Exercise of the Religious Imagination: Yoga at the Smithsonian

THE HINDU
By Lavina Melwani

A Chola bronze of Narasimha with a yoga strap.

WASHINGTON, DC---Narasimha, the mighty God Vishnu in his half-man, half-lion avatar, sits with his front arms relaxed in meditation, his rear arms bearing the chakra and conch, now missing. Around his tautly crossed legs one is amazed to find a yogapatta, or yoga strap! Yoga Narasimha is just one of hundreds of artifacts gathered in "Yoga: The Art of Transformation at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery," the Smithsonian’s Asian section in Washington DC. In fact, this is the first major exhibition in the US to showcase yoga’s visual aspects through 133 paintings, sculptures and images from 25 museums and private collections across India, Europe and the US. [link]