Musee Guimet: Drawing Parallels in Art and Religion

What I love about Paris is their Museums and specially when you get to visit some of them free every first Sunday of the month. For those of you who don't know Paris, it is a city that takes immense pride it showcasing world culture and their museums have rich collections and one can learn and travel for free or for a minimum fee. 

 

Though I have traveled to Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia to witness the influence of Hinduism and their local adaptations, but last weekend I decided to visit Musee Guimet, home to Asian art and sculptures. Unlike long queues that you see at Musee D'orsay or Musee du Louvre, it was a quick walk through with no wait time. 

The museum is spread over 3 floors; ground floor hosting collection from India, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam; first floor showcasing collections from China and Gandhara (Afghanistan and Pakistan), and second floor from Japan and Korea. You don't need a visa to do this travel. 

Ocean du Lait (Ocean of Milk)

On the ground floor welcomes you an impressive sculpture from Cambodia depicting the churning of the ocean of milk (ocean du lait) with asuras (evils) taking the head of the the snake and devas (Angels) taking the tail. Succinctly, I explained to my friend about the story behind the churning of the ocean, Vishnu taking the form of a turtle and later taking the role of Mohini to distract the asuras and finally enticing Shiva to give birth to Ayyappa. I also explained how Vishnu took the form of a turtle (an avatar) to hold the mountain used to churn the ocean.




 

Glocal: Go global, yet stay local

As I entered the ground floor I was attracted in all directions, thanks to the captivating sculptures from various South Asian countries showing the richness of Hinduism and Buddhism. There is so much to learn from religion, specially for those in Marketing. For example Vishnu, Shiva, female divinity, etc. had the same weapons, but the sculptures we localized with faces from their respective countries and with locally found stones (granite, pink marble, slate, etc.) thereby bringing a local flavor. Isn't that what MNCs try to do today, produce and market using local faces?

There was no RSS outfit like today, yet South India Chola Kings who ruled South Asia helped in the spread of culture, and art and in return got to enrich our own. For example, Kamboji raga is believed to have come from Kambojam (Cambodia).
 

Explaining the differences: Chola and Hoysala

I wasn't prepared to see a section from Tamil Nadu with Chola period sculptures of reclining Vishnu, Mariamman, Dakshinamurthi, Bairava, and bronze collections of Nataraja, Somaskanda,  Parvathi, Balakrishna in a classic tribhangi pose and Ayyanar. As we walked through, my friend asked me the difference between Chola and Hoysala style and I explained by showing their respective signature styles. Hoysala sculptures came with a more rounded face, longer sacred thread and the trademark garland/angavastram/ornaments flowing from the shoulder.

Competition to point out parallels

 

He looked at the bronze statue of Parvathi and remarked that she looked like the Birth of Venus at Firenze Museum. I approved of his apt comparison and explained how the Indian astrology considers the union of Shiva and Parvathi as Venus and showed him the bronze of Shiva Parvathi without Somaskanda. In the tantric representation, Shiva is represented by a phallus and Parvathi as the female equivalent and the story behind it. While looking at a statue of Buddha, I was reminded of the striking similarity to that of Jesus pointing his two fingers at the sky and two fingers from the other hand at the ground (picture of Jesus taken at Firenze Museum). It almost felt like we were competing to point out parallels in art and religion at Musee Guimet.

A spiritual trip

As we walked through the gallery I couldn't hold myself from sharing more details about our gods and goddess. I taught him how to identity statues by looking at their features and weapons. Shiva with a trident, third-eye, matted hair or sometimes with dreadlocks adorned with a crescent, and seated on Nandi, and Vishnu with a conch and chakra in his hands and seated on serpent or standing on a lotus, Krishna with a flute in his hand, peacock feather on his head and wandering among cows. 

I saw the Lingothbhavar (Shiva in a human form depicted in a Linga) with Vishnu in the form of Varaha prostrating Shiva; a scene that we see in the inner prakara of the temple right behind the Shiva in the sanctum. When I explained the Varaha avatara and story behind it, he asked me among the two who was the most powerful. 

And then there was a beautifully carved Bairava just before Dakshinamurthi (Shiva as a teacher and teaching through silence) and Vishnu reclining on a serpent. I explained to him why we refer to  Vishnu without Lakshmi and any of his weapons as Anathasayana (lying in happiness and contemplation). I was instantly transported to banks of Cauvery and specially Thiruvaiyaru came to my mind when I saw Ganesha right behind the Vishnu in Ananthasayan and I explained to him the uncle nephew relationship. 

A good refresher

As we exited this section, he told me how difficult it is for westerners to understand the concept of avataras and the pantheon of gods. I explained to him the various branches of Hinduism classified based on the worship of  gods (Shivam - Shiva, Vaishnavam - Vishnu, Shaktham - Shakthi, Kaumaram - Muruga, Ganapathyam - Ganesha, etc.) and how Hinduism must be studied using a timeline method for a better understanding. I even encouraged him to learn more about Hindiusm before traveling into South Asia where it has been beautifully adapted and given a local flavor. 

During his recent travel to India my friend had picked up the entire series Amar Chitra Katha learn about our Gods; not a bad idea. With few more weeks left before I head back to India, I felt my longing to return home was stronger than before. I left  the museum emotionally and spiritually charged and beaming pride from sharing about our rich culture.

Here is a short compilation of what I captured blended with soothing Carnatic music.