TAMIL YOGINIS: GODDESSES OF MULTIPLICITY

Among the sculptures visitors encounter in the Detroit Institute of Arts’ gallery of Indian and Southeast Asian art is a life-sized yogini goddess from southern India, carved from stone sometime between the late ninth and mid-tenth century. Embodying both attractive and threatening characteristics, she projects an unmistakable power. In the temple for which she was made, which no longer survives, this power would have been amplified by potentially dozens of other such goddesses enshrined alongside her, many of which are now housed in museums throughout North America, Europe, and India. This presentation will explore the changing contexts to which the DIA yogini and her companions have belonged, from the temple that once enshrined them, to multiple later shrines, to the museums that house many of them today.

We are excited to begin the new year with a presