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SOUTH ASIAN OBJECTS FROM THE COLLECTION
INDIA
Sculpture from the Kushan Period
Sculpture from North India, 5th-7th Centuries
Jain sculpture
Sculpture of the Pala Period
Stone Sculpture from Hindu Temples
Sculptures from South India, 8th-9th Centuries
Bronze Sculpture of the Chola Period
Art for the Mughal and Rajput Courts
Hindu Temple Hangings
Buddhist Painting from India, Nepal, and Tibet
NEPAL
Buddhist Painting from India, Nepal, and Tibet
Sculpture from Nepal
PAKISTAN
Sculpture from the Kushan Period
SRI LANKA
Two Bodhisattvas from Sri Lanka
Stone Sculpture from Hindu Temples

The Hindu temple represents a temporary abode for the gods, a place where they make themselves visible and accessible to the devotee. Temples are therefore important in Hindu worship, and a staggering number, ranging from undecorated brick buildings to enormous complexes, were built from the 7th to 14th centuries. Stone sculptures decorate both the interiors and the exteriors of the more elaborate temples; later temples are often completely covered in sculpture. Each piece of temple sculpture has a precise iconographic meaning and plays a role in identifying and celebrating the principal deity housed in the temple as well as in symbolizing the Hindu cosmos. Although the images in the Asia Society's collection are removed from their original context, the size, type, and shape of each piece suggest which part of a temple it once decorated.
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Ganesha


Celestial Entertainer


Celestial Entertainer


Celestial Entertainer
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