THE BACKGROUND VIEW OF ART AND REPRESENTATION:
The world’s academia, especially many Indologists or those who study Indian Culture and Civilisation, Languages etc. have come from largely European backgrounds with Christian traditions dominating their psyche, and hence the art of the ancient world, and especially that of India, has been viewed as firstly through a Christian bias and second, and secondly as largely being influence by the Greeks and Romans – which we note the European scholars are also reluctant to accept gained much of their culture themselves from the older Egyptians!
As such, even in the modern era, with many western Yoga teachers, Historians and those sympathetic to Indian religions and culture – there is some tendency to become inflated with their Euroccentricism and dominate the traditional views of things such as Deities, Chakras, Tantra and especially Art and Form.
Had we had Hindu or Jain Indians however writing the History of Europe and European Art, we might see the Greeks and Romans as deriving their styles and representations from the Egyptians, Persians and Hindus, as opposed to influencing others, and we might see that their view on naked art forms and spirituality gains a more liberalised and open approach, not such as closed one as we find in history books coming from the West today.
We must remember however that much of what we have in the West today came from the East – from China and India via the Persians and later the Arabs, as also the Egyptians into the Greco-Roman world. This includes Cotton and Silk garments, dyes, medical and spiritual knowledge or philosophy, mathematics – especially our numeral system, various spices and condiments (pepper and sugar being the most common), as also a variety of occult traditions as tarot cards, palm reading, dress styles and dance through the Gypsies who were tribes from North-Western India settling in both the Middle East and Europe.
As early as 600BCE, perhaps earlier, at Takshashila University in today’s Afghanistan, was an ancient Hindu seat of learning that attracted students from afar as China, Persia and also Greece and Rome, learning mathematics, medicine, art and architecture etc. – which undoubtedly had it’s origin in the older Indus Valley cultures several millennia earlier – where large polished pillars, amphitheatres and fine art resembling the Hellenic has been found dating back as far as 3000-2500BCE, long before these cultures.
Their mathematics was also advanced, they used rulers, knew of Pythagoras theorem and constructed grid-like cities with intricate and advanced sewer systems and city planning, as well as having sit-down toilets, running water and bathrooms in every home, not unlike today’s modern Indian houses.
The art of this culture dates as far back as Mehrgarh around 7000BCE, and even older representation in the older Central Indian cave paintings of Bhimbekta dating back some 30,000 years or more. Thus, the Indian Art traditions are some of the oldest on the planet, and those at Mehrgarh show many goddesses with full nude breasts exposed, representing a tradition that is still popular in India, nearly some 10,000 years later in Art form.
But, what does this Art really signify? Many have stated it to represent some fertility cult or goddess, but they do not explain the spiritual side of it. We find such representations throughout the ancient world, and it appears to have originated in the Indus cities and culture of India in Vedic times – but again, the enigma remains surrounding their deeper meaning and symbolism.
Here however, is an attempt to explain these symbols and the higher spiritual meanings and also origin of the naked art, as it was part of society back then as it is today.
Hopefully, one will gain a deeper appreciation for the representation in Art, especially the older nude sculptures often deemed as “primitive”, and see the greater symbolic representations that lie within them, and not be embarrassed about them, but rather appreciate their deeper symbolic and spiritual messages!
As such, even in the modern era, with many western Yoga teachers, Historians and those sympathetic to Indian religions and culture – there is some tendency to become inflated with their Euroccentricism and dominate the traditional views of things such as Deities, Chakras, Tantra and especially Art and Form.
Had we had Hindu or Jain Indians however writing the History of Europe and European Art, we might see the Greeks and Romans as deriving their styles and representations from the Egyptians, Persians and Hindus, as opposed to influencing others, and we might see that their view on naked art forms and spirituality gains a more liberalised and open approach, not such as closed one as we find in history books coming from the West today.
