BODY LANGUAGE: THE YOGIS OF INDIA & NEPAL

BODY LANGUAGE: THE YOGIS OF INDIA
AND NEPAL AT RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART IN N.Y.

NEW YORK - The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City will present the exhibition ‘Body Language: The Yogis of India and Nepal’, from January 28, 2011 thru May 30, 2011. The exhibition will feature Thomas Kelly’s striking photographs of sadhus, extraordinary-looking wandering ascetics. Mystics, Sages, Babas, Rishis - the wandering yogis of India and Nepal have long occupied an enigmatic place within popular imagination and mainstream Hinduism. Collectively known as sadhus - derived from the Sanskrit term sadhana denoting “the means for attaining a goal” - these itinerant holy men renounce worldly life, material possessions and social obligations in order to devote their lives to rigorous religious practice and the pursuit of enlightenment. Sadhus use their body like a canvas for telling stories, using colors and symbols to represent esoteric inner visions and higher states of consciousness while also expressing their religious identities. Sadhus are an important part of the Hindu cultures of South Asia.
A long-time resident of Kathmandu, photographer Thomas Kelly has become acquainted with the sadhu inhabitants of the Nepalese city’s holiest shrines and privy to their most personal practices. Body Language focuses on the rich symbolism behind sadhus’ painted bodies, postures and practices. His intimate portraits grant us entry into the mysterious world of the yogis and the sacred stories told by their bodies. Kelly is Hinduism Today’s Photographer of the Year 2008.


Sadhus, the vividly decorated or completely nude wandering ascetics of Hinduism, are the subject of striking photographs by Thomas Kelly. Sadhus sparsely dressed or nude weather-worn bodies and matted locks are typically decorated with combinations of gray ash and red, white, and yellow paint. These markings, called “tilakas”, range from a simple daub of color to fantastically complex designs utilizing the entire face and body. Each design identifies the sadhu’s particular denomination and the aspect of God to whom the sadhu is devoted. The tilaka that Gaudiya Vaishnavas wear represents the feet of Krishna, and generally, at the base of the tilaka there is a mark in the shape of a Tulasi leaf.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Whenever one visits a temple in India, it is common to see the foreheads of devotees and priests adorned with markings that are commonly known as tilaka. When the British first arrived in the subcontinent they unwittingly assumed these signs to be ‘caste marks’ or signs that indicated the wearer’s particular social status. Actually tilaka is a sectarian mark worn by a devotee of a particular deity and denotes one’s devotion to that deity. Tilaka, or pundra as it is also called, can be classified in three divisions - urdhva (vertical), tiryak (horizontal) and vartula (circular). Urdhva-pundra is worn by Vaishnavas (worshippers of Vishnu or Krishna) and represents the feet of Lord Vishnu. ... Horizontal tilaka is known as Tripundra and is worn as three lines across the forehead by the Shaivites (worshippers of Shiva) the demigod in charge of universal annihilation. ... The Bindu (circle) is worn by Shaktas, those who exclusively worship Godddess Durga, the consort of Shiva. It is worn between the eyebrows since, according to the Tantrika texts, this is where the ajna-chakra or third eye of knowledge is situated.

“Holy Faces of India” - “Sectarian Markings”
Swami B.B. Vishnu and Swami B.V. Giri
http://gosai.com/writings/ashram-publications
http://gosai.com/ashrama/swami-bb-vishnu
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/549004