Shiva and Parvati sculpture

A History of the World in 100 Objects

BBC

History

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2010

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The history of humanity as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum in London is back in India. This week Neil MacGregor is with the gods - exploring the sophistication of religious art in the 14th and 15th centuries, as people around the world sought ways of finding physical expression for devotion and for representing the divine. Today Neil is with a magnificent stone sculpture showing the powerful deity Shiva with his consort Parvati seated on his knee - two of the most beloved and familiar figures of Hinduism. The vehicles of the deities, a bull and a lion, and their children sit at their feet, while a host of supporting musicians and attendants swirl around their heads. Neil considers how images like this help cement the relationship between deity and devotee. The writer Karen Armstrong considers the special relationship between male and female aspects in spiritual practice while the Hindu cleric Shaunaka Rishi Das explores the particular characteristics of Shiva and Parvati and considers the religious significance of their union. Producer: Anthony Denselow

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of a history of the world in a hundred objects
0:07.8	from BBC Radio 4.
0:11.6	There are many surprises about working in the British Museum, and one of them is that
0:17.8	we occasionally find offerings of flowers or fruit reverently placed in front of the Hindu sculptures.
0:24.3	It's a touching demonstration that religious objects don't need to lose their sacred dimension
0:29.4	when they move into the secular museum.
0:31.8	And it's also a reminder that in the census of 2001, nearly 5% of the population of England and Wales
0:38.2	stated that their family origins were in the Indian subcontinent. It's all part of a long shared history that has
0:45.0	sometimes been violent and conflictual and always been intense. For centuries the
0:50.1	British have been fascinated by the cultures of India and they've struggled with greater or less
0:54.5	success to understand them.
0:56.7	For the 18th century European, the most intriguing mystery of India was Hinduism, a faith that confusing seemed to advocate both world denying asceticism and riotous physical pleasure. Why were some Hindu temples, unlike English cathedrals, richly decorated with erotic sculpture.
1:23.0	Where the Christian God endured unbearable suffering, Hindu God seemed to rejoice in sex.
1:30.0	But around 1800, one man, Charles Stewart, decided to explain to the British that
1:36.1	Hinduism should be seriously studied and greatly admired.
1:41.2	As part of his campaign, he collected and displayed pieces of ancient temple sculpture,
1:46.0	and one of those pieces is the object of this program.
1:50.0	This Maharajiturkateu was passing by Taur, thought it was very funny that Shiva himself was sitting there
1:55.3	having a class on spiritual life and detachment
1:57.9	with his wife sitting on his lap, very attractive wife,
2:00.0	with his arm around her, and he just, he laughed.
2:02.0	Hinduism is about joy but it never forgets the struggle.
	...

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