We must remember however that much of what we have in the West today came from the East – from China and India via the Persians and later the Arabs, as also the Egyptians into the Greco-Roman world. This includes Cotton and Silk garments, dyes, medical and spiritual knowledge or philosophy, mathematics – especially our numeral system, various spices and condiments (pepper and sugar being the most common), as also a variety of occult traditions as tarot cards, palm reading, dress styles and dance through the Gypsies who were tribes from North-Western India settling in both the Middle East and Europe.
As early as 600BCE, perhaps earlier, at Takshashila University in today’s Afghanistan, was an ancient Hindu seat of learning that attracted students from afar as China, Persia and also Greece and Rome, learning mathematics, medicine, art and architecture etc. – which undoubtedly had it’s origin in the older Indus Valley cultures several millennia earlier – where large polished pillars, amphitheatres and fine art resembling the Hellenic has been found dating back as far as 3000-2500BCE, long before these cultures.
Their mathematics was also advanced, they used rulers, knew of Pythagoras theorem and constructed grid-like cities with intricate and advanced sewer systems and city planning, as well as having sit-down toilets, running water and bathrooms in every home, not unlike today’s modern Indian houses.
The art of this culture dates as far back as Mehrgarh around 7000BCE, and even older representation in the older Central Indian cave paintings of Bhimbekta dating back some 30,000 years or more. Thus, the Indian Art traditions are some of the oldest on the planet, and those at Mehrgarh show many goddesses with full nude breasts exposed, representing a tradition that is still popular in India, nearly some 10,000 years later in Art form.
But, what does this Art really signify? Many have stated it to represent some fertility cult or goddess, but they do not explain the spiritual side of it. We find such representations throughout the ancient world, and it appears to have originated in the Indus cities and culture of India in Vedic times – but again, the enigma remains surrounding their deeper meaning and symbolism.
Here however, is an attempt to explain these symbols and the higher spiritual meanings and also origin of the naked art, as it was part of society back then as it is today.
Hopefully, one will gain a deeper appreciation for the representation in Art, especially the older nude sculptures often deemed as “primitive”, and see the greater symbolic representations that lie within them, and not be embarrassed about them, but rather appreciate their deeper symbolic and spiritual messages!
THE NAKED FORM AND INDIAN SPIRITUALITY:
In ancient cultures, especially in India, we see the naked form which conflicts with our conservative modern-day British society and culture, which places many boundaries upon how we look, act, speak and even dress.
Hence, many scholars, including Indians today, shunned into corners by centuries of social and religious conservatism by Islam and later Christianity are shy of their ancient heritage, especially the semi-nude sculptures we see of females in the art of ancient India, often depicted as either nude or showing their breasts.
Of course, this was common in many ancient cultures, although in India we find rather large full breasts in the sculptures of the Goddess, representing the same nourishing force as the sacred Cow does in India – supplying us with the motherly spirit of milk and birth. Similarly, Hinduism has sculptures depicting death also – severed heads also held by gods and goddesses, signifying both the spiritual death of the ego and also the physical death of the body also, opposed to birth, in the cosmic cycle of reincarnation (samsara).
Thus, in the Ajanta cave paintings, the ancient Indus Valley sculptures etc. we see full breasts depicted on Goddesses, whilst males often wear an upper garment of shawl. Older women are seen to be wearing the full Sari or upper garments, as also are attendants and servants in the Courts, as they are seen as not as powerful as the Queens and Goddesses, who’s full bare breasts represent their powers of sustenance of Kingdoms, Power (Shakti) and Birth / Mother Nature itself – like the Cow. It is somewhat a social stigma.
It also goes beyond this also. Hinduism depicts many deities – especially those representing Transformation and Liberation from the cycle of rebirth and karma, such as the wrathful Goddess Kali and the Yogi-deity Shiva, as nude in sculptures and paintings etc. This however forms another degree of Hindu spirituality interwoven in art.
The naked form represents the Self or the Soul (Atman), of which clothes can be compared to the physical body (sthula sharira), which is a gross and material form and existence. Whereas the former naked Self is eternal and unchanging and non-decaying – the latter, the physical body is of temporal existence, changing and subject to death and decay.
The naked body also represents what we come into the world with, and what we go out with. It signifies non-attachment to possessions – even clothes on this material plane of existence, and signifies the liberated Self, free from all boundaries, bodies and free to move about as it pleases. It represents the unbound Self.
Many spiritual orders of India – especially the “Digambara” or Sky-Clad Monks in India thus go about naked, as do many other Shaiva orders – devotees of the Yogi-God Shiva, such as the Naga (serpent) renunciates, called Sadhus, who grow long beards, dreaded hair and roam about naked, like their God Shiva, representing the bliss of liberation (of possessions, such as clothes etc., and ultimately the physical body itself. Being like a garment).
The Jains especially, an offshoot of Hinduism similar to Buddhism, have their naked orders, and the Jain Saints, called Tirthankaras are always depicted as naked also for representing a similar purpose – beyond all material attachments, engagements and representing the Cosmic Truth as being formless. The “Bare Truth” so to speak.
Hence, many scholars, including Indians today, shunned into corners by centuries of social and religious conservatism by Islam and later Christianity are shy of their ancient heritage, especially the semi-nude sculptures we see of females in the art of ancient India, often depicted as either nude or showing their breasts.
Of course, this was common in many ancient cultures, although in India we find rather large full breasts in the sculptures of the Goddess, representing the same nourishing force as the sacred Cow does in India – supplying us with the motherly spirit of milk and birth. Similarly, Hinduism has sculptures depicting death also – severed heads also held by gods and goddesses, signifying both the spiritual death of the ego and also the physical death of the body also, opposed to birth, in the cosmic cycle of reincarnation (samsara).
Thus, in the Ajanta cave paintings, the ancient Indus Valley sculptures etc. we see full breasts depicted on Goddesses, whilst males often wear an upper garment of shawl. Older women are seen to be wearing the full Sari or upper garments, as also are attendants and servants in the Courts, as they are seen as not as powerful as the Queens and Goddesses, who’s full bare breasts represent their powers of sustenance of Kingdoms, Power (Shakti) and Birth / Mother Nature itself – like the Cow. It is somewhat a social stigma.
It also goes beyond this also. Hinduism depicts many deities – especially those representing Transformation and Liberation from the cycle of rebirth and karma, such as the wrathful Goddess Kali and the Yogi-deity Shiva, as nude in sculptures and paintings etc. This however forms another degree of Hindu spirituality interwoven in art.
The naked form represents the Self or the Soul (Atman), of which clothes can be compared to the physical body (sthula sharira), which is a gross and material form and existence. Whereas the former naked Self is eternal and unchanging and non-decaying – the latter, the physical body is of temporal existence, changing and subject to death and decay.
The naked body also represents what we come into the world with, and what we go out with. It signifies non-attachment to possessions – even clothes on this material plane of existence, and signifies the liberated Self, free from all boundaries, bodies and free to move about as it pleases. It represents the unbound Self.
Many spiritual orders of India – especially the “Digambara” or Sky-Clad Monks in India thus go about naked, as do many other Shaiva orders – devotees of the Yogi-God Shiva, such as the Naga (serpent) renunciates, called Sadhus, who grow long beards, dreaded hair and roam about naked, like their God Shiva, representing the bliss of liberation (of possessions, such as clothes etc., and ultimately the physical body itself. Being like a garment).
The Jains especially, an offshoot of Hinduism similar to Buddhism, have their naked orders, and the Jain Saints, called Tirthankaras are always depicted as naked also for representing a similar purpose – beyond all material attachments, engagements and representing the Cosmic Truth as being formless. The “Bare Truth” so to speak.
Thus, in Hinduism, naked art is somewhat a more Spiritual culture, as we often see in other cultures also – often angels in the Western traditions of the Greeks and Romans are depicted as nude also, representing also the primal innocence of the unborn and un-manifest Self-being, that is unaware of it’s naked existence, as it has not succumbed to the human or social conditioning of material existence, that it requires any “outer garb” or even form as such.
This is perhaps why some ancient religions as Islam and Judaism rejected giving their God such a form at all, since the Supreme Deity, as in India, was primarily Spirit and Consciousness, which could exist without form altogether, although for the purpose of man and worship, was in nations as India, Egypt etc. given form, so as given attributes, names etc. so it could be comprehended by the limited human mind.
This is perhaps why some ancient religions as Islam and Judaism rejected giving their God such a form at all, since the Supreme Deity, as in India, was primarily Spirit and Consciousness, which could exist without form altogether, although for the purpose of man and worship, was in nations as India, Egypt etc. given form, so as given attributes, names etc. so it could be comprehended by the limited human mind.
Hence in India, the representation of Naked Gods was indeed closer to the Truth, and also gave the Godhead something “Human” about them at the same time.
India also appears to have amongst the oldest representations of fine art in the ancient world, from the Indus Valley around 3000BCE onwards, with various figures as the “Priest King”, the “Red Sandstone Bust” and the nude “Dancing Girl” as well as earlier Goddesses from Mehrgarh around 5000BCE, with her full breasts. The former mentioned are as fine as the later Greek sculptures over a thousand years later, and comparable with later sculptures found at Gandhara in present-day Afghanistan, a famous area of East-West contact in later times.
We also see the full-breasts, often rather over-pronounced, like the full Cow’s udder representing the same idea of nourishment, plenty and motherhood in the early Mauryan sculptures of the Yakshinis (Buddhist tree goddesses of wealth) around 300BCE. The earth itself in Vedic lore is the Cow, and thus to be protected similarly. The earth is thus always depicted with full bare breasts.
Ghee, clarified butter is also an important concept in Hinduism, both for healing and cooking, as also the use of cow’s urine and manure, which are both antiseptic and also have a variety of household uses in India, as also cow patties are sacrificed in the Hawan or fire ceremonies in Hinduism also for purifying the air and atmosphere. As such, the Cow’s sacred nature can be understood, especially when personified into a human form – the breasts must be shown, representing her fullness and nourishing and giving nature, as well as the milk she provides, from which the ghee or clarified butter (also used in fire sacrifices as a main component) comes, as also buttermilk, curd etc. which are also nutritious in value and useful to humans.
We also see this in the Egyptian Mother-Goddess Isis, to the Indian Devaki, the mother of Krishna, who suckle the young Kings, giving the idea of motherhood, and equating them with the higher Divine Powers of both the Mother Earth and the Great Cosmic Goddess or female principle itself – Shakti (Power), which may have a cognate in Judaism’s feminine aspect of God – Shekhinah.
India also appears to have amongst the oldest representations of fine art in the ancient world, from the Indus Valley around 3000BCE onwards, with various figures as the “Priest King”, the “Red Sandstone Bust” and the nude “Dancing Girl” as well as earlier Goddesses from Mehrgarh around 5000BCE, with her full breasts. The former mentioned are as fine as the later Greek sculptures over a thousand years later, and comparable with later sculptures found at Gandhara in present-day Afghanistan, a famous area of East-West contact in later times.
We also see the full-breasts, often rather over-pronounced, like the full Cow’s udder representing the same idea of nourishment, plenty and motherhood in the early Mauryan sculptures of the Yakshinis (Buddhist tree goddesses of wealth) around 300BCE. The earth itself in Vedic lore is the Cow, and thus to be protected similarly. The earth is thus always depicted with full bare breasts.
Ghee, clarified butter is also an important concept in Hinduism, both for healing and cooking, as also the use of cow’s urine and manure, which are both antiseptic and also have a variety of household uses in India, as also cow patties are sacrificed in the Hawan or fire ceremonies in Hinduism also for purifying the air and atmosphere. As such, the Cow’s sacred nature can be understood, especially when personified into a human form – the breasts must be shown, representing her fullness and nourishing and giving nature, as well as the milk she provides, from which the ghee or clarified butter (also used in fire sacrifices as a main component) comes, as also buttermilk, curd etc. which are also nutritious in value and useful to humans.
