Sacred Art in India from the last half-millennium BCE well into the first millennium CE is unexpectedly dynamic. This, largely, is the theme of Tejas. In the process of imaging the creative Energy of the universe – ‘Tejas’ in Sanskrit – an evolving visual language of plant, animal and human symbols emerges, which leads to multiple definitions of the divine. This is the focus of Tejas: Eternal Energy, 1500 Years of Indian Art. The book opens on motifs and symbols of water cosmology, the old gods and the avatars. It moves into the making of shrines and temples, their underlying symbology, and the making community. The many meanings of Tejas further reflect in the images of Jainism, Buddhism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and ultimately of Surya, the sun. Tejas. Eternal Energy: 1500 Years of Indian Art reconstitutes this epic narrative, in particular through the development of sculpture in bronze, stone and terracotta from the 3rd century BCE to the 12th century CE. The book is illustrated with an extraordinary selection of nearly two hundred of the most beautiful sculptures from thje collections of Indian Museums and sites of the Archaeological Survey of India.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jan Van Alphen
Jan Van Alphen: Belgian Indologist, graduate of Ghent University, 1976. Post-graduated in Mumbai on 'Natya Shastra'. After anthropological research with the Gonds of Bastar (Madhya Pradesh) in the late 1970s, he became a Scientific Assistant at the Royal Museums for Art and History in Brussels. The last twenty years he has been with the Ethnographic Museum of Antwerp, first as Curator of the Asia Department, and since 1995 as General Director. He teaches Indian Art at the India Study Centre of the University of Antwerp and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He has organized several exhibitions on Indian and Buddhist topics. Some of his accomplanying catalogues have become much appreciated works, such as Oriental Medicine in 1995 (published in 7 languages), Steps to Liberation, 2500 years of Jain Art and Religion in 2000, Buddhist Sculpture from the Grottoes of Longmen, China in 2001 and Cast for Eternity, Indian and Tibetan Bronzes in 2005.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ranesh Ray
Ranesh Ray: Consultant on architecture, design and conservation, and presently a Member of the Indian Government Central Advisory Board for Culture, Ray has curated and designed major international and national exhibitions and museums for the Government of India and Trusts on subjects such as concepts of space in traditional pre-industrial societies, Tibetan Buddhist religious art, craft and craft movements, tribal communities, art - including retrospectives of senior contemporary artists - and eminent personalities. He has prepared documents on World Heritage Sites in India and on major policy matters concerning the preservation of antiquities and built heritage in the country. He is deeply and actively involved in the conservation of cultural heritage, and is working closely with the Archaeological Survey of India and the Ministry of Culture on various aspects of preserving and conserving India's heritage sites.
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