Background Information
Artwork
Hindu Deity Vishnu, 1100–1200
The Hindu deity Vishnu, 1100–1200. India or Bangladesh; northern Bengal. Phyllite. The Avery Brundage Collection, B62S4+.
Background Information
Heian and Kamakura Period Tea (794–1338)
The first record of tea drinking in Japan occurs early in the Heian period (794–1185) whenit was introduced to the Japanese aristocracy by scholar-monks returning from Tang dynasty China. Learn more.
Video
Jagannath Panda on "The Cult of Survival II"
New Delhi-based artist Jagannath Panda lives in the burgeoning city of Gurgaon, which is one of India’s major outsourcing hubs and bases of operation for global corporations. His works illustrate the city’s tensions, as overdevelopment threatens natural habitats and infrastructures collapse before they are completed. Panda’s mix of mythology and realism points to the evolving nature of Indian identity and experience today.
Lesson
Epic Literature - The Ramayana (Story of Rama)
Students are introduced to the Ramayana (Story of Rama) and recall events by sequencing related art objects on a Story Hill. Then students make connections between artistic and literary depictions of character by comparing Vishnu and Ravana.
Activity
Creating Story with Music
Students express the Balinese concept of working together to create a community by applying the kecak musical pattern of interlocking parts to “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and design their own chant using words or sounds to represent their characters.
Background Information
Hundred Schools of Philosophy
Beginning in the Eastern Zhou dynasty (ca. 1071‒ 221 BCE) was the development of the so-called ‘hundred schools’ of philosophy, a creative flowering of genius that laid the foundations for all major schools of Chinese thought with the exception of Buddhism. At this time, philosophers began to travel around from court to court offering advice on everything from how to run the state, how to achieve victory in battle and how to achieve immortality.
Video
An Introduction to Japanese Buddhism
Professor Robert Sharf, University of California, Berkeley, discusses Japanese Buddhism at the Medieval Japan Teacher Institute at the Asian Art Museum.
Video
Beliefs Made Visible: Religion and Art in South Asia
View the whole series of religious arts in South Asia.
Video
Amaterasu, The Sun Goddess
Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Liz Nichols, tells a Japanese story about Amaterasu, the sun goddess, in the museum’s Japan galleries.