Program: Friday 13 October9am Registration - 9.30am Welcome, Edmund Capon, director
- 9.45am Introduction to Exhibition, Jackie Menzies and Jim Masselos
The exhibition Goddess: Divine Energy is arranged thematically, starting from early goddesses, moving through goddesses in Hinduism to goddesses in Buddhism. Between the Hindu and Buddhist sections is a section looking at yantras and the narrative of the subtle body. Jackie gives an overview of these sections, focusing on some of the major works in the exhibition. Jim follows with a presentation on the goddess and partner, using selected images from the exhibition. - 10.30am Goddesses in the Vedas, Tamara Ditrich
A unique feature of Vedic religion as expressed in the Rigveda, the oldest sacred text of the Hindus, is the worship of deities in pairs of the same gender. While Vedic goddesses are usually worshipped as single deities, when a goddess is addressed together with another deity, the pair often comprises two females. In this respect the Vedic deities are clearly distinguished from the well known divine couples of male gods with their female consorts that have had the most prominent position in the Hindu pantheon since the post-Vedic period. - 11.00am Sexual imagery in early Indian art: syncretism and the divine androgyne, John Guy
The explicitly sexual dimension in the representation of gods in northern India in the early centuries BCE is a reflection of a struggle to create icons that reflected that which is inherently concealed to the mundane world. A recurring theme in the great collection myths which constitute the Indian cosmogony is sexual ambiguity and the need to explain the progenerative process in a system which is essentially unitary. Ardhanarishvara - Shiva and Parvati represented in a single body - reflects the ambiguities and tensions inherent in these creation myths. - 12.00noon Lunch and exhibition viewing
- 1.30pm The painter’s Goddess: Reflections of faith in Indian art, B.N. Goswamy
This lecture brings in a range of materials including works featuring Radha, who turned from Beloved to Goddess, but then goes on to focus upon what was intensely personal to the painters, for they did centre their thoughts, or meditate upon , an ishta – a deity truly close to their inner beings – before they sat down to paint. One has to read carefully into works before one can locate and identify that favoured figure or icon, but the effort is worth making, for it leads one to a deeper understanding of modes of thought and expression. - 2.30pm Power of the Female: Some thoughts on the early female sculptures in Indian art, Gauri Krishnan
A number of female terracotta figurines from prior to the Common Era suggest the rise of goddesses in early South Asia. What may have caused such a rise or when this may have occurred, during the Vedic period or the later Puranic period, however, remains unclear. The importance of semi-divine nature spirits like yakshinis and apsaras that played on the general human psyche may have also been responsible for fuelling the importance afforded to goddesses. Using literary and archaeological evidence, this talk addresses issues such as notions of fertility and sexuality, and the development of magico-religious cults of the mother goddess, which ultimately culminates with Durga as the supreme manifestation. - 3.15pm Exhibition viewing
Saturday 14 October- 9.30am Registration
- 10.00am Jina Prajnas: Female Buddhas of the Mandala, Chaya Chandrasekhar
A set of five transcendent Buddhas, collectively known as the Pancha Jinas (Five Victors), form the underlying basis of Vajrayana, the esoteric branch of Mahayana Buddhism. In the past, the male aspects of the Pancha Jinas, the Jina Buddhas, have enjoyed ample recognition, earning inclusion in numerous discussions, both theoretical and art historical. Their partners, the Jina Prajnas, the female Buddhas that are within the tradition inseparable from their male counterparts, have, however, received far less attention. This paper explores the significance of the Jina Prajnas as they emerge within Vajrayana to articulate the fundamental principles of the religion. - 10.45am The Goddess as Divine Lover: Maithuna imagery in Himalayan art, Jane Casey
The maithuna is a Sanskrit term for imagery depicting gods and goddesses in sexual embrace. Although frequently encountered in the Himalayan region, maithuna imagery is relatively rare in other religious traditions. In India, particularly after the ninth century, Hindu and Buddhist communities commissioned maithuna images, and the iconography subsequently flourished in Tibet and Nepal. This lecture examines the development of maithuna imagery in Himalayan art, touching upon some of the social and religious purposes the imagery may have served, as well as the unique philosophical tenets it was meant to embody. - 11.45am Morning Tea
- 12.15pm The Dakini Cult: Wild and Wonderful Goddesses, David Templeman
An 11th century Tibetan tantric master observed that there existed three types of dakini; those who devoured human flesh, those who existed in the world as ‘normal’ women and those who embodied pure wisdom. The Indian origins of the dakini suggest they were initially found as a class of generic, malicious female demonesses. The Tibetan predeliction for such wrathful figures encouraged a proliferation of these forms of the dakini. Although dakinis are frequently referred to as rather abstract ‘wisdom-bringers’ in the enlightenment process, at times their function links them directly back to the Indian themes of ‘troublesome women’ and just plain ‘nuisances’. - 1.00pm Lunch and exhibition viewing
- 2.30pm Shakti, the Lingam and the Dance of Nataraja, Alan Croker
This paper considers how both the Shiva linga and the figure of Shiva in his dancing form of Nataraja symbolise the principles of duality that characterise our understanding of the world. There is the principle of potential action considered as male, while the action itself, and the power and result of that action are considered as the female principle, or shakti. These principles embody the process of manifestation of the Supreme Being which is unmarked: a singular, undivided, non-dual state of pure consciousness. - 3.00pm The Symbolic Narrative of the Subtle Body, Madhu Khanna
The Hindu Tantric tradition of goddess worship evolved from the flowering of the concept and ritual of the subtle body in the medieval period. With the advent of the scientific revolution the medical sciences have dominated our understanding of the body, based on a dualism between mind and soul and rooted in the split between domain of nature and the realm of the sacred. Asian religious traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism or Daoism have offered an 'embodied' vision of the self which transcends the biological materialism of the body. - 4.00pm Reception
Speakers:Dr Jane Casey is an independent curator and art historian specialising in Himalayan art. She is the author of over 25 books and articles including (with Naman Parmeshwar Ahuja and David Weldon) Divine presence, arts of India and the Himalayas (Cass Asia, Barcelona 2003), The sculptural heritage of Tibet, Buddhist art in the Nyingjei Lam collection (Laurence King, London 1999), (with Steven Kossak) Sacred visions, early paintings from Central Tibet (The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York 1998) and Tibetan art, Towards a definition of style (Laurence King, London 1997). Dr Chaya Chandrasekhar is curator of South and Southeast Asian art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She holds a Ph.D. in South Asian art from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Prior to moving to Sydney in September 2005 to take up the position at the Gallery, she taught art history at Western Michigan University and The Ohio State University. Exhibitions she has worked on previously: Mirrors of the Heart Mind: The Rezk Collection of Tibetan Art for the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, and the Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Alan Croker is director of Design 5 - Architects Pty. Ltd., a Sydney firm specialising in conservation and related new work. His first visit to India in 1982 sparked an interest which has become a lifelong journey of the spirit into the heart of the Indian tradition, particularly South India. He now visits India almost every year, mainly to attend special ceremonies and festivals at the great and ancient temple to Lord Nataraja in Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. Dr Tamara Ditrich is lecturer in Eastern Religions and co-director of the Centre for Buddhist Studies, University of Queensland. She teaches Hinduism, Buddhism, Sanskrit and Meditation in Eastern Religions. Her current research focuses on the role of dual deities in the Rgveda and the maternal subjectivity in early Hinduism. Professor B.N. Goswamy is a distinguished scholar and art historian. He is Professor Emeritus of Art History at Punjab University, Chandigarh; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Asiatic Society, London; member of American Oriental Society and Fellow of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. The recipient of many honours, he has been a Visiting Professor at European, American and Canadian universities, and is the author of many books and catalogues. John Guy MA, FSA, is senior curator of South and Southeast Asian art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. His research interests focus on South Indian cultural relations with Southeast Asia in the fields of sculpture, architecture and the textile trade. Major publications include: Woven Cargoes. Indian Textiles in the East (1998), Vietnamese Ceramics. A Separate Tradition (1998, co-author), Indian Art and Connoisseurship (1995, editor), Arts of India: 1550-1900 (1990, co-editor), and Ceramic Traditions of Southeast Asia (1989). His most recent book Indian Temple Sculpture(V&A ) is to be published March 2007. Dr Madhu Khanna is associate professor (Religions/Indic Studies) and project director of Narivada: Gender, Culture and Civilization Network, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. Major publications include: (co-author) Yantra : The tantric symbol of cosmic unity (1997), and The tantric way (1989) both published by Thames & Hudson, London with American, French, German and Danish editions. Her seminal work on the Shrichakra of the cult of Goddess Tripurasundari based on Sanskrit manuscript sources is forthcoming. Dr Gauri Parimoo Krishnan is Senior Curator for South Asia at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from the M.S. University of Baroda, India. She has curated a number acclaimed Asian art exhibitions for the ACM, including Alamkara: 5000 Years of India; Ramayana: A Living Tradition; and Krishna the Blue God. She is author of the forthcoming publications, Power of the Female and Devangana Sculptures on Hindu temple Architecture. She is currently involved in writing and editing the catalogue of the south Asian collections at ACM. Dr Jim Masselos is honorary reader in history in the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney. He specialises in the study of South Asia and has authored and edited many articles and books on India, most recently the photographic study Beato's Delhi 1857, 1997 (2000). He was co-curator of the Art Gallery of New South Wales exhibitions Dancing to the Flute: Dance and Music in Indian Art (1997) and Divine and Courtly Life in Indian Painting(1991). With Jackie Menzies he shares an Australian Research Council linkage grant for research related to the Goddess exhibition. Jackie Menzies is head curator of Asian art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, having been appointed inaugural Curator of Asian Art in 1980. She is also a Director of VisAsia (since 2000). She has curated/organised many exhibitions and edited/ contributed to many catalogues, including 'Imperial China' (1992), 'Sacred Images of Sri Lanka'(1994), 'INDIA: Dancing to the Flute' (1997), 'MODERN BOY, MODERN GIRL, Modernity in Japanese Art 1910-1935' (1998) and 'BUDDHA, Radiant Awakening' (2001). David Templeman is an independent scholar and PhD candidate at Monash Asia Institute, Monash University. His first published work, in 1981, was a translation of a 17th cent Tibetan Tara text. Since that time he has pursued interests in the development of Tibetan artistic styles and the translation of Tibetan historical works. His current research deals with the life and works of the 16-17th century Tibetan historian Taranatha and his understanding of late Indian Buddhism. Cost: One day $80 $70 AGS/TAASA members, $50 student concession.
Both days $150 $130 AGS/TAASA members, $90 student concession Includes lunch, refreshments, exhibition viewing. Book both days to receive invitation to the exhibition opening.   
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