Role of Art Works in Religions

Introduction

Art is the process of making or creating something different by using our skills, thoughts, and feelings. Art plays a crucial role in our society as it helps us to remember the events that had happened in past, identify one’s religion, and in understanding the various socially constructed concepts. Art can be expressed in paintings, sculptures, or any other visual form. Here, in this research paper, I would like to discuss the relationship between art and spirituality especially How religions are expressed in art works? and also the meanings or teachings behind art works. For this, I have critically analyzed a peer-reviewed article ‘Iconography and Visual Culture of Bengal’. In this, author Ruma Chakravarti discussed the religious art works of Hinduism that were created on the walls of temples which include the images of several gods and goddesses and the meaning associated with various things shown in those art works. This article helps to enrich the understanding of what I have learned in class relating to this theme. The author proves that artistic works help to bind people to religion by presenting the beliefs of religion and these works carry several meanings, stories, and events.

Role of art

Art aims in providing meaning to life, society and even the smallest things present anywhere around us. Images and statues of gods and deities are created to give people something physical that they can worship and people who see themselves following certain deities have a sense of belongingness to the others who follow the same when this happens, several people get joined and religion gets created. People in some religions may find their god in animals, some in human forms, some in nature, and others may have no image of what their god looks like. The viewer needs the knowledge for understanding an artwork because putting even the smallest features in art works such as movement can even show different qualities that are not limited to but may include liveliness, power, and stillness. Different religions worship different deities that carry different meanings, beliefs, and ideas. People often see religion in them and these physical forms of gods created by artists at different times they provide offerings and arrange various ceremonies to show their love and respect and present their demands and wishes. We can say that religious artworks act as a bridge between god and people and helps people to connect their mind and soul towards the positiveness in their life.

Religious artworks

Now I would like to talk about three of the religious artworks which are actually the visual forms of several Hindu deities made on the walls of temples in Ghurisha, Birbhum that will help to provide a better understanding of the connection between art and religion.

Firstly, a very beautiful art showing the goddess Tripurasundri (Figures 1 and 2) carries several ideas and teachings. Even the smallest objects or activities shown in the artwork carry meanings. She is presented as a woman with more than two arms which is meant to show that each arm may perform different work relating to women in society who are capable of doing multi-tasks as we see in our daily life also women even work, take care of children and other family members and maintain their house. Her dress up, large size, and being in the center reflects her power and feelings of respect from the devotees that surround her. People in daily life also try to become devotees to earn blessings for themselves and their families and they show their respect by offering food and donating money to the temples. It is seen in temples that people after placing the food in front of these deities distribute that food later to everyone which everyone takes as a blessing from god.

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Secondly, the goddess Kali (Figure 3) is shown who is known as the goddess ruling the souls of people after death. Artists always present her body color as black in paintings and statues. Her black color shows anger which we can even see on her face. In art works she is always seen as a fear for others as even the wreath around her neck is made of the cut neck pieces of demons. In the artwork, we can even see the god Shiva under her feet which is a clear symbol of her anger but a lot of stories or myths are associated with this. From the myths, it is also founded that she loves to drink the blood of evil spirits or demons and that is why a bowl is always seen in her hands. The message or teaching from her image includes pushing people away from doing bad things as they fear that this goddess will not let their souls rest in peace after death. But it is believed that this deity is very kind to her worshippers and always spread her blessings to them. People in various temples of Kali make offerings in the form of alcohol and lightens oil lamps to gather the blessings of this respected deity.

Some artworks depict stories with rich meanings about the lives of gods and goddesses. Now, the art work in the Raghunathji Temple in Birbhum (Figure 4) carries a very beautiful story. ‘Once an elephant was taking a bath in water where he was attacked by a crocodile and he was about to die when he started taking the name of Lord Vishnu, it was believed Vishnu came and saved his life’. People when seeing this artwork get a sense that if we will remain pure-hearted then we should not fear death as god is always with us till the time we are not wrong it is a very famous saying of Indian religion or culture that ‘those who had the shower of blessings of god on them they should not fear death’ because death is an ultimate reality we can’t run from it but the time we live we should do good for others and for our own to get a better life even after death. We must have faith in god, never harm anyone and do all good in our life.

Conclusion

I feel this will supplement the knowledge of my chosen theme as a clear relation between art works and teachings from deities to people is shown which helps people to acquire knowledge of past events, gods and goddesses, religion, and good qualities to live a better life.

To recapitulate it all, connecting to god with the help of art helps people to live a disciplined life by following the purpose and teachings of the deities. It is believed that those people who are connected to some religion have peace of mind and soul and have positive attitudes towards life by staying away from all the bad things happening around us.

References

1. Chakravarti, Ruma. “Iconography and Visual Culture of Bengal.” Iconography and Visual Culture of Bengal, vol. 2, no. 1, 2012, pp. 18–25. Art & Architecture Source.