8.2 Purpose and Audience in South, East, and Southeast Asian Art

Many of the world's great religions began here. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism share an Indian worldview in which time is cyclical and the goal is spiritual release. These faiths use images of gods and teachers in worship, so figures fill their temples. In China, Daoism stresses harmony with nature, while Confucianism is an ethical system about proper behavior and social order. Japan's Shinto honors nature spirits. Courts commissioned art too, from imperial palaces to literati landscapes painted by educated amateurs.

Great Stupa at Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh, India; Buddhist; Maurya, late Sunga Dynasty; c. 300 BCE–100 CE; stone masonry, sandstone on dome). A stupa is a solid mound built over relics. The emperor Ashoka began it in brick; later builders enlarged it in stone. Pilgrims walk clockwise around the dome (circumambulation) inside a railing. On top, a square railing and three-tiered umbrella mark it as sacred. Four gateways (toranas) are carved with the Buddha's life and past lives, but he appears only as symbols: footprints, a tree, an empty throne.

Todai-ji (Nara, Japan; various artists, including sculptors Unkei and Keikei, as well as the Kei School; 743 CE, rebuilt c. 1700 CE; bronze and wood (sculpture), wood with ceramic-tile roofing (architecture)). Emperor Shomu ordered a giant bronze Buddha of the cosmic Vairocana in 743 to protect Japan after epidemics and revolt. Todai-ji headed a network of state temples. The Great Buddha Hall, burned in wars, was rebuilt around 1700, smaller but still one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. In 1203, Unkei and Kaikei (the CED spells it Keikei) led the Kei School in carving two muscular wooden guardians, over 8 meters tall, for the Great South Gate, from joined blocks of wood.

Lakshmana Temple (Khajuraho, India; Hindu, Chandella Dynasty; c. 930–950 CE; sandstone). This temple to Vishnu rises on a high platform, with roofs climbing to a tall tower over the garbha griha (womb chamber), like Mount Meru, the mountain at the center of the cosmos. Worshippers move from porch through halls into the dark inner shrine for darshan, seeing and being seen by the god. The outside swarms with carved gods, celestial women and embracing couples, signs of auspiciousness and divine union.

Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja) (Hindu; India (Tamil Nadu), Chola Dynasty; c. 11th century CE; cast bronze). Shiva dances inside a ring of fire, destroying the universe so it can be reborn. He holds a drum (creation) and a flame (destruction), raises a hand meaning "do not fear," and stands on a dwarf representing ignorance. Lost-wax bronzes like this had holes in the base for poles, so priests could dress them and carry them in festival processions.

Terra cotta warriors from mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China (Qin Dynasty; c. 221–209 BCE; painted terra cotta). The first emperor unified China in 221 BCE. Pits near his tomb, found by farmers in 1974, hold an estimated 8,000 life-size soldiers with horses, chariots and real bronze weapons, arranged in battle order to guard him after death. Workshops mass-produced molded parts, then hand-finished faces and hair so each looks individual. The figures were brightly painted.

Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui) (Han Dynasty, China; c. 180 BCE; painted silk). This T-shaped silk banner lay over the coffin of Lady Dai in her tomb at Mawangdui. It shows three realms: heaven at the top, with a crow inside the sun and a toad on a crescent moon; the earthly world, with Lady Dai leaning on a cane among attendants and mourners; and the underworld below. It probably helped guide her soul, reflecting Han beliefs about the afterlife and ancestors.

Travelers among Mountains and Streams (Fan Kuan; c. 1000 CE; ink and colors on silk). A huge mountain fills this tall Northern Song hanging scroll, a waterfall threading down its side, while tiny travelers and mules cross the bottom. Mist separates near and far. Fan Kuan built rocks with dense "raindrop" texture strokes. The scale expresses a Daoist and Confucian view of a vast, ordered nature in which humans are small. His signature hides in the foliage.

Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace (Kamakura period, Japan; c. 1250–1300 CE; handscroll, ink and color on paper). This scroll, about 7 meters long, tells of a 1159 coup in which rebels burned a palace and seized the retired emperor. You unroll it right to left, an arm's length at a time, moving through crowds to a burning palace. Made a century later for warrior-class viewers, it celebrates samurai action.

Forbidden City (Beijing, China; Ming Dynasty; 15th century CE and later; stone masonry, marble, brick, wood and ceramic tile). Built for the Yongle emperor (finished 1420), it was the palace of Ming and Qing emperors until 1912. Walls, a moat and a strict north-south axis organize courtyards and gates that grow grander toward the Hall of Supreme Harmony, on a triple marble terrace. Yellow roof tiles were reserved for the emperor, who sat facing south like the ideal Confucian ruler. Ordinary people were forbidden to enter.

Chairman Mao en Route to Anyuan (artist unknown, based on an oil painting by Liu Chunhua; c. 1969 CE; color lithograph). A young Mao, in a scholar's robe with an umbrella, strides toward you on his way to organize miners in 1921. During the Cultural Revolution, this print was made in huge numbers and hung in homes, to build devotion to Mao.