Indian deities arrive in Shanghai

British museums bring a collection dating back to the second century BC, Zhang Kun reports.

The exhibition India: The Art of the Temple, presented by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, brings 106 religious sculptures and other cultural relics from three of the world's earliest religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

The exhibit is categorized into three parts, each featuring a different religion. Buddhism is popular in today's world, yet is not widely practiced in India, where it originated. Jainism, which is similar to Buddhism, is still active in some parts of India. Hinduism is by far the most dominant religion in India today.

The pieces date from the 2nd century BC to the early 1900s, and the exhibition provides an opportunity for the public to appreciate the diversity of religion and learn to be more tolerant towards it, said Michael Willis from the British Museum, who is curator of the exhibition.

Early religious relics tend to be symbols instead of specific figures. One of the exhibits features a standing statue of Buddha, which is jointly owned by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Dating back to the 6th century, the bronze statue shows Buddha raising his right hand and holding a ribbon of his robe with the left hand.

A beautiful statue of the Hindu deity Shiva has the god of creation and destruction dancing in the middle of a ring of flames. Stepping on a dwarf that symbolizes ignorance, he rings the bell of knowledge, and destroys the universe in his dance.

Jainism and Buddhism both emphasize the concepts of karma and reincarnation, but Jainism believes karma can happen immediately rather than in the afterlife, as Buddhists believe.

Jainism emphasizes austerity and the statues are always standing in meditation. One of the statues shows a saint meditating for so long that leaves grow on him and snakes climb up his body.

Only one piece from the exhibit is of a landscape, a marble board picturing a holy mountain of Jainism, where 20 gurus reach enlightenment.

The show opened to the public on Thursday on the ground floor exhibition hall in the Shanghai Museum, and will continue until Nov 15.

This exhibition is the fourth collaboration between the British Museum and the Shanghai Museum. The British Museum's collections of ancient Egyptian art, ancient Assyrian art and ancient Greek art, featuring sports and the Olympics, have been displayed in Shanghai. While pieces from the ceramics and bronze collections from the Shanghai Museum have been exhibited at the British Museum.