Meet our new colleagues focusing on South Asian art in the Bay Area and learn about their cutting edge research.
The event will be moderated by Osmund Bopearachichi, Numata Visiting Professor of Central and South Asian Art, Archaeology, and Numismatics, UC Berkeley
- Sonali Dhingra (the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Buddhist Studies): Making Monumental Figural Sculpture at Ratnagiri, Odisha (ca. 8th-10th centuries)
Abstract: The Buddhist sculptures from Odisha linger on the margins of the South Asian art historical canon, which is overwhelmingly dominated by finds from Bihar and Bengal or by studies on Hindu Temple architecture. Independently enshrined, large-scale stone sculptures of divine figures in human form abound at medieval Odisha’s little-known Buddhist sites (c. 8th<-12th centuries). This continuously thriving regional tradition of monumental stone carving reached a crescendo in the famed 13th-century Sun Temple at Konark. Previous scholarship has either found the Buddhist sculptures from Ratnagiri unworthy of sustained interest or has entirely cast aside the material features of these images in favor of sorting out their subject matter and symbolism. This talk will showcase rarely discussed sculpted images from the Buddhist establishment of Ratnagiri and nearby hill monasteries to highlight their tangible properties and the inventiveness of their makers in a period of artistic effervescence across the Buddhist monastic network in this region. - Padma Dorje Maitland (Malavalli Family Foundation Associate Curator, the Asian Art Museum): Emotional Fragments and Modern Networks of Buddhist Materiality in India
Abstract: Over the course of the twentieth century, hundreds of Buddhist temples and institutions were constructed across much of northern India. Some sought to reify existing pilgrimage pathways, while others established new religious circuits, especially within India’s major metropolitan areas. What role did architectural fragments and material allusions play in defining the links between these religious centers? Through a series of vignettes, this talk explores the role of materiality in forging social and political affinities between different urban environments and communities through specific historical allusions to India’s Buddhist past. More than an incidental aspect of India’s development, Buddhism was central to crafting key narratives around Indian modernity and national identity. Architecture became an important index of that process, defining a longer history of Buddhism in the region and generating spaces in which to imagine and realize new social, political, and religious ambitions.
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This event will also be live streamed on the SAAI and Institute FB pages - SAAIatUCBerkeley, and ISASatUCBerkeley - respectively.
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Speaker Bios
Sonali Dhingra is currently an ACLS/Ho Family Foundation Postdoctoral fellow at the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies, UC Berkeley. She earned her doctorate in the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University (2021), specializing in medieval South and Southeast Asian Art. Her dissertation, Cult and Colossus: Buddhist sculpture from Odisha in History and Memory (ca. eighth to twelfth centuries) considers the role of scale and materiality in the making and reception of devotional sculpture from Buddhist sites in Odisha. Her dissertation research and language study were supported by grants from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Institute of Indian Studies, The Charles Wallace Trust and the South Asia Institute at Harvard. She was Research Assistant for Mapping Color in History, Curatorial assistant of the exhibition Dharma and Puṇya: Buddhist Ritual art of Nepal (2019), and Guest curator at the Davis Museum, Wellesley College (2018). She holds a B.A. in History from Delhi University, an M.A. in Ancient Indian History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and an M.Phil. in History from Delhi University.
Padma Dorje Maitland is the Malavalli Family Foundation Associate Curator, Art of the Indian Subcontinent, at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. His research focuses on the art and architecture of modern Buddhism in India and their association with various nationalist and internationalist movements. He has a parallel research interest in Hindi travel literature and its impact on Buddhism as a model for social reform, emancipation, and liberation.
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The South Asia Art Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley promotes research-based conversations and collaborations around the arts of South Asia + its diasporas from the ancient period to the now. To read more about the Initiative and help support its various fundraising goals, please click HERE.
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Event made possible with the support of the Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies
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PARKING INFORMATION
Please note that parking is not always easily available in Berkeley. Take public transportation if possible or arrive early to secure your spot.
Event is FREE and OPEN to the public.
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If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Puneeta Kala at pkala@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.
