.127-79. PT< E l' h 7i s
44 This hap; ens in literature as well. See Manmatha Nath Dutt, A os;18ngSzs e
lation of Harivamsa (Calcutta: Elysium Press, 1897), note on P: . e T t"
d K Lalita "Empire Nation and the Lrterary ex '
c'-uzture and Colonialism in India, eds. T. Niran jana,
V. Dhareshwar (Calcutta: Seagull Books, pp.199-219, for the hrstory o
ne text's collision with colonialism and nationalism. . .
0
d K C wamy ''Yioung India" in The Dance of Shzva, op.crt., p.l36.
45 Anan a oomaras , ' ddh' F
46 He too understood Indian art to be the art of Hinduism and Bu. rsm. or
example, his History of Indian and Indonesian Art largely ignores Persran and Arab
genealogiesC. "lrltellectual Fraternity" in The Dance of Shiva, op.cit.,
47 Ananda K. oomaraswamy, '
p.114. "Theory of Art in Asia " in Transformation of Nature in
48 Ananda K Coomaraswamy,
Art treprint New York: Dover Publications, 1956), p.6.
49 and Use of Images in India," p.158.
50
Ibid.
51
Ibid., p.162.
52
Ibid.
53
Ibid., p 161.
54
Ibid. . .
ss Ibid., "Buddhist Primitives," in The Dance of Shzva, op.crt., p.54.
56
Ibid., p.53. d Rit z Arts oif India (New
s7Pupu1Jayakar, The Earth Mother: Legends, Goddesses an ua
York: Harper & Row, 1990), xii.
VISHAKHA N. DESAI
Reflections on the History and
Historiography of Male Sexuality
in Early Indian Art
)
iscussions of issues of gender and feminism within the context
of an art historical discourse generally focus on the re-
tmination or re-evaluation of the role and representation of women
art. Thus, a study of Indian art history from a feminist perspective
1ld raise new questions about the role of women as art patrons or
to explore issues around representations of women as fertility
rits and/ or sexual objects. One could also try to understand the
eption of female representations by male and/ or female audiences
whom they were intended. Another way to use a feminist
spective on existing scholarship, as argued by feminist scholars
rma Broude and Mary Gerrard, would be to raise new questions
mt materials previously ignored or ask fundamental questions
mt art history as a humanistic discipline and so develop new
:ghts.
1
[his preliminary study of the significance of male sexuality in Indian
from the Kushan period, in and around Mathura, and about the
l.trllent of these images in scholarly literature is born of a feminist
spective, in that it raises questions about an important facet oflndian
which may have been ignored, at least partially, due to the traditionaJ
le dominance of scholarship.
2
['he genesis of this paper goes back to a casual conversation I had
1 a colleague at the exhibition of Indian sculpture at the National
lery of Art during the Festival of India in the U.S. in 1985. An art
.orian with a specialization in Chinese art and a serious interest in
ian art, my friend remarked how surprised she was to find such
:aphic rendering of male sexuality in early Indian sculptures. While
was aware of the importance of linga worship as well as of
1ictions of an erect penis in Shiva images such as the Lakulisa, it
the ever-present rendering of the male organ in other images,
uding the Buddha figures in the Kushan period, that she was
>repared for. We talked about the fact that while textbooks and
er publications were replete with descriotions of
i
The History and Historiography of Male Sexuality 43
Fig. 1 Semi-divine male figure of the second or third century A.D.,
Kushan, Mathura region.
44 VISHAKHA N. DESAI
significantly lacking. As one often does with such observations, I tucked
the conversation away somewhere in the back of my mind, thinking
that I would like to work on this problem some day. Casual rumination
over the years about the development of sculpture from the Kushan
to Gupta periods suggested that the topic was indeed worth pursuing,
not only because of the lack of discussion on it, but also because of
the possible significance of changes in the depiction of male figures
between these early phases of Indian art.
Even a cursory glance at representations of the standing images of
the Buddha, Bodhisattvas and other semi-divine male figures of the
second and third centuries A.D. from the Mathura region reveals a very
specific emphasis on the sexual organs of the images (Fig. 1). While
it is generally acknowledged that such Kushan images from Mathura
display great vigour and physicality, detailed descriptions of male
sexuality are conspicuous by their absence. This is particularly striking
when contrasted with descriptions of female sexuality, set in
abundant detail throughout the history of early Indian art. References
to the full, perfectly rounded breasts, broad hips and frank sexuality
of the female figure are so common that one can hardly read a text
on Indian art without coming across them numerous times.
Benjamin Rowland, for example, describes the female images in
early Indian art thus:
The implication of the Indian Goddess' procreative powers is contained
in the exaggeration of the globular pendulousness of the breasts which
appear like "golden jars," and there is a corresponding frank emphasis on
the widespread hips and pudenda .... the interlocking of the subtly
swelling convex plane that defines the bosom, abdomen and pelvis serves
to demonstrate, in appropriately abstract terms, the roundness and fullness
and warmth of an actual body without in any way negating the nature of
the medium.
3
Even Coomaraswamy, who has dealt with the conceptual basis of
nudity in Indian art more extensively than most other scholars, dwells at
greater length on descriptions of female nudity: "It will, indeed, have
been observed that there is scarcely a single female figure represented
in early Indian art without erotic suggestion of some kind, implied or
explicitly expressed and emphasized; nowhere, indeed has the vegetative
sexual motif been presented \vith greater frankness or transparency ... "
4
In descriptioD:s of specific Kushan period sculptures from Mathura
as well, authors are generally much more forthcoming on female
sexual body parts: "The rendering of the breasts with well-defined
nipples, the fleshy torso and the stomach wi.th deeply set navel are
more realistic ... ,"
5
or the following, "Although the heavy breasts,
-:::.rnnlP h;nc;: ":llT"''rl fJ,:::.cohu th;n-'hco a. .......... -rl-....,.. ... ........ t... ... y,..;,......,.l -..-.o.. ... .o. ...... ,..a.
...
The History and Historiography of Male Sexuality 45
volume. . . . Nevertheless, the
sensuous quality of the body is
enhanced by the upper edge of the
garment that 'closely hugs the hips
and the two fleshy arcs that indicate
the buttocks."
6
Fig. 2 Indra, red sandstone, Kushan
period, Mathura style, Ahicchatra (?)
second antnn. A. n. (Phntn: The
Notwithstanding the fact that early
Indian female figures are indeed
quite voluptuous and combine
notions of fertility and eroticism, it is
rather striking that the sexuality of
male figures is consistently under-
emphasized or not mentioned at all.
In the publication where Benjamin
Rowland describes female nudity at
length, his description of an early
male nude sculpture is particularly
vague by contrast:
... this statuette is completely Indian
in the sculptor's realisation of the
essential image, a symbolic rather
than descriptive representation of
anatomy, in which the articulation
of the body is realised in broad
convex planes of modeling .... the
fact that the figure appears potbellied
is therefore, iconographically,
completely right and truthfuL ... this
is not a literal imitation, such as one
finds i.n western sculpture, but a
suggestion of fleshiness by such
properly sculptural and abstract
devices as the interlocking of the
smooth and softly modelled convex
plane of the torso and the
exaggeration of the depth of the
naveL
7
The fact that the male figure in
question also has very well articu::'
lated male genitals is simply not
merrtioned.
8
This is clearly a pattern mth most
descriptions of male nudes, even
46 VISHAKHA N. DESAI
visible as is the case with most of the standing male figures from
Mathura in the Kushan period. ,Note, for example, the descriptions
of some male figures in various publications. The sexual organs of the
standing large figure of Indra are abundantly evident (Fig. 2) but the.
art historical description of the image avoids any such mention:" ... the
style of the lower part of the body-with a transparent dhoti, a kutisutra
belt and a scarf that comes from the back and loops across the right
leg to the wrist of the left arm in the mode known as satavallika-
although found in early images such as those in the Friar Bala group,
is more closely related to the mature Mathura style."
9
For all of the
visual specificity according to the description of the drapery, the only
thing not mentioned is the scarcely concealed sexual organ of the
figure.
Another description of a Kushan Bodhisattva image will serve to
make the point about the lack of emphasis on male sexuality, quite
dear (Fig. 3). Once again the figure is as nude in appearance as
any female image of the Kushan period: its nudity is emphasized
through a transparent undergarment and through the heavy twisted
sash just above the penis. The description of the figure avoids any
mention of it:
The present sculpture, conceived in the round, is minus its head, arms and
feet. Its sensitive modelling and great beauty, as well as heroic size, classifY
it as one of the major images of this type that came from Mathura. The
Bodhisattva displays a slight tribhanga stance; his left arm rested on the hip
~ h e r e part ofthe.hand and the wrist remain), while the right one possibly
held a flywhisk (cauri) over the right shoulder. The transparent dhoti, with
the fabric gathered between the legs and its hemline marked, is held in
place by a narrow sash (partially visible on the left side) that is incised with
a rosette pattern and ends in tassels. Over it is a bulky scarf (uttariya)
that terminates in a loop on the left hip of the figure and cascades along
the side of the body. A single necklace made of strands of beads joined
by clasps (phalakahara) and bracelets (valaya) on the wrist of the remaining
left hand complete the Bodhisattva's attire.
10
Such descriptions of the sexuality of the male figure are common in
scholarly and popular literature, regardless of the iconography of the
image. Additionally, this pattern seems to be consistently evident
throughout the history of scholarship of Indian art, from the early
twentieth century to the present dayY When it is mentioned at all,
little attempt is made at trying to come to some understanding of this
rather visually prominent feature of many of the Kushan male images
from the Mathura region. Thus, one of the few times when the male
genitals are mentioned, as in the following description of a large
sculpture of a male serpent king or Balarama, there is no discussion
The History and Historiography of Male Sexuality 47
Fig. 3 Kushana Bodhisattva, red sandstone, circa 2nd century, A.D.
Mathura. (Photo: ]H. Wade.)
48 VISHAKHA N. DESAI
Notwithstanding the emphasis on mass and expressive contour with subtle
modulations of outline, conscious deviation from the vertical axis,
asymmetrical disposition of the projecting knot, and flattened but
animated coils of the serpent, this is a sculpture of enormous powet:-and
vitality. Noteworthy is the prominent delineation of the genital organ, a
typical Kushan-period feature.
12
This suggests at the very least, we need to address the issue of
the development of engendered male and female figures from a more
comprehensive point of view, rather than remain focussed solely on
female sexuality. Once we acknowledge that there is a greater emphasis
on male sexuality in Kushan imagery, then have to ponder the
reasons for and significance of such a development. The question is
particularly pertinent since most of the Kushan period images of divine
and semi-divine figures are among the earliest known visual
manifestations of many deities.
As noted by Pratapaditya Pal, the prominent delineation of genitalia,
male and female, is indeed one of the most characteristic features of
Kushan period sculpture from Mathura. The lack of any serious
discussion of this important development may be due to more than
a simple, unconscious bias; and to some extent, it may have been
overshadowed by arguments over the origin of the Buddha image, seen
as the principal issue in the first half of the century.
Vogel and Coomaraswamy were among the first writers to argue that
the sheer physicality of the earliest standing male images tom Mathura
such as the Friar Bala Bodhisattva (Fig. 4) was directly related to and
emanated from pre-existing notions of male energy as seen in the
yaksha images of the pre-Kushan period, and was completely unrelated
to the Greco-Roman ideals of Kushan images from Gandhara.
13
The
logic of their argument was based on perceived inextricable patterns
of continuity between the earlier yaksha images from the Sunga
period and the earliest known Buddha/Bodhisattva images of the
Kushan period. Thus, Coomaraswamy talked of the sheer physicality
in contradistinction to the tranquility and sweetness of the Gandhara
figures. He compared the "broad shoulders and the
masculine form with drapery that moulded and revealed the
flesh" of the Mathura figures with the Gandhara sculptures, where
the "body is concealed under the heavy folds of drapery and is
articulated in quiet repose".
14
These early scholars, in their efforts
to make a case for the independence of the development of a
Buddha image in Mathura from the one at Gandhara, strongly
emphasized the continuity of the indigenous Indian aesthetic
tradition. This meant that they neither observed any distinction
between Sunga or other pre-Kushan images and the Kusha:n
The History and Historiography of Male Sexuality 49
Fig. 4 Bodhisattva, Friar Bala, Samath Museum.
50 VISHAKHA N. DESAI
the changes that seem quite apparent today between the earlier and
later figures.