We also see this in the Egyptian Mother-Goddess Isis, to the Indian Devaki, the mother of Krishna, who suckle the young Kings, giving the idea of motherhood, and equating them with the higher Divine Powers of both the Mother Earth and the Great Cosmic Goddess or female principle itself – Shakti (Power), which may have a cognate in Judaism’s feminine aspect of God – Shekhinah.
Thus, such naked art forms and also social norms in the ancient world, especially the bare breasts in ancient cultures outside of India as Egypt, Rome, Greece etc. seem to have derived these from India, as also their diagonally-drapes from the Sari.
Likewise, just as we noted that angels are depicted naked, as also Gods, we see children always were in ancient cultures also – not just as a cultural norm, but like toplessness, the divine origin of the naked form represents the young naked child as the unborn primeval Self-Sprit beyond the world itself, as we discussed is seen in naked deities as Yogi Gods Shiva and his wife Kali. It is also a metaphor for the Supreme Reality / Godhead being the “Naked Truth”, that which is without any attachments.
When we are naked, we also realise that our clothing is but a decoration, as often our ego can get carried away by the labels and clothes that we wear – which is especially true of the modern label-society in which we live. When we are naked, we all become equals, there is no superior among us.
So also, on a spiritual level, it helps us get in touch with the idea of removing outer attachments as also the idea that “we are not the body” but rather the Formless Self – just as when we remove out clothes we become “mere humans” – a form merely dressed up, as it were, to look better for outer social displays of ego and prestige. The naked form removes all such connotations on both physical-social and spiritual levels and helps us better contemplate our true inner being as similar – that our own bodies, our own forms are likewise just like clothes – they are not our true realities, nor even out true personalities!
It is like the old saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!”.
Likewise, just as we noted that angels are depicted naked, as also Gods, we see children always were in ancient cultures also – not just as a cultural norm, but like toplessness, the divine origin of the naked form represents the young naked child as the unborn primeval Self-Sprit beyond the world itself, as we discussed is seen in naked deities as Yogi Gods Shiva and his wife Kali. It is also a metaphor for the Supreme Reality / Godhead being the “Naked Truth”, that which is without any attachments.
When we are naked, we also realise that our clothing is but a decoration, as often our ego can get carried away by the labels and clothes that we wear – which is especially true of the modern label-society in which we live. When we are naked, we all become equals, there is no superior among us.
So also, on a spiritual level, it helps us get in touch with the idea of removing outer attachments as also the idea that “we are not the body” but rather the Formless Self – just as when we remove out clothes we become “mere humans” – a form merely dressed up, as it were, to look better for outer social displays of ego and prestige. The naked form removes all such connotations on both physical-social and spiritual levels and helps us better contemplate our true inner being as similar – that our own bodies, our own forms are likewise just like clothes – they are not our true realities, nor even out true personalities!
It is like the old saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!”.
The lessons of ancient culture and art forms can hence tell our modern society alot – not that we have to adopt naturism as a social norm, but rather honour and respect the deeper Self that was hinted at in the older art forms of the ancient world, especially India, and our return to the Earth and honouring Nature itself, as also questioning our own appearance and who and what we really are, not merely how we look and dress, which are but outer temporal material coverings.
By doing this, we can give up our outer attachments and addictions of the ego, and learn to live in nature, not against it, but as a part of it, and also as a being of Pure Consciousness and Awareness, without any forms, clothes or even names!
Such thinking alone shall give us hope towards eventual liberation of our Soul.
OM TAT SAT.
By doing this, we can give up our outer attachments and addictions of the ego, and learn to live in nature, not against it, but as a part of it, and also as a being of Pure Consciousness and Awareness, without any forms, clothes or even names!
Such thinking alone shall give us hope towards eventual liberation of our Soul.
OM TAT SAT.
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