Hindu Art & Artifacts Are Becoming Favorites of Museums in America and the West

Written by George Jennings Saturday, 20 August 2011 21:34

Houston, TX - Welcoming the opening of a permanent gallery for India’s art in prestigious Houston Museum of Fine Arts starting this May, Hindus have urged the major museums of world to dedicate permanent space to Hindu artifacts.  Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in (USA) Today, congratulated the Houston Museum for devoting exclusive space to traditional Indian artifacts spanning 2,500 years of cultural history, including an 11^th century Parvati. This Museum, whose history dates back to 1900, is the largest art museum in America west of Washington DC, and is visited by over 2.5 million people annually. Even some formations in world famous Grand Canyon National Park of USA were named as Shiva Temple, Krishna Shrine, Vishnu Temple, Rama Shrine, Brahma Temple (7851 feet), and Hindu Amphitheater, Rajan Zed pointed out.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that because of their richness and other factors, Hindu artifacts were becoming favorite of museums in America and the West. Many prestigious museums already owned Hindu sculptures and other artifacts and many were planning to acquire.

According to Zed, various renowned museums in USA which have acquired statues and other artifacts of Hindu gods include Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond; Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California; Museum of Art and Archaeology in University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri; Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio; Mingei International Museum in San Diego, California; American Museum of Natural History, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania; Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland; etc.

Rajan Zed further says that other prestigious world museums, which possess statues of Hindu gods, include British Museum in London, United Kingdom; Musée Guimet in Paris, France; Museum für Asiatische Kunst in Berlin, Germany; Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands; Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand; Beijing World Art Museum, China; National Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada; etc. Thailand reportedly has a private Ganesha Museum.  

Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently showing “Portraits from the Courts of India” exhibition. Internationally renowned Portland Art Museum recently acquired an 11^th century Lord Ganesha sculpture. Rajan Zed urged all major museums of the world to organize exhibitions of Hindu art, sculptures, and architecture to make aware the present and future generations about their richness.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal.