Khajuharo Art on Display in the Phillipines

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Power, force and feminine energy

 

Published on page C2 of the January 2, 2006 issue

of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

By Amadis Ma. Guerrero

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=1&story_id=61695

 

The figures are not large but the impression to the viewer is one of

power emanating through the centuries, specifically woman power.

There is a sense of massiveness.

 

The women are Hindu goddesses with ample breasts, tapering waists, a

benign expression; and they are caparisoned in ornate pendants,

beads, bracelets and headdresses.

 

The Hindu gods like Vishnu are also represented, but they are

outnumbered by the women deities like Ganga, the River Goddess;

Parvati, the Love Goddess; Lakshmi, the Restless Goddess of Fortune;

and Saraswati, the Unblemished Ascetic Goddesses.

 

Spiritual yet erotic, the intoxicating sculptures made of sandstone

were created by artists and artisans during the 9th-12th centuries.

They once adorned Khajuharo temples in the Chatarpur district of

Madhya, India.

 

The Khajuharo temples used to number 85 but only 24 have survived.

The rest were "devastated by men and nature," as one curator put it.

 

The works are on display at Raffles Fine Arts Gallery (8950409) at

58 Jupiter St., Bel-Air, Makati City. And they will be showcased

there until all or most are bought. Raffles is an outlet of the

Singapore-based Tomlinson Group, which earlier this year mounted an

exhibit of antique Tibetan door paintings, also in Makati.

 

"The Hindu gods and goddesses should not be taken literally,"

pointed out overall gallery manager Menchie Comparativo in a recent

media briefing. "They are cosmic forces."

 

The sculptures were executed in the round, in medium or high relief,

on the outer and inner walls of the temples, and in pillars and

ceilings.

 

We have dancers, graceful nymphs, attendants of the higher

divinities, couples in passionate embrace, powerful goddesses, and

vengeful gods.

 

"Ganga the river goddess is visualized as voluptuous and beautiful,

as are all other major Indian goddesses," explained Ma. Patricia

Puno, the gallery's managing director.

 

Among the most intriguing of the works is the Three-headed Goddess,

which is the female counterpoint to the male Hindu triad of Brahma,

Vishnu and Shiva.

 

The figure wears ornaments on its heads, torso and limbs to

celebrate the beauty of the human body.

 

The work is called "Shakti" which, Puno said, represents "the

potency of the women to procreate. Shakti means power, force and

feminine energy."

 

"In light of the foregoing, it is quite ironic that women are often

relegated to the background in India," Puno concluded. "By reviewing

the role of these female deities through these sculptures, we can

perhaps rediscover and recapture the very important symbolism of

women in Indian civilization and society."