In comparison with the early yaksha standing figures, several
differences are obvious in the Kushan standing male images. The
Sunga figures are more extensively rounded with little articulation of
the body. The Kushan figures, on the other hand, are invariably more
articulated and with a greater sense of physical and athletic energy.
As Stella Kramrisch has observed, it was in the second century that
the "male body began to acquire a heroic chest, the disciplined
abdominal region narrowed and enlivened by a modelling as sensitive
as that of the chest"Y The treatment of the garment is also distinctly
different in the two traditions. "While the chests of the earlier figures
are exposed like those of their later counterparts, their lower garment
is quite elaborate. Thick and extensively pleated, the lower garments
and sashes invariably conceal the male genitalia. In direct contrast, the
sculptors of the Kushan period standing male figures use the drapery
and sashes in such a way that the sex organ is unmistakably emphasized
- it is as if the sashes of the earlier yaksha figures, falling heavily
between the legs, were deliberately moved to the side to reveal the
male organ.
A similar change is also evident in the depiction of female figures
in the Kushan period. For example, the yakshi figures from Bharhut
with their elaborate jewellery, beaded garter belts, pleated garments
and extensive sashes conceal their sexual organs in the lower part of
the body while revealing their naked upper bodies. Kushan period
yakshis from Bhutesar are unabashedly sexual by comparison, with very
explicit references to their sexual organs. In female figures this
emphasis on the explicit reference to genitalia seems to occur a little
earlier, initially showing up in terracotta figures. For example, there
are some terracotta figurines dating to the Sunga period that have
some suggestion of pudenda,
16
even if not as explicitly defined as the
later images. Similarly, some of the yakshi figures at Sanchi, dating
from just before the beginning of the Christian era, also have very
clearly articulated female organs. A similar emphasis on explicit
sexuality for male figures is actually not as consistently evident until
the development of the large standing male figures of various types
in the Kushan period.
That this evident emphasis on male sexual organs is a Kushan period
(Mathura) phenomenon is also clear when such images are compared
with later figures dating from the fourth century on. If the Mathura
Kushan male standing sculptures are described in terms of their athletic
presence, youthful vitality and sheer physicality, the Gupta sculptures,
even from the region of and around Mathura, are more abstract and
The History and Historiography of Male Sexuality 51
is a greater degree of formal abstraction a _corresponding
in their projection of masculine power. Sigmficantly, there IS also a
gradual de-emphasis on the depiction of mal_e sexual organ. By the
sixth century, this part of the male anatomy IS qmte abstracted for most
male figures. "When it is emphasized at all, it is normally reserved for
those deities who carry the specific iconographic feature of an erect
penis. This change has been ascribed to _a number ?f different
Joanna Williams suggests that the aesthetic changes m the Gupta penod
may be due to a greater "emphasis on the visual unity of the object".
18
As she says:
This quest was perhaps understood by the artist himself less in aesthetic
terms than in religious ones. The downcast eye integrated into the skull
indicated the meditative nature of the Buddha more fully than did the
outgoing Kushan type. The carving was not the god himself made directly
manifest but an image of him, to be perfected by human endeavour ... the
change was consistently realized in these formal terms, indicating that the
taste of the maker or patron placed a greater premium upon visual unity
than ever before or after in Indian art.
19
Stella Kramrisch also acknowledges that there is a greater emphasis
on the "meditative, yogic power of the body" in Gupta sculpture,
different from the earlier phases when "the body was a vessel of the
life sap, defined by a more or less abbreviate_d of its
appearance''.
2
o The implication of such ar:alysis IS that m the_ Gupta
period, the image comes to be seen as a VIsual symbol of the Idea of
godhead rather than as a physical form of deity
the sheer physicality of the Kushan male Images, dlVlne and
divine, is clearly a unique feature that undergoes a transformation
towards a more abstracted and conceptualised form in the subseql,l_ent
period.
Such a comparative analysis of male images from the pre-and post-
Kushan period with those from the Kushan that th_e
rendition of the physical form of male figures, mcludmg the emphasis
on male genitalia, is a distinctive Kushan Mathura feature. One could
see this explicit emphasis as a purely formal or stylistic development
in the dialectic of art history, as a history of form unrelated to other
cultural developments. As Leo Steinberg has pointed out in his study
ofthe sexuality of Christ, such an explanation undermines the possible
theological significance of important visual For
example, he argues persuasively that the overt emphasis or: the
sexuality of the Christ child in early Renaissance art was not simply
due to a greater degree of interest in naturalism but was based on
a shift in the theological context of
it
coulcl hf' ::mme-cl that the increased focus on the physiCality of diVIne
. ..
52 VISHAKHA N. DESAI
in the Kushan period may suggest theological and corresponding
iconographic significances that should not be overlooked.
It is well known that the earliest visualisations of Indian male
divinities-Buddhist, Jain and Hindu-in the Kushan period, especially
from the Mathura region, are directly linked with the characteristic
features of a chakravartin mahapurusha, an idealised superman or
ruler. Thus, the thirty-two lakshanas or characteristic marks of a
chakravartin are often quoted as among the principal sources for the
creation of Buddha or Jina figures in Kushan Mathura images. This
implies that the visual conventions of the earlier depictions of male
figures are now with some of the iconographic requirements
for the new images of divine and semi-divine male figures.
In most early texts that deal with the thirty-two lakshanas, such as
Mahayana Sutralamkara, Kalinga Bodhi jataka, Lalitavistara and Chitrasutra,
there is a reference to the sexuality of a chakravartin. The description
begins with the characteristics of facial features and moves on to the
bodily parts. Interestingly, in some early translations of the texts, the
references to sexual organs are minimised. For example, Grunwedel
translates the twenty-third lakshana of the Buddha in the Lalitavistara
in the following terms: "Nature has concealed the marks of his sex."
22
This would imply that there should be no indication of sexuality in.
the visualisation of the chakravartin or the Buddha. A more careful
reading of this lakshana, however, suggests a different interpretation.
Most of these texts, in fact, indicate that the sexual organ of the
chakravartin should be properly visualised but not in a state of
erection.
23
In the Chitralakshana of Nagnajit, this is very clearly stated
in the section dealing with the measurements of the body parts of a
chakravartin: "Like an elephant-king, he keeps his sexual organs
withdrawn as if in a cavity."
