‘Murti (in) sight’
“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti
In Hinduism, a murti, or murthi, or vigraha or pratima typically refers to an image that expresses a Divine Spirit. Meaning literally “embodiment”, a murti is a representation of a divinity, made usually of stone, wood, or metal, which serves as a means through which a divinity may be worshiped. Hindus consider a murti worthy of serving as a focus of divine worship only after the divine is invoked in it for the purpose of offering worship. The depiction of the divinity must reflect the gestures and proportions outlined in religious tradition. It is a means of communication with the god or Brahman in Hinduism. Murti is a Sanskrit term which is meant to point to the transcendent “otherness” of the divine when substituted with statue or idol – its inherent meaning is lost since neither is a correct translation of the word murti. The murti is regarded by some Mahayana Buddhists during worship as a point of devotional and meditational focus. Puja of murtis is recommended, especially for Dvapara Yuga, and described in Pañcaratra texts.
The Faculty of Visual Arts is one of the leading institutions in Fine Arts. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts Courses and research programme in different specialized areas. It has various branches of specialization, viz. Applied Arts, Plastic Arts, Painting. It attracts an appreciable number of foreign students. The Faculty stresses on optimum interaction with standard art activities all over the country, organizes Art Fairs and Art Exhibitions quite frequently. Many alumnae of the Faculty are holding top positions as Designers, Painters, Sculptors, Textile Designers, etc. The Faculty has an Exhibition Hall where exhibition of the paintings of reputed national and international painters and sculptors are held. The teachers and students of the Faculty have participated in various national and international Art Exhibitions. The Faculty endeavors to produce professionals with creative thinking who can play a positive role in society.
Performance by Filipe Garcia & Mukesh P Tiwarya at Visual Arts University, BHU Benares Hindu University, Benares (in) dia With Prof. Suresh K Nair, Video by Ana Marques Photography by Furkan Ali . BHU Visual Arts