LECTURE 15: MONUMENTAL ART OF SOUTH ASIA

Question 1

Multivalence

Answer 1

Sites or images that have different interpretations or appeal

eg. Mahabalipuram, Borobudur

Question 2

Brahma

Answer 2

Abstract creator of all

Question 3

Vishnu

Answer 3

He who steps across the mountain
Preserver

Question 4

Shiva

Answer 4

Destroyer

Question 5

Descent of Ganges at Mahabalipuram

Answer 5

Pallava Dynasty
late 7th to early 8th century CE

Question 6

Borobudur

Answer 6

1. Java, Indonesia
2. Shailendra Dynasty
3. Early ninth century CE

Question 7

Shiva Natraja

Answer 7

1. Cholas
2. 11th-12th century CE
3. Bronze
4. 82cm
5. Museum Rietberg, Zürich.

Question 8

Mount Kailseh/Meru

Answer 8

• Sacred mountain
• Tibet

Question 9

Sacred River

Answer 9

• Empties into Bay of Bengal
• Sacred to Hindus

Question 10

Shikara

Answer 10

1. means peak
2. present on top of Hindu temples
3. they are slightly curved not pointed
4. Has striations and has physical resemblance to the mountain

Question 11

Avatar

Answer 11

Personification of diety

Question 12

Stupa

Answer 12

Bell shaped structures of different shapes and sizes

Question 13

Mandala

Answer 13

• Means circle
• Square with 4 gates and circle in the center

Question 14

Devi

Answer 14

Deity with more than 4 arms holding weapons

Question 15

Levels of Bombudur

Answer 15

• Arupdhathu - world of formlessness
• Rupadhatu - world of forms (sense of awareness/ consciousness)
• Kam Adhatu (world of desire)

Question 16

Iconography

Answer 16

Images or symbols used to convey specific meanings in an artwork