From
the Publisher
Vishvarupa is popularly known as the cosmic form that
Krishna revealed to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra
in India in the Mahabharata, circa 500 BC. This was captured
in verse in two chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. The concept of
Vishvarupa is rooted in the Indian philosophical traditions
since the Vedic times and represents a holistic
interdependence in the manifested universe at all levels.
Vishvarupa explores the relationship of man with the cosmic
being the microcosm and the macrocosm.
Simple but effective visual representations of this thought
are found in Indian arts and culture through the millennia.
Herein Krishna is present in a Brahmin, a mongrel dog, a tree
and a stone in equal measure. While this book attempts to
showcase for the first time a careful selection of Vishvarupa
paintings between the 17th and 20th centuries to stimulate
further study, it also reveals the beauty and genius of the
Indian paining tradition for the lay reader.
Author Description
Neena Ranjan is an civil servant, who spent long periods in
the departments of art and culture and also industry and
commerce in the Government of India and the State Government.
She joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1969 and
retired as Secretary, Ministry of Culture, and Government of
India in 2006. Since then, she is the Honorary Mentor of the
National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
She post-graduated from Calcutta University, and later from
Harvard University. Her academic interests are in art, art
history and philosophy. She took up Vishvarupa as a subject
for PhD work in 1993. this book is a result of extensive
efforts to collect Vishvarupa paintings from different sources
over the years.
As the national coordinator for a United Nations project
for seven years, she initiated the Cultural Informatics Lab,
and undertook interactive multimedia documentation of India's
cultural resources on electronic formats at the Indira Gandhi
National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in New Delhi under the
guidance of Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan. Many well researched DVDs
and an excellent website were produced. The Lab continues its
good work.
Her hobbies include painting in water
colours, travel and
Indian classical music. She lives with her husband in New
Delhi. Her two sons live in the United States. This is her
first book.
CONTENTS
|
Foreword by Prof.
B.N. Goswamy |
vii |
|
Preface |
ix |
|
Introduction |
xv |
| Chapter I: |
Origins of Vishvarupa |
1 |
| Chapter II: |
Concept and Philosophy of Vishnu Vishvarupa |
9 |
| Chapter III: |
Vishvarupa in Indian Art and Thought |
17 |
| Chapter IV: |
Vishvarupa in Indian Painting |
23 |
| Chapter V: |
Illustrations with Notes on Paintings |
35 |
| Annexure |
|
151 |
| Annexure-I |
Benefits of Reciting the Gita According to the
Mahatmya |
152 |
| Annexure-II |
List of Sources for Images |
153 |
| Annexure-III |
Textual References from Vishnusahasranama |
154 |
|
Glossary |
157 |
|
Select Bibliography |
165 |
