London's Durga Dilema

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London's Durga Debate

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116071337710591698.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

or

http://tinyurl.com/y3va4f

 

by Lee Lawrence

October 13, 2006

The Wall Street Journal

 

The 'Voices of Bengal' exhibit's website:

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/bengal/durga.html

 

LONDON -- In the Great Court of the British Museum,

Bengali master craftsman Nemai Chandra Paul is

performing a religious ritual. Perched barefoot on an 18-foot

scaffold before his statue of the Hindu goddess Durga, he

turns to the assembled crowd below and bows, palms

pressed together. On cue, he turns to face the visage of the

deity and, as musicians in orange tunics and white dhotis

loincloths beat their drums, Mr. Paul traces perfectly round

irises onto the statue's blank eyes.

 

Part of the multipart exhibition "Voices of Bengal," which

runs through December, this moment in "Durga: Creating an

Image of the Goddess" represents a key ritual for Hindus.

Known as the Chakshudan -- or eye opening -- Hindus

believe that once an idol is given the ability of sight, the

statue is ready for the deity to take up residence and,

according to some, is at that very moment enlivened. In the

course of one morning, Mr. Paul completed the faces and

eyes not only of Durga, but also of four other statues

representing attending deities. For Hindus, such ceremonies

can take place anywhere-whether in a community center, a

temple or a museum hall -- yet still retain their sanctity.

Europeans and Americans, however, regard museums as

distinctly secular spaces. Curators intent on making the art

of Asian cultures come alive in the West, therefore, are

faced with a dilemma.

 

For more than 20 years, European and American art

museums have increasingly emphasized the importance of

appreciating artworks within their original context. Since

most Asian objects in Western collections tend to be

religious in subject matter or usage, placing them in a proper

context has also led curators into uncharted territory.

Tibetan Buddhist monks have toured museums in the West,

ritually creating representations of the universe known as

mandalas with colored sands. Monks have chanted and led

meditations in museum galleries. Smaller university

museums have set out meditation cushions in conjunction

with exhibitions of religious Asian art.

 

Brian Durrans, acting head of the British Museum's Asia

department, initially envisioned the museum hosting the

entire Durga Puja, a five-day celebration in which priests

and devotees relive stories of the goddess's exploits on Earth

and her return to the land of the gods. But when colleagues

at the museum raised objections, he agreed that it would be

inappropriate to host organized public worship within his

institution's secular walls. So he struck a compromise: The

construction of Durga and four accompanying deities would

take place in the Great Court; once complete, London's

Bengali Hindu community would then transfer the statues to

a nearby community center rented for the festival.

 

"We are a step behind as far as the Western religions are

concerned because I think it is an even greater taboo to talk

about one's own religion," says Ena Heller, director of New

York's Museum of Biblical Art. MOBIA's mandate is to

place Bible-related works in their religious context. When it

comes to Christianity, it is easier to lay down hard-and-fast

rules. The need to protect artworks precludes allowing

Russian Orthodox Christians, for example, to express their

devotion by kissing and touching icons. As for holding a

baptism or mass in the museum, Ms. Heller explains,

"probably the most important deterrent is that it is not a

consecrated space."

 

With most Asian religions the secular-religious divide is not

so clear. "Having made a neat and tidy distinction between

the construction taking place in the museum and the puja

taking place elsewhere," Mr. Durrans says, nevertheless,

"for the craftsmen, the construction itself is a devotional

act." Indeed, Mr. Paul would not begin working without

performing a short puja, just as some of those gathered to

witness the Chakshudan felt compelled to slip off their

shoes as they would in a temple.

 

For Mr. Durrans, there is no foolproof solution. Museums,

he says, could ban all forms of ritual or worship or,

conversely, adopt an anything-goes policy. "Either of the

two alternatives could work extremely well," Mr. Durrans

believes, but only "in theory." The first would be impossible

to enforce -- for how could one deny a visitor the right to

pray, or a private corner to meditate? And the second option

would turn the museum into something it is not -- namely, a

place of worship.

 

So, for the time being at least, the museum has adopted a

loose policy of allowing individual worship, but does not

facilitate it. Not that he is convinced this is the last word.

"I'm always suspicious of solutions that appear to be neat

and tidy," he adds. "That's not the real world." And one

thing we can count on is that the real world will throw us a

curve -- perhaps as early as the next show.