Yoga in art

India, Rajasthan, Jaipur, ca. 1800
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Mortality and divinity are joined in this figure of a yoga master attaining an equivalence with the cosmos.

With its origins in India about 2,500 years ago, yoga developed philosophical elements both spiritual and secular, with ties to Hindu, Jain, Sufi and Buddhist traditions, in its goal of leading to spiritual transformation. 

"Yoga: The Art of Transformation," an exhibition at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., is the world's first exhibition devoted to the visual history of yoga.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

The Art of Transformation

The exhibition features 90 sculptures and paintings from 25 museums and private collections in India, Europe and the U.S., ranging in date from the second to 18th centuries, as well as early photographs and films depicting yogic practitioners in both positive and derogatory lights. 

Curator Debra Diamond, who began working on the exhibition in 2009, told correspondent Rita Braver the various depictions of yoga masters, known as yogis and yoginis, show that there was never one set of tradition for yoga. 

"Three Aspects of the Absolute"

Folio 1 from the Nath Charit, by Bulaki
India, Rajasthan, Jodhpur, 1823
Opaque watercolor, gold, and tin alloy on paper

This triptych image depicts creation as viewed by the Nath sect (associated with hatha yoga). A formless, transcendent Nath (far left square) gradually emanates more corporeal yogic creations.

Tile with impressed figures of emaciated ascetics

India, Jammu and Kashmir, Harwan, 5th century
Terracotta

The emaciated figures represent "renouncers" - yogic practitioners who aspired to an austere existence in their goal of transcending suffering. The figures in this terracotta tile may be members of the Ajivikas, early ascetics who unfortunately left no written texts.

Yogini

India, Uttar Pradesh, Kannauj, ca. 1000
Sandstone

Artworks demonstrate diversity in the social roles played by male (yogis) and female (yoginis) practitioners of yoga. This sandstone figure depicts both terrifying (riding a winged creature bearing weapons) and voluptuous attributes of a deity.

Shiva Bhairava

India, Karnataka, Mysore, 13th century
Chloritic schist

Left: The Hindu deity Bhairava, a guru who through yogic practice became transcendent. Trantric yogis eager to emulate Bhairava would smear their bodies with ashes obtained at cremation grounds (which also provided the skull "cups" they carried).

Garbhasana (Persian, gharbasana)

Folio from the Bahr al-Hayat (Ocean of Life)
India, Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad, 1600-1604
Opaque watercolor on paper

Asanas are bodily postures widely associated with yogic practice. The exhibition contains folios from the earliest-known illustrated treatise on yoga postures.

Yoga Narasimha, Vishnu in His Man-Lion Avatar

India, Tamil Nadu, c. 1250
Bronze

The depiction of sages during meditation is meant to convey spiritual attainment. This bronze figure includes a yoga band (or yogapatta) wrapped around his crossed legs.

"Misbah the Grocer Brings the Spy Parran to his House"

Folio from "a Hamzanama (The Adventures of Hamza)"
Attributed to Dasavanta and Mithra India, Mughal dynasty, ca. 1570
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on cotton

A sideline of wandering ascetics: spying for Indic rulers.  This illustration of a Persian adventure features a yogi-spy, created for the Mughal emperor Akbar. 

Yogini

India, Tamil Nadu, Kanchipuram or Kaveripakkam, ca. 900-975
Metagabbro

A Yogini goddess. 

Yogini with Mynah

India, Karnataka, Bijapur, ca. 1603
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

This elegant court painting shows a yogini, to which the Indo-Islamic rulers of Bijapur attributed otherworldly powers that could ensure victory in warfare.

Jina

India, Rajasthan (probably vicinity of Mount Abu), 1160
Marble

This meditative form shows a Jina (a liberated soul in the Jain religious tradition).

Siddha Pratima Yantra

Western India, dated 1333
Bronze

The spaces cut from a copper sheet represents the disembodied enlightenment achieved by an advanced Jain practitioner.

Battle at Thaneshwar

Bifolio from the Akbarnama
Composed by Basawan; painted by Asi
India, Mughal dynasty, 1590
Opaque watercolor, gold and ink on paper

In this decidedly non-meditative artwork, armed yogis battle one another over bathing rights at a sacred river.

The Chakras of the Subtle Body

Folio 4 from the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati
By Bulaki
India, Rajasthan, Jodhpur, 1824
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

A meditative practitioner with eyes crossed. 

Satcakranirupanacitram

India, 1903

An illustration from an early 20th century textbook which merged Western medicine with yogic physiognomy. At left: Anatomical figures with locations of chakras.

Group of yogis

Albumen print, c. 1880s

In this 19th century photograph, props and makeup are extraneous to any yogic tradition - feeding popular Western perceptions of yogis or fakirs (Muslim Sufi ascetics) as exotic and confounding.

Stage magicians began to advertise having supernatural yogic powers, performing illusions like climbing suspended ropes and claiming to hypnotize wild animals.

Exhibition curator Debra Diamond said many Americans first came to know of yogis through the conjuring of exotic stereotypes about India that were rather dubious. "Yogis became an embarrassment for Indians as well as for the rest of the world," said Diamond. 

"Mystery girl: why can't she be killed?"

Look Magazine, Sept. 28, 1937

Colorful, exotic stereotypes of India (such as snake charmers) were a powerful draw for theatrical audiences. Koringa, a magician and circus artist who toured Europe and the U.S. in the 1930s, referenced yogic mysticism in her act - walking on the heads of "hypnotized" crocodiles or dancing on the blades of swords. 

Though she was billed as the "only female fakir in the world," Koringa had other talents: a member of the French Free Forces, she engaged in secret missions during World War II.

T. Krishnamacharya Asanas

Copy of a lost black-and-white film, 1938

Yoga's image began to change when Americans saw a 1938 film that showed an athletic series of poses and postures to promote physical and mental fitness, developed by a 5-foot, 2-inch yogi named T. Krishnamacharya, the grandfather of modern yoga. 

His top student, B.K.S. Iyengar, developed a whole brand of yoga called Iyengar, one of the many types found today.

Kedar Ragini

By Ruknuddin India, Rajasthan, Bikaner, ca. 1690-95 Opague watercolor, gold, and ink on paper

An illustration of a classical Indian "raga" (melody) - two yogis under a peaceful, starry sky.

Bifolio from the Gulsham Album

India, Mughal dynasty, 1Q 17th century
Opague watercolor and gold on paper

Nath, Ramanandi and Sannyasi yogis are featured collectively in this jewel-like bifolio. 

For more info: 

"Yoga: The Art of Transformation" at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (through January 26, 2014) | Exhibition Catalogue

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan