Biblical Themes through Indian Visual Art

This chapter analyzes biblical themes in Indian art viewed through the personal lens of an Indian artist concerned with the way other Indian artists imagined scenes from the Bible. Biblical events pictured in an Indian cultural and geographic context range from the sixteenth-century Mughal miniatures in Akbar’s atelier to post-Independence modern Indian art. Biblical narratives are not only translated into Indian languages but also are embodied in a landscape that includes the material world in which an Indian community lives. The Bible is contextualized, going beyond translation through a process of incarnation in a particular time and place. The visual image has an imaginative potential beyond written text. The process of visualization helps the viewer realize the significance of the Bible in our present world. In India, this encounter between the Bible and local cultural contexts gives a new perspective on the significance of the text for those living in a different time and place. Such an art becomes a catalyst for a cultural and spiritual exchange that is interreligious and cross-cultural. Art provides a new way of interpreting the Bible and forms the basis for a theology that is culturally rooted in local realities and experiences.

Context (archaeology) · Embodied cognition · Incarnation · Narrative · Perspective (graphical) · Visual culture · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Historical and Architectural Studies · Indian History and Philosophy