November 4, 2007, 6 pm
"Images of a Forgotton Pantheon" an illustrated talk by Dr. Naman
Ahuja
Venue: Subhiksha, 70, MRC Nagar Main Road, R A Puram, Chennai
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Winged Yakshi, 1st century BCE, Chandraketugarh, West Bengal |
Art historian Dr. Naman P Ahuja, specializes in the sculptural arts of
Ancient India and medieval Sultanate painting. Previously Fellow
of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and Tutor of Indian Art at the British
Museum, London he is now Associate Professor of Ancient Indian Art and
Architecture at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi.
This talk will bring to the fore startling new discoveries of the earliest
Indian images from 200 BC - AD 200. These objects, made of terracotta,
ivory, wood and metal, were the small objects of worship from people's
homes and betray a completely different system and order of religious icons
compared to what we have learnt so far from the contemporaneous great stone
monuments at Bharhut, Sanchi and Amaravati. It takes us, thus, into the
private worlds of ancient Indians, their myths and icons, gods and demons.
Artistically too, these little objects are highly accomplished, like finely
detailed jewels, taking our aesthetic appreciation of Indian art to new
heights.
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