Ancient India: Living Traditions at the British Museum

 

The Bimaran Reliquary.
Reliquary casket, cylindrical in shape; made of gold and inset with garnets.
1900,0209.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

 
 

Ancient India
Living Traditions

May 22, 2025 — October 19, 2025

 

Where does the image of the beloved and playful Hindu god Ganesha, with his elephant head and rounded belly, originate? What inspired depictions of the serene Buddha and Jain enlightened teachers?

Reaching back more than 2,000 years, this new exhibition explores the origins of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sacred art in the ancient and powerful nature spirits of India, and the spread of this art beyond the subcontinent.  

One of the first major exhibitions in the world to look at the early devotional art of India from a multi-faith, contemporary and global perspective, it will highlight the inspiration behind now-familiar depictions of the deities and enlightened teachers of these world religions – and how they were shared across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia and along the Silk Roads to East Asia.  

Colourful, multi-sensory and atmospheric, this exhibition was developed in collaboration with an advisory community panel of practising Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. These living religious traditions and their sacred art are now integral to the daily lives of almost two billion people around the world including in the UK. Key loans from our community partners help to tell this contemporary story.    

The exhibition will showcase more than 180 objects – including sculptures, paintings, drawings and manuscripts – from the South Asian collection at the British Museum as well as generous loans from national and international partners. It will highlight provenance, examining the stories, from creation to acquisition by museums, of every object in the show.  

From the symbolic footprints which preceded portrayals of the Buddha in human form to the cosmic serpents incorporated into Hindu art and the nature spirits who attend Jain enlightened teachers, this compelling exhibition tells the ancient stories behind these living traditions. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Exhibition Highlights

 

Panel. Hunter. Made of terracotta.
1976,0205.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Stone plaque with the figure of a five-headed cobra, 'nagakal'.
1900,1011.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Figure (Gaṇeśa). Made of stone (volcanic).
1861,1010.2
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Tablet. Fragment of a votive table or ayyāgapatta, carved in a mottled red sandstone with a seated Jina, flying garland bearers and auspicious emblems; subsequently trimmed and recarved on the reverse carved with a seated Jina on a lion throne.
1901,1224.10
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Plaque (Buddha). Buddha seated below double trees and meditating; 2 lions in attendance. Earthenware with black patination.
1982,0127.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Figure (Gaṇeśa). Made of sandstone.
1974,0225.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Tablet. Fragment of a votive table or ayyāgapatta, carved in a mottled red sandstone with a seated Jina, flying garland bearers and auspicious emblems; subsequently trimmed and recarved on the reverse carved with a seated Jina on a lion throne.
1901,1224.10
© The Trustees of the British Museum

The Bimaran Reliquary.
Reliquary casket, cylindrical in shape; made of gold and inset with garnets.
1900,0209.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Figure (Tīrthaṁkara). Made of sandstone.
1901,1224.5
© The Trustees of the British Museum

A drum slab carved in limestone with the four events related to the Buddha's birth: Māyādevī's Dream (top right); the Interpretation of the Dream attended by the dīkpāla-s (top left); the Birth of the Buddha attended again by the dīkpāla-s (bottom right); the Presentation of the Buddha to the caitya of the Śākyas (bottom left).
1880,0709.44
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Head of a grimacing yaksha
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Buddha Preaching the Law (樹下説法圖)(樹下説法圖)
Large painting showing Buddha (probably Śākyamuni) preaching in a Paradise composition.
1919,0101,0.6
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Seated figure of the Jina carved in white marble.
1915,0515.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

A drum-slab carved in limestone ('Palnad marble') with a stupa on a lotus base, plain but for a multi-headed naga (snake) in the entrance, a garland and lotus roundels, the stupa is surmounted by multiple umbrellas.
1880,0709.39
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Painting of Ardhanarisvara: Śiva is shown on the right with his consort on the left; the side always reserved for women. The river Ganges flows from the dreadlocks of Śiva, while Parvati is crowned; he carries the trident and drum, while she carries a rosary. Gouache on paper. Inscribed.
1880,0.2166
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Dome-slab carved in limestone ('Palnad marble') with the Cakravartin (Universal Monarch) in anjali mudra, flanked by four figures in the lower register.
1880,0709.49
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Standing figure of a four-armed goddess, flat-hollow cast in a copper-alloy.
1963,0215.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Figure (standing Pārśvanātha). Made of bronze.
1914,0218.4
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Terracotta plaque of a yakshi.
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Gouache painting on paper depicting Gaja-Lakṣmī (Gajalakshmi); an image of the goddess Lakṣmī, who reigns over fertility and good fortune, seated on a lotus with an elephant (gajah in Sanskrit) on either side.
1956,0714,0.32
© The Trustees of the British Museum

 

Figure, male. Fangs bared, pot-bellied, holding caprid in its arms. Made of moulded terracotta (red).
1967,0221.20.19
© The Trustees of the British Museum

 
 
News 15Editorial TeamArt of the Ancestors, Steven G. Alpert, Asian Art, Island Southeast Asian Art, Oceanic Art, Asiatica, Ethnographica, Ethnographic Art, Art Collection, Fine Art, Primitive Art, Indonesian Art, Tribal Art, Eyes of the Ancestors, Dr. Reimar Schefold