Art and Hinduism

Alito B. Delos Santos

While making some advance reading in preparation for my Senior High

School class in Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems, I was struck at
the strong connectedness between “art and religion” in Hinduism. Huston Smith, one
of the leading scholars of religious studies in the US says that since early Hindus
were at some point “illiterate” their sacred texts were not written but were depicted
instead in sculptures, paintings, dances, and adornments in Hindu temples. In other
words, their Holy Scriptures were in the form of art. Unlike contemporary artists who
produce paintings for the sake of art, they treated art as a “technology,” a discipline
that lifts one’s being up to a different state of consciousness.

Concretely, some Hindu portraits of God show a Being with ten heads and
arms. Sadly, many Christians who are ignorant to Hindu symbolism tend to interpret
them in terms of their own Christian understanding of symbols that are found in the
Bible. No wonder why these people label Hinduism as a pagan religion, or worst, as
a religion that worships the chief “enemy” of God. Clearly, both in the Old and New
Testament, creatures that have several heads and arms are emblems of the devil,
the Anti-Christ!

Nevertheless, people like Huston Smith, who immersed themselves into this
religion, had gained a profound understanding of Hindu symbolism. The ten heads
and arms simply mean the omnipotence and omniscience of God. Now, if I look at
that particular portrait of God this way, it does make sense even if I am a Christian,
who has a very little knowledge of Hinduism. Of course, if a being has multiple arms
and heads, he can be limitless, powerful, absolute, etc.—a description solely suitable
for God.

Thus, it is clear to me now that Christianity and Hinduism (of course this is
also true to Islam and Judaism) are not really far from each other. These religions
fundamentally believe of a Supreme Being that relates and/or communicates with
His/Her people. Somehow, our differences lie only in the way we express each of our
faiths. So, why do we limit our understanding of other religions based on the way we
express our own faith? If we can only maintain a certain openness and tolerance to
the beliefs of others and more so, if we can only exert some extra effort to
understand the belief systems of others using their own terms, perhaps we will gain
a less violent and Godlier world.