January 25 2016, 12.03 AM IST || Pocket Press Release
The British Museum (BM) is exhibiting Lord Krishna devotional textiles in its exhibition “Krishna in the garden of Assam”, which will continue till August 15.
Main attraction of this exhibition is nine meters long “Vrindavani Vastra”, claimed to be the largest surviving example of devotional textile produced in the Assam state of India in late 17th century. Made of woven silk using now extinct sophisticated weaving technology for usage among saint Shankaradeva (1449–1568) followers, it displays scenes from the text Bhagavad-Purana about the life of Lord Krishna when he lived in Vrindavan. It was found from Tibet in a 1903-1904 expedition.
Richard Blurton is the curator of this exhibition, which also showcases dance mask of crane-demon Bakasura and body mask of serpent-demon Kaliya, both also made in Assam. A raslila film will also be shown. An illustrated book titled “Krishna in the Garden of Assam” is also accompanying the exhibition.
Commending BM for showcasing Lord Krishna related artifacts; distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth.
Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged major art museums of the world, including Musee du Louvre and Musee d'Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc., to frequently organize Hindu art focused exhibitions, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.
Lord Krishna is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu and subject of major Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord) and Bhagavad-Purana. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal.
BM, headquartered in London and founded in 1753, is claimed to be the first national public museum in the world. It now comprises over 8 million objects spanning the history of the world's cultures: from the stone tools of early man to twentieth century prints. Dr Hartwig Fischer is the Director as of spring 2016.