24
In this text, which may date to the early
Gupta period or even earlier,
25
there are also very specific references
to the size and appearance of male sexual organs: "The penis should
be made of the length of six digits ... In the case of those who wear .
a lower garment and have a girdle tied around it, the part of the belly
below the navel should be made to the measure of four digits. The
penis is two digits broad, the scrotum is six digits long; the testicles
should not hang too much and both should be shown evenly round."
26
Significantly, such descriptions of the genitalia occur right after the
measurements for the face are described and before other body parts
are mentioned.. This may suggest that explicit references to the
sexuality of a chakravartin, and by extension of the Buddha figure,
were very important in the development of early images in the Kushan
period. Indeed, the most profound significance of this reference is
that a prominent depiction of male genitalia is an ilJlportant feature
The History and Historiography of Male Sexuality 53
It should also be stated that despite its relatively evident position in
the description of the thirty-two lakshanas, this feature seems to have
been de-emphasized by early writers on Buddhist art, indicating a
prejudice a view of art that would resonq.te with the non-
sexualized VIew of Chnst:J.amty.
If the depiction of sexual organs is specifically articulated in the
lakshanas of a chakravartin, it does not seem to be accorded the same
degree of emphasis in early descriptions of the
This
distinction further supports the argument that the depiCtl.on of
sexuality in the early representation of male divinities may not be
simply a formalistic development in the art historical sense, but
specifically related to the chan_ging. iconographic that
ultimately resulted in the persomficat:J.ons of the Buddhist, Hmdu and
Jain divinities in the Kushan period in Mathura. " . ,
There is another factor which may have led to the engendermg
or sexualizing of male and female images in this early period. It is
possible that the frank sexuality and youthful _openness of many
Kushan-Mathura images developed out of a desire to set up clear
alternatives to the well established system of representing the Buddha.
in anionic fashion, a complex of iconographic symbols through which
the Buddha was previously represented. In other words, the emphasis
on sexual organs of the early Bodhisattva figures such as the Friar Bala
image, may have come from the desire to create a new image that
would be as humanly direct and physically specific as possible, which
in turn may have affected the depiction of other images.
It needs to be stated that clearly not all of the images from Mathura
in the Kushan period are shown with sexual organs. This is particularly
true of seated images. As stated by Coomaraswamy, this would not be
unusual in such a period of "underdeveloped and unstable
iconography".
28
After all, even such features as the urna and the usnisa,
features that become more consistently identified with the Buddha
images, are not seen consistently on all Buddhist images. In other
words, just because all of the Buddhist images are not shown with
specific depictions of male sexuality, does not detract from the fact
that this is a distinct feature of Kushan divine and semi-divine images
from Mathura.
In fact, the absence of the depiction of sexual organs in the seated
Buddhist or Jain figures from Mathura may also be due to yet another
conceptual and aesthetic consideration. For example, if the sexual
organ were to be evident in a seated figure, it would have to be shown
in some form of erection, and that would be contradictory to the
description of a chakravartin as articulated in the lakshanas.
Additionally, the artists may have deliberately o_ther
54 VISHAKHA N. DESAI
(urdhavareta) was associated exclusively with Shiva and was worshipped
by the Pashupata sect in and around Mathura.
29
Almost all of the
Kushan-Mathura depictions of Shiva show him as ithyphallic and often
represent him in front of a linga.
30
One could argue that, in fact, the
very popularity and prevalence of the urdhavareta Shiva of the
Pashupata sect may have played a role in the development of the
sexualized personification of other divine and semi-divine images in
the Kushan period.
This preliminary analysis points to three related factors about the
study and understanding of male images from the Mathura region in
the Kushan period. First, in order to better understand the
developmental changes in the conception of divine and semi-divine
figures, we need to carefully look at the depiction of such figures. In
a truly feminist fashion, we should go beyond the accented prejudices
that favvur the sexually explicit descriptions of female bodies and pay
attention to male sexuality. We need to "re-view" their bodies and revise
our understanding of male sexuality in early Indian art. Secondly, we
need to go beyond normally accepted generalisations about the
naturalisation of human figures in Mathura Kushan art and recognise
that these sexualized beings are based on mental constructs with
complex iconographic needs. In these sexual organ !s not
depicted merely as an imitation of natural form; it is made evident
because it heightens the physical presence of the male divinity and
conveys powerful notions of a sexualized super human being-a
chakravartin-in a quiescent form.
Notes
1
Norma Broude and Mary D. Gerrard (eds.) Feminism and Art History: Questioning
the Litany (New York: Harper & Row, 1982), p.2.
2
This paper was first presented at an annual meeting of College Art Association in
1994. I should like to acknowledge Dr. Vidya Dehejia for her encouragement and
persistence to complete the article for inclusion in this publication.
3
Benjamin Rowland, Jr., Art in East and West (Boston: Beacon Press, 1954), p.19.
4
Ananda K. Coomaraswany, History of Indian and Indonesian Art (New York: Dover
Publications, 1965, 2nd ed.), p.64.
5
Stanislaw J. Czuma, Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India (Cleveland: The
Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985), p.102.
6
Pratapaditya Pal, Indian Sculpture: Vol I (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, 1986), p.177.
7
Rowland, East and West, p.16.
8
Rowland, ibid. Fig. 4.
9
Czuma, Kushan Sculpture, p.131.
10
Czuma, Kushan Sculpture, p.75.
''This discussion is aimed not at such obviously sexual representations of deities
as the urdhva. linga Shiva, but rather at more generalized images which are
----- _..._,__ ,-
I
'I
i
The History and Historiography of Male Sexuality 55
12Pal, Indian Sculpture, pp.182-83. " ..
J3For a more detailed discussion of this subject, see Ananda Coosmaraswany, Ongm
of the Buddha Image," ne Art Bulletin, 9 June, 1927, pp. 286-329 and J.P. Vogel,
"La Sculpture de Mathura". Ars Asiatica, vol. 15. Paris & Brussels, 1930.
J4Coomaraswamy, History, p.37. . .
15Stella Kramrisch, Indian Sculpture in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press), p.35.
16Amy Poster, From Indian Earth: Four Thousand Thars of Terracotta Art (Brooklyn: The
Brooklyn Museum), p.95.
17Kramrisch, Indian Sculpture, p.36.
