A man sits with his legs stretched out and hands folded in a gesture of reverence. It is an image that could easily fit the description of a participant of the International Yoga Day celebrations across the world, only it is from five millennia ago.
The terracotta object from the Harappa civilization, between 2700 BC and 2100 BC, attracted huge crowd at a recent exhibition on yoga in the national capital.
‘The Seated Man in Namaskar Mudra’ was part of the nearly 400 works showcased in the Yoga Chakra: Tradition and Modernity exhibition at the Rabindra Bhavan in New Delhi.
A journey through centuries of artistic expression and diverse interpretation on the traditional culture of yoga, the exhibition had 41 works from the National Museum collection.
The replica of the famous ‘Dancing Girl’, a bronze statue of a girl with one hand resting on her hip, from the Mohenjodaro period 4,500 years ago is another huge draw of the exhibition.
“Yoga not only harmonises our body, mind and heart but also has the potential to make the entire universe live in harmony,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his message to the exhibition, which was inaugurated on June 21 by Union Minister of State Mahesh Sharma.
“Thus, it has the unique potential of transforming diverse and conflicting societies of the world into beautifully aligned ones,” the Prime Minister further wrote in his message.
The exhibition also had a 12th century bronze statue of Buddha, cross-legged with his hands in the gesture of meditation and a stone Pashupati seal from Mohenjodaro civilization, believed to be 4500 years old.
“The Pashupati seal, depicting Lord Shiva, is the earliest evidence of a yogic posture,” said Sushma K Bahl, who co-curated the exhibition with Archana B Sapra. “The classical artifacts helped us link the past with the present,” Bahl said.
“The objects from Mohenjodaro and Harappa period and from other periods of our civilization represent only a small portion of the classical collection of the National Museum linked to yogic traditions,” said K K Sharma, Deputy Curator of the National Museum and coordinator of the Yoga Chakra exhibition.
In its three thematic sections under ‘Gyan’, ‘Dhyana’ and ‘Karma’, and five sub-sections, the exhibition takes a deep look at how in India traditions have evolved over the centuries and how historical and classical art continue to impact creativity.
Also among classical works is a 19th century Yoga Sutra from Kashmir, which is a collection of manuscripts based on the 196 sutras of sage Patanjali that constitute the foundation of Ashtanga yoga.
There is also a 19th century ‘Bindu concentric circle’ in wood, depicting a machine, carved with concentric circles on a flat round base, used by yogis for meditation.
An 11th century crowned Buddha statue in bronze and a terracotta clay tablet with Buddha’s representation believed to be from the 9th or 10th century is also on exhibit. “You can’t talk about yoga without mentioning Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavira,” said Bahl, who took three months to prepare the week-long exhibition.
(Poonam Goel is a Freelance journalist who contributes articles on visual arts for unboxedwriters.com)