“India, reflections of sacred worlds”: an exhibition that forges links at the Château des Ducs – Fragil – Culture, society, citizen initiatives

“Through the three indigenous religions that we present to you, namely Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, it is a rich and diverse canvas of India that we wanted to show you” explains Laura Giuliano straight away.

The exhibition begins on the ground floor with an immersion in the immense and ancestral country. Portraits of Indian men and women, maps of India, shimmering fabrics, images projected on the walls of deities, typical music, the smell of incense. The public is immediately immersed in the atmosphere.

On the first floor, he will deepen his knowledge by crossing the door of a temple. Each religion has its own color: blue in reference to Shiva for Hinduism, red for Jainism, yellow for Buddhism.

Divine art and rural art

Each time, the exhibition offers a comparison between scholarly art, that found in temples, and rural art, that found in remote villages. This bias reveals the way in which the people appropriate their deities, Shiva, Vishnu and Devi. Example in Mitila where women sculpted these goddesses in bronze.

“Look at this statuette which is supposed to symbolize fertility” points out the Italian curator. “We see a woman nursing her child but her face is fierce and she is seated on a throne in the shape of a tiger. She is there to remind us that female deities are not always benevolent. They are in the image of nature”.