Medieval Indian Manuscripts and the Stories They Tell
The Dr. Ranajit K. Datta Distinguished Lecture in Indian Art
- Lecture
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Sudhana and a Parrot: folio 20 (recto) (detail), from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array), 1000–1100s. Nepal. Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf; average: 4.2 x 52.4 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1955.49.1.a
About The Event
The Cleveland Museum of Art has an important collection of Buddhist and Jain manuscripts, some of which are being shown for the first time in the exhibition Text and Image in Southern Asia (August 26, 2022–March 5, 2023). This lecture explores the stories these manuscripts and others like them tell us about the religious, social, and economic worlds of their origin.
Who had these manuscripts made and why? How and of what were they made? How were they used and stored? How were they valued, as sacred texts to be worshiped or works of art? To study these manuscripts is a continuing process of asking questions, and in this talk Dr. Granoff shares her journey for these answers.
Phyllis Granoff received her PhD from Harvard University in the Departments of Fine Arts and Sanskrit and Indian Studies. After teaching at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, for many years, she moved to Yale University, where she was the Lex Hixon Professor of World Religions. She has written extensively on premodern Indian art, literature, and philosophy and has translated modern stories from Bengali and Oriya.
The annual Dr. Ranajit K. Datta Lecture brings nationally and internationally recognized experts in the fields of art history and archaeology to discuss new scholarship, museum exhibitions, and archaeological discoveries in Indian art.
The annual Dr. Ranajit K. Datta Lecture is made possible through the Dr. Ranajit K. Datta in Memory of Kiran P. and S. C. Datta Endowment Fund.
Sponsors
All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Principal support is provided by Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, David and Robin Gunning, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous donor, Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, Sarah Nash, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
