I was surprised after reading an article in the supplementary of THE HINDU last Thursday. Another related article in the newspaper the following day aroused my curiosity even more. The second article had details of an exhibition in Chennai that was on till Sunday evening. I didn’t want to miss the exhibition. So I visited the exhibition with my wife on Sunday afternoon. And what an eye-opener it was!?

The exhibition was of photographs of statues taken in some temples in Japan. The photographs were taken by Benoy K Behl, whose bio was displayed at the exhibit:

I never intended to take pictures at the exhibition. So I didn’t take my DSLR with me. Moreover, I thought photography might be prohibited at the event. But, within few seconds of watching the exhibits I felt this must be shared with others. There were just two visitors at the hall when we went in. Four more joined later. All those people were aged above 50. I wasn’t sure since when this event was on and how many people visited it, but it was the last day. Hence, I decided to take mobile pictures and then write a blog post.

I had to take the pictures in odd angles so as to avoid the reflections on the exhibits, but couldn’t prevent it completely.

What do you think of the following four pictures?

Here’s the first eye-opener:

Two more of Saraswati pictures, but 8-armed:

Now, what do you think of the following ones:

Here’s the next eye-opener:

Anybody seeing the following image would think it is Japanese script:

 

But, it is:

I am sure we all would have seen monks performing rituals in Buddhist temples either in print or video. But, there is an Indian connection to this too:

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More surprises:

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The sweetest surprise of these all was Ganesha:

Like Bodhidharma, there seems to be another south Indian who had been to Japan. His name is Bodhisena!

About the exhibition:

Sometimes, an outsider view of our beliefs leaves us more appreciate of our own culture and history. This exhibition was definitely one of those moments.

Moreover, I was left wondering if the following Japanese stamps in my collection are about Indian gods! 🙂

THE HINDU articles:

1. From the land of the rising sun
2. Land that reveres Sanskrit

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