'ljoanna G. Williams, ne Art of Gupta India: Empire and Province (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1982), p.60.
19
Ibid. p.61.
20Kramrisch, Indian Sculpture, p.35 ..
2'Leo Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in the Modern Oblzvwn
(New York: Pantheon Books, 1983.) . .
22A. Grunwedel, Buddhist Art in India (London: Sus1l Gupta (revised edn.)
1965), p.161. . .
23It is likely that such an interpretation of 23rd directly related to
a desexualized view of early Buddhism which was seen m direct contrast to the
more prevalent view of Hinduism at the beginning of the century.
24A. Dallapicolla and B.N. Goswamy (trs.), An Early Document of Indian Art:
Chitralakshana of Nagnajit (New Delhi: Manohar, 1976), p.102. . .
25There is no explicit reference to the Buddha or to the Buddha Image 1_n the
Chitralakshana. Because of this reason, some scholars have argued that text
may date to the early centuries of the Christian Goswamy and Dallapicolla,
however, date the manuscript to the early Gupta penod (early 4th century) on the
basis of language.
2sGoswamy and Dalapicolla, An Early Document, verses 705-34, pp. 88-89.
27For a more detailed discussion of yaksa imagery, see A.K.Coomaraswamy, Yaksas
(Washington: Smithsonian, vol. 80, no. 6, 1928.)
28
Coomaraswamy, History, p.69. . . .
2<JV.S. Agraval suggests that the Pasupata Shiva sect, to the pnnc1ple
founder Lakuli was established in Mathura by Kush1ka, one of the four diSCiples
of the founder: by the beginning of the second century. For. a more detailed
discussion, see Agraval, Siva Mahadeva, the Great Lord. 1966.) .
30for example, see Kramrisch, Manifestations, p.ll: One of the_ kt:own tmages
of Shiva standing in front of a linga is the Gud1mallam Sh1va whiCh IS datable to
the first century B.C. and comes from the southern region of Andhra Pradesh.
VIDYA DEHEJIA & DARYL YAUNER HARNISCH
Yoga as a Key to Understanding the
Sculpted Body
T
he representation of the body, both human and divine, is certainly
a leitmotiv in the artistic history of India. While the sculpted and
painted human body has been admired for its sensuous beauty, it has
also been the target of a variety of criticisms. Prime among these is the
contention that the Indian artist never studied the human body, never
attended . "life" drawing classes, and consequently portrayed a body
devoid of musculature and lacking in realism The sculpted male,
whet:Jier god or human, has been disparaged as "effeminate," being
smooth, slender, supple and totally non-muscular. The pivoting female
figures carved in profusion on temple walls have been criticized for
being represented in contrived and "impossible" postures. This essay
is a brief exploration of the tradition of yoga in India and its ideal of ,
the yogic body; it will facilitate the viewers' evaluation of the sculpted
or painted human body and enable a better appreciation of the artistic
tradition of India.
The yogic twist
A recurring and eye-catching image in Indian art, and one that becomes
particularly dominant in post eighth century scutpture in north India,
is the provocatively poised female with her body turned so as to reveal
a view of her breasts as well as a glimpse of her behind. Frequently, the
flourish of her limbs suggests that she is dancing (Fig. 1), but just as
often she seems to be in a "holding" position. We may indeed speak
of'the artists' virtuosity and his desire to present a spectacular display
of the female body. However, critics who may be unaware of the yogic
tradition .from which these postures are derived seem to have
misunderstood these images. Scholars have commented on the artists'
skill in-revolving the body to make an impossible pose look almost
possible. A recent serious study of sculptural style used the descriptive
phrase "fully twisted like a corkscrew"
1
when making reference to such
images. The unfortunate term "corkscrew twist" suggests that the pose
<>n nnn-:>tnr<aJ -:>nrl PrrPntrir rrP':Itinn nf thP ':lrtist Th011!Th the DOSe
.7Bill!'"'.
Yoga and. the Sculpted Body 69
lateral .twist of yoga practice in which both sides of the body are in
simultaneous action.
Four yogic asanas or poses are based on this lateral twist: three are
named after the sages Bharadvo:ja, Marichi, and Matsyendra, while the
fourth is known by the descriptive term of pasa or noose.
2
These poses,
are executed both as seated and standing poses; generally the beginner
or casual practitioner engages in them in the less demanding standing
mode. In the standing lateral twists, one leg rests firmly on the ground
while the other is raised and bent at the knee. In the Marichi asana, when
the left leg is on the ground, tl)e chest turns and goes beyond the thigh
of the bent right leg, while the left arm goes over the knee of the bent
thigh (Fig. 2). In the seated posture, a knee and a bent elbow are
anchored to counterbalance the body, enabling the spine to twist still
further to its maximum latebH extension. Of the various twisted poses,
the Matsyendra pose demands the maximum lateral twist of the spine
which is turned a little beyond 90 degrees.
The sculpted fem'ale figures.that twist and rotate on the temple walls
should be reassessed. with the yogic twist in mind. Yoga practice and the
raovements of classical 'Indian dance help the viewer to understand
poses that seem (:Xtraordinary only because they are not part of the
contemporary viewers' vocabulary. However, in Indian art and
yoga, they are rieither"abnormalnor unnatural. The artists' partiality for
such poses may have been due to the freedom which it allowed them in
the display of the human body. However, these poses became the
favoured mode at 'Certain periods of artistic history only because the
lateral twist was part of.regular yoga practice and visibly evident for the
artist to imitate:
The dvarapala guardians flanking the entrances to southern temples
are almostalwaysposedin the yogic twist. Thedvarapalas on the entrance
gateway of the Tanjore temple (Fig. 3), and indeed the guardians at the
entrances to all Chola shrines, are striking examples of this stance which
is particularly appropriate for a guardian figure. When turned to view
more than one direction at the same time, he (or she .in the case of a
dvarapalika) is enabled to keep better control over the temple precincts.
Patanjali's yoga suttas
The ancient antecedents of yoga in India are relevant to an understanding '
of these and other sculpted figures. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word
meaning to yoke or harness, to direct, to concentrate one's
attention upon; it also means to join or unite. Yoga is a system of
philosophy established some two thousand years ago by sage Patanjali
who taught the means by which the human soul may be united with
the Snnreme Soirit and thus achieve a state of liberation known as
70 DEHE]IA & HARNISCH
Fig.l Female figure displaying the
yogic twist from Khajuraho Museum.
