Seeing God: Hindu Devotion and Images
- The mediation of the divine through images and rituals
- Darshan, the auspicious sight of god
- Puja, the worship and offering to god
- The ritual making and use of divine images
Read: Eck, Diana. Darsan. Seeing the Divine Image in India, Chapter I: Seeing the Sacred, Chambersburg 1981: Anima, ca. 45 regular pages.
Watch: Puja. Expression of Hindu Devotion, Smithonian Institution 1996, 12 mins.
Assignment: Quiz
Answer the first four questions by listing terms only; the second four questions by writing mini-essays of 100 words each.
- a) name three Hindu gods; b) name three Hindu goddesses; c) name three major Hindu festivals; d) name three Hindu pilgrimage sites
- a) describe and illustrate the concept of darshan; b) describe and illustrate the difference between iconic and an-iconic images; c) describe the making and consecration of an image; d) describe and illustrate the role of images for Hindu pilgrimage
