Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas is a groundbreaking examination of the art and legends of some of the most colorful characters in South Asian and Himalayan civilization. With contributions by ten of the most prominent scholars in the field, this catalog provides both a survey of the topic of mah?siddhas (Sanskrit, “mah?” meaning “great” and “siddha” meaning “accomplished one”) in art as well as essays on particular aspects of the theme, including literary, religious, sociological, and anthropological dimensions. These mahasiddhas were instrumental in transmitting tantric Buddhism from India to the Himalayas between the seventh and eleventh centuries. Their legends are filled with miracles and eccentric behavior, which in the end is interpreted as not mere indulgence or insanity but the wisdom of direct religious, mystic experience. 
 At the heart of the enduring appeal of these saintly tricksters are stories told in prose and in poetry. Vivid and entertaining, the tales told here are set in palaces and huts, in villages and fields, and on the road. They tell of great frustrations and wonderful epiphanies, of the ordinary and the extraordinary expressed in compelling visual imagery. 
 The catalog provides a survey of the format of mahasiddha art, the contexts and purposes for which the art was originally made. It features complete sets of paintings and sculptures — in some cases reconstituting groups that have been dispersed into different Western museum collections. More than a hundred works of art are included, from Indian miniatures to contemporary photographs of ascetics, from Nepalese clay sculptures to Tibetan woodblock prints, palm-leaf manuscripts and lifesize bronze sculpture. The various works are compared with art still surviving in situ to give a wide view of this important and charismatic type of religious teacher, one that inspired generations of artists.

Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas

Rob Linrothe

Serindia Publications and Rubin Museum of Art

From the 7th to 11th centuries, Kashmir -- a lush valley connected to the Silk Road -- was a wealthy center of transcultural trade, culture and religion. Beginning in the 10th century, Buddhists in the Western Himalayas traveled to Kashmir to acquire, preserve and emulate its sophisticated art. Kashmiri artists also accepted invitations to travel to the Western Himalayas during this period to work with and teach local artists. The distinctive workmanship of the Kashmiri style became integrated into the identity of Tibetan Buddhism in this period and experienced a revival in the Western Himalayas in the 15th and 16th centuries. Centuries later, beginning in the 1900s, artworks from Kashmir and the Western Himalayas became prized acquisitions for collections in the U.S. and Europe. Western explorers, scholars and travelers removed these works -- often surreptitiously -- from their places of origin. Today many of these works reside in public and private collections. Collecting Paradise features Buddhist objects, including manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures in ivory, metal and wood, dating from the 7th to 17th centuries. With 44 objects, the exhibition presents an original and innovative look at art from the region of Kashmir and the Western Himalayas, as well as how it has been collected over time. The catalogue features essays by a leading scholar in the field, Robert Linrothe, associate professor of art history in Northwestern s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, with the support of Christian Luczanits, the David L. Snellgrove Senior Lecturer in Tibetan and Buddhist Art at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies

Arts & Photography

Melissa R. Kerin

Christian Luczanits

History & Criticism

Serindia Publications

It is a book of more than 250 photographs of sculptures and shrines within 57 chapters, each accompanied by explanatory texts (300 to 2000 words each) introducing village temple sites with 8thñ13th century sculptures. The villages included are in south Bihar around Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Nalanda and Rajgir, as well as a selection of rarely documented village shrines of north Bihar (Mithila), in Begusarai, Darbhanga and Madhuvani districts. In Orissa, village sites visited were in Puri, Cuttack, Jaipur, Baleswar, Mayurbhanj, and Khorda districts.

Reenchantment: Masterworks of Sculpture in Village Temples of Bihar and Orissa

Studio Orientalia, New Delhi

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Books by Rob Linrothe