MacGregor points out that this boddhisatva, brought to London by some British empire guy who took much of ‘Ceylon’ from the Dutch, was originally considered too erotic to exhibit. But it’s one of those Buddhist/Hindu things in which the sexiness of the figure, or lack thereof, has little to do with its religious significance. (She does kind of look like a Disney princess, no?) This is a solid bronze figure of Tara, who’s both a Hindu goddess and this powerful Buddhist figure for compassion. (Is it easier to be compassionate if you’re that sexy?) The statue comes from ancient/medieval Sri Lanka, which has been staunchly Buddhist longer than most of the world, and MacGregor points out how Tara goes back and forth between categories that aren’t necessarily opposing: Buddhist and Hindu, Sri Lankan and South Indian, Singhalese and Tamil, herself as Tara and herself as manifestation of her consort, a male boddhisatva named Avalokiteśvara. I suppose there’s a bit of that in being a boddhisatva in general, in that you reached nirvana but then pulled back, stayed in this world in order to help others find their way. An avatar of one of the gods? Something like that. In any event, the balancing duality is of course an interesting history for a country that is still torn apart by civil war.
No comments:
Post a Comment