(Photo: American Institute of Indian
Fig. 2 Mary Dunn in standing
yogic twist.
Fig. 3 Dvarapala from the Great
Temple at Tanjore, displaying the
yogic twist. (Photo : Archaeological
Yoga and the Sculpted Body 71
limbed) yoga which constitutes a complete system of discipljp.e which
progressively leads to samadhi.
3
To understand the sculpted b6dy in this
context, third a:nd fourth stages of yoga, asana or posture and
pranayama or the flow of breath and energy, are relevant. Today the
word yoga is popularly used to refer exclusively to these two of
Patanjali's eight stages.
Asanas in the original yoga context are not merely exercises but a
system of balances whereby the limbs of the body function as weights and
counterw'eigpts. They balance and tone the body's nerves, muscles and
glands and create a bodily harmony that is a prerequisite to the discipline
of the mind. The yogi conquers the body by the practice of asanas and
makes it a fit vehicle for the spirit. The Yoga Sutra tells us that "Asana is
perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence and benevolence of
spirit. "
4
In the art context, however, the asana stage is relevant and
important because it provided a source of inspiration for the artist
sculpting the human body.
Equally important is pranayama, the fourth stage of Patanjali's yoga,
in which the flow of breath is controlled and regulated. The practice of
breath control influences both body and mind and produces that aspect
of serenity and fulfilment seen in many sculpted Indian figures. Prana
is much rp:ore than just breath; it is the principle oflife and consciousness,
the flow of the sum total of energy permeating the universe. In Patanjali 's
yoga, the control of this prana is chiefly instrumental in leading towards
the ultimate goal of samadhi. In the best of lndian sculpted images,
particularly those depicted in yogic meditatioil1 see this serenity, this
this transcendence: Even images in 'non-tpeditative poses
appear: to be shaped by, the control ofbreath and the mental calm which
arises from it. The scuipted figure seems to have transcended the gross
weight of the physical muscle-bound body, and instead to be
moulded by a sense oflightriess and a feel ofinteriors:pa!=e. If pranayama
is" cosmic poetry",
5
the viewer may perhaps see it reflecte:din masterpieces
like Vishnu in samabhanga in cave 3 at Badarpi (Fig. 4):
The yogic stance: tadasana
The Badami Vishnu just discussed is portrayed ih a frontal standing
pose known to yoga as tadasana, in which taaa means "palm tree" or
"mountain." The sculpted figure, whether male or female, stands
upright, steadfast and' motionless as though rooted to the earth
(Fig. 4). Tadasana is often described as a standing meditation pose. In
Indian art, the stately standing ascetic appeared first in the form of the
Jina, founder oftheJainfaith. The earliest ofsuchJina images may date
back to the fourth century B.C. Tadasana is equally a royal posture, and
hence as appropriate -for king and queen, god and goddess, as for
72 DEHEJIA & HARNISCH
'"'
Yoga and the SculptedBody 73
The yogi in tadasana stands firm with weight evenly distributed
(Fig. 5). Kneecaps are pulled up, hips move inwards and the stomach is
held up but neither tightened nor sucked in. The chest is forward and
open; outer shoulders extend horizontally and inner shoulders relax
downwards. Chest and shoulde{s are further expanded due to the
rhythm of yogic breathing or pranayama. The spine is extended, the
neck is held straight and the eyes gaze straight ahead. Arms are held
down along the sides of the body; they do not hang limp but are charged,
with fingers energized, straight and pointing downwards. Sculpted
figures in this pose have sometimes been described as "archaic", a term
used in Greek art t_o describe early and somewhat stiff male figures
known as kouroi. The term is a misnomer when applied to Indian images
in tadasana; the smooth and rounded standing figures come alive with
the richness of breath and consciousness within.
Every south Indian bronze of the goddess, whether of Parvati,
Lakshmi, Sita or other divine or royal figure, has one hand raised to hold
a flower. while the other is ~ h e l d down alongside the body with fingers
extended and pointing downwards. While we may stand casually at ease
with one arm extended, none of us extends our fingers in such a manner.
The sculpturai convention of elongated arms with fingers extended so
as to reach down to the knees need not be attributed solely to artistic
stylization. It is explained at least partly by the tradition of tadasana in
which fingers are extended.
The Vishnu from Badami (Fig. 4) and a heroic male portrayed
in a Greek statue provide an interesting contrast. Greek poets, who
considered man to be the acme of perfection, wrote:
There are many wondrous things on earth
but none more wondrous than man.
6
The spear bearer (doryphoros: Fig. 6) presents the viewer with the
Mediterranean ideal of the athletic male, with pronounced musculature
of chest, abdomen and limbs. Greek sculptors created their perfect male
body by combining, in a single image, the exemplary individual parts
observed on different humans. Their sculptors could work easily from
nature since, as we know from contemporary writings by puzzled
foreigners, their male citizens moved around in the nude with only a
cloak thrown around their shoulders. Athleticism was the ideal of a
people who invented the Olympic games. Sculpted bodies depicted the
power and vigour of human competition and effort. The pectoral
muscles, the pelvic joint, the biceps and triceps, the thigh and calf
muscles are all emphasized; the kneecap is clearly defined and . the
p.bdomen is flat and tight. .
A totally divergent tradition and scale of cultural values prevailed in
India. In art, male figures are portrayed with a total. absence of
74 DEHEJIA & HARNISCH
Fig. 5 Yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar
in tadasana.
Fig. 6 Doryphoros ofPolykleitos.
Roman copy of Greek original.
(Photo: Met-ropolitan Museum
of Art.)
between the arm and shoulder is not emphasized; rather, the shoulder
into the arms without any indentation (Fig. 4). Neither
the pelVI.c JOI_Dt sharply differentiated; indeed, the thigh moves almost
Imperceptibly mto the pelvic region. The abdominal muscles of Indian
sculpted images, whether male or female, are soft and full so as to allow
the to flow easily. This ideal of the yogic body is visibly evident in
all Indian sculptures with their smooth non-muscular torsos, expanded
chest and shoulders, and relaxed stomachs. Critics should not question
the absence of anatomical detailing in Indian art; rather, they should
expect of the yogic concept of the human bod(The cultural
' ..
Yoga and the Sculpted Body 75
In a 1954 essay titled "Traditions of Indian Art," Stella Kramrisch
remarked upon the importance of yoga in Indian art. Her perceptive
words on Greek and Indian sculpture bear repetition.
The Greeks took as their ideal the disciplined, athletic physical body. The
Indian took the disciplined state, or subtle body of inner realization, on
which to model the shape of their images. Greek sculptors were not
necessalily athletes, nor were all Indian artists yogis. In either case, training
1
and environment equipped them with their own characteristic types and
sensibilities.'
The significance and implications of these remarks were never fully
explored. Kramrisch also recognized the relevance of yogic breath in
evaluating Indian sculpture although she never made use of the term
pranayama.
In Indian art the figures are, as it were, modelled by breath which dilates
the chest and is felt to carry the pulse of life through the body to the tips
of the fingers. This inner awareness was given permanent shape in art, for
it was daily and repeatedly practised and tested in the discipline of yoga.
It was found that by the concentrated practice of controlled breathing, an
inner lightness and warmth absorbed the heaviness of the physical body
and dissolved it in the weightless 'subtle body', which was given concrete
shape by art, in planes and lines of balanced stresses and continuous
movement. This shape, inwardly realized by yoga, was made concrete in
art.
8
Kramrisch's somewhat abstruse writing style and her penchant for
metaphysical interpretation may have deflected attention from an
important observation.
The asanas and breathing techniques of yoga form a basis for the
classical dances of India with their dramatic poses and elaborate system
of mudras or hand gestures. In fact, initial lessons in classical dance are
lessons in yoga practice. Both forms of expression demand a similar
awareness of the human body and its function as a vehicle of the spirit
manifesting as breath. An even flow of breath is as important to classical
dance as pranayama is to serious yoga. The western tradition of dance
is markedly different. Time and again I have heard western dancers
being told by the yoga instructor: "This is not ballet; it is yoga. Relax the
stomach muscles; do not be conscious of your abdomen. Only then will
you be able to let your breath flow evenly." The difference in western and
Indian visualizations of the ideal human body is understandably reflected
also in their respective artistic traditions.
It is only natural then that a knowledge of the yogic body permeates
the portrayal of the human body in Indian art. For thousands of
individuals in India, yoga was, and still is, a part of everyday experience.
Mom" heen renresented throughout the artistic
76 DEHEJIA & HARNISCH
known as vrikshasana; the god Shiva destroys demons in the yogic warrior
stance ofVirabhadrasana; teachers and saints sitting with raised knees
frequently use the yoga patta band as a support to maintain their
posture.
9
Yoga was so much a way of life that its influence is seen even
in a love poem like Chaurapanchashika or "Fifty Stanzas of a Thief'. In
page after page of a sixteenth century painted manuscript, the hero
Bilhana, sitting at ease beside his beloved, makes use of a yoga band
around his knees.
10
Sculptors and painters did not need to practice yoga themselves; they
would have seen asanas repeated and practised regularly; they would
have seen yoga masters in meditative poses. The yogic body was a visible
entity in India, to the same extent at least as the jogging body in the
United States. The sculpted body in India embodies yogic potential in
plastic terms. Its disciplined state, its fullness and vitality are the result
of the artists' observation of both yogic postures and the concentrated
practice of controlled breathing.
The meditating image
The Harappan Seal & Vastu Purusha Mandala India's greatest gift to the
grammar, syntax and iconography of art, is the figure sitting cross-legged
in a state of deep meditation. This heroic image is ;neither athlete
nor warrior, but the dispassionate ascetic who has always been held in
the highest esteem. It expresses not the muscular physical form, but
the serenity of the meditative state. It stands for an ideal state which
did and does exist in reality in the practice of yoga. In padrnasana or
"lotus" pose, the legs are crossed and placed high upon the thighs with
soles turned up. When arms are extended to rest beyond the bent knees
with forefingers and thumbs bent to touch each other, or when palms
are placed one within the other and rest in the lap facing upwards, the
figure is considered to be in meditation. The posture is also used by
g0ds and enlightened souls for preaching, in which case the hand
or hands are raised to display the gesture of teaching. A superb example
is. the Buddha image from Sarnath (Fig. 7), still half-absorbed in
the bliss of the meditative state from which he has awakened to preach.
Very closely allied is the siddhasana meditation pose, in which the
feet are brought close into the body; the left heel rests against the right
thigh, while the right foot is placed over the left ankle. Arms are stretched
so that the backs of the hands rest on the knees with palms facing
upwards.
The seated figure in the pose of yogic meditation was adopted by the
various religions of India without being restricted to one or other faith.
The Buddha, the Jina, the Hindu god Shiva, the goddess Lakshmi when
lustra ted by elephants, the goddess Parvati, and several lesser figures of
Yoga and the Sculpted Body 77
is pan-Indian in its significance and application; it cuts across religious
boundaries, as also the boundaries of gender, race and caste.
While we have seen that Patanjali composed the Yoga Sutras some time
around 200 B.C. artistic evidence suggests a much earlier date for the
origin of certain yogic asanas. The earliest image of a seated yogi dates
to the third millenium B.C. and is seen on a well known Harappan seaP
1
from the Indus Valley Civilization (Fig. 8). Several curious symbolic and
iconographic aspects of this important and ancient figure merit serious
study, but our interest here is only in the seated posture. The figure sits
with his legs opening out from ~ groin, with knees extended outward
and down, and with feet joined one to the other at the heels and drawn
up beneath him with toes turned down. Arms are outstretched, with
hands extending out beyond the knees. He sits in fixed meditation, with
eyes lowered and seemingly focused on the tip of the nose.
It is clear that the figure is not in the standard lotus pose, nor does
it seem to be in siddhasana. The manner in which the figure sits is
suggestive of the posture known as baddha-konasana ("bound-angle
pose"). In this asana, the soles of the feet are drawn together, touching
each other. The feet are pulled in close to the body and the outer edges
of both feet rest on the floor (Fig. 9). Baddha-konasana is also a classic
meditation pose. However, yoga master Iyengar makes the wry comment
that this is how Indian cobblers sit,
12
as indeed one may see to this day
at street corners where cobblers ply their trade, underscoring the easy
familiarity with the postures codified in yoga.
If the artist of the Harappan seal intended us to read the yogi's feet
as having raised heels, the posture would be the allied mula-bandhasana
("root-locked pose"). Starting with the previous posture, the yogi raises
his heels while the toes rest on the ground. He then raises his body off
the floor with the help of the hands and gendy lets it down to rest on toes
and knees (Fig. 10). This is the most demanding of the three possible
p<;>ses of the figure on the Harappan seal. In the context of the erect
phallus of the yogic image on the seal, it is relevant to note that both
baddha-konasana and mula-bandhasana are specifically said to control
sexual desire and sublimate energy.
13
Of the three possible postures it
appears most likely that the meditating figure on this seal, and a
companion seal in the National Museum, Karachi,
14
is in baddha-
konasana. Regardless of the specific pose portrayed, the seals indicate
that the antecedents of yoga belong to a period several centuries earlier
than Patanjali's codification.
The influence of yoga was so pervasive that it is evident even in the
Fitual diagram utilized to construct a place of worship. The mapping of
a cosmic square known as Vastu Purusha Mandala seems to date back to
the centuries B.C. as part of the ritual used to construct open air brick
1.
!
'
. i '
i
, I
I ,.
'I'
! I!
I I 'I
'I
,I:
I ,
I
,.
78 DEHE]IA & HARNISCH
Fig. 8 Figure sea"ted in yogic
posture on seal from Indus
Valley Civilization. (Photo:
Archaeolor;ical Survey of
Fig. 7 The Buddha in
"lotus pose" from Sarnath.
(Photo : Archaeological
Survey of India.)
Yoga and the Sculpted Body 79
Fig. 9 Baddha-konasana. Fig. 10 Mula-bandhasana.
Fig. 11 Vastu Purusha Mandala diagram for floor ,.,.. ..
80 DEHEJIA & HARNISCH
A.D., it was adapted by architects as a means to lay out temples and to
orient them ritually. The Brihat Samhita, an ancient text of the early sixth
century A.D., contains an entire section devoted to architecture which
gives us details of this mandala. Within a square of 32, 64 or 81 divisions
is placed a human figure, drawn in spare outline, and known as vastu
(building) purusha (man). The figure is placed along the diagonal of the
square; the crown of the head is in the north-eastern corner and the toes
are placed together in the opposite south-western corner (Fig. 11).
Depending upon the perspective, the figure is seated in either baddha-
konasana with toes and heels of the feet together, or in mula-bandhasana
with body resting on the toes. At the centre of the VastuPurushaMandala
is located the all-pervading, formless Brahman, the guardian spirit of the
ritual. In the squares of the diagram, around and upon the limbs of the
cosmic man, Vastu Purusha, are written the names of gods and demi-gods
in the appropriate directions and locations where they were to be placed.
This diagram is resonant with yogic overtones. The subtle body of
Vastu Purusha, with its parts, limbs and apertures, coincides with the
squares of the temple plan. The 32 squares are the asanas or seats of
different deities; the 32 squares also set up a parallel with the 32 asanas
or postures of yoga. The centre of the square and the centre of the body
(the navel) overlap at the centre of the diagram. It is at this centre in the
temple sanctum that the image of worship is ceremonially installed.
Profound significance attaches to this centre as it is here, through the
enshrined image, that the worshipper comes into contact with the
cosmic consciousness. A similar significance applies, in the practice of
yoga, to the nab hi or navel which is the centre of the body and which must
be correctly aligned in order to reach a state of harmony.
15
There is an
integration here, a yogic joining, of man and temple, infusing both with
the principles of yoga. The subtleties and ramifications of this significant
diagram are various; for our purpose, the emphasis is on the choice of
a figu:.;-e in yogic asana.
To be total and rewarding, all artistic evaluation must be related to the
traditions and cultural values of the country of its origin. Of utmost
relevance are the artists, their position in society, their craft and guild
traditions. For instance, the training of Indian artists according to
codified shilpa texts gave rise to much of the stylization and idealization
evident in their portrayal of the human form. Relevant too are the
patrons who commissioned specific themes in art, in part at least to
derive from it the aesthetic experience known as rasa. Within this wider
cultural context, we must recognize also the significance of the tradition
of yoga and its inevitable influence upon art. The Indian artistic tradition
ignores the depiction of musculature not through anatomical ignorance
or lack of artistic skill, but because the Indian ideal was the yogic body.
-- .._ L, _______L
Yoga and the Sculpted Body 81
ccentricity but through familiarity with the lateral twists of yoga. In a
e b .
on textual analysis of Indian art, yoga is only one key, ut an Important
~ n hitherto neglected key, towards an understanding of the sculpted
body.
Notes
1 Vishakha Desai and Darielle Mason ( eds.), Gods, Guardians, and, Lovers (New York:
Mapin Publishers, 1993), p. 135.
2 According to the system of yoga propagated by B.K.S. Iyengar. See his Light on Yoga
(Calcutta: Harper Collins, 199 3 edn) .
3The eight limbs or stages of yoga are (1) Yama (moral precepts); (2) Niyama (self-
purification by discipline); (3) Asana (posture); ( 4) Pranayama (rhythmic con-
trol of breath); (5) Pratyahara (withdrawal and emancipation of the mind); (6)
Dharana (concentration); (7) Dhyana (meditation); and (8) Samadhi (a state of
enlightenment in which the yogi becomes one with the object of his meditation).
4Patanjali sutra II, p. 46.
s Prashant in personal conversation with Harnisch.
6 Sophocles, Antigone, 1.332
1 Stella Kramrisch, The Art of India (London: Phaidon Press, 1954), p. 15.
sibid. p. 27.
9Daryl Yauner Harnisch is working on a monograph on this subject.
10 See paintings of the famous Chaurapanchashika of circa 1550.
11
Seal number 420.
1
2 B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga p. 128.
13
Ibid. p. 346.
14 Mario Bussagli & C. Sivaramamurti, 5000 Years of the Art of India (New York: Harry
N. Abrams, n.d.) Plate 50c.
15 At the April 1994 ACSAA conference held in New York City, Harnisch made a
point of the importance of the navel and its alignment for the human body prac-
tising yoga and for the appearance of the sculpted body. Vishakha Desai, in per-
sonal conversation, repeated her experience with positioning gallery images, re-
marking that when the navel of a piece is centered, the sculpture seems appropri-
ate for its setting.