Senior College

Session 5

The Art of Hindu India: The Gods, Their Myths, and Their Worshipers

Mondays: March 3, 10, 17, 24
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.
Where: Pappajohn Business Building C125
Registration deadline: February 18
Class limit: 70

The traditional religious art of Hinduism is exuberant and vivacious, but not always easy for outsiders to understand. Earlier generations of Western visitors to India were puzzled and often horrified by the images of Hindu deities they encountered: some with many arms, others with multiple heads or with animal heads, gods and goddesses fully displaying their voluptuous bodies, dancing gods, and divine blood-swilling hags on a rampage. We will discuss Hindu concepts of divinity and the degree to which divinity can be represented visually. We will consider why divinity is imaged in female as well as male forms, the enormous pantheon of deities, and the nature of divine power. As we discuss the major Hindu deities, we will explore what the astonishing images of them mean, why they act as they do in their myths, and how their devotees relate to these awesome personages. This art is temple art, and we will see some of the images in situ.

INSTRUCTOR: Nancy J. Barnes received her B.A. in history at the University of Michigan and Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indian studies from the University of Toronto. She studied Sanskrit, Pali, Japanese, and Tibetan languages and literature at Georg-August Universitaet in Goettengen, Germany. She has taught Asian religion and art at Wesleyan University, Trinity College, the University of Hartford, Hartford Seminary, and Augustana College. The guest curator for the new Asian art gallery in the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, she now lives in Iowa City.

Online registration now available!

Return to Senior College home.

Top of page

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 6

Session 7

Session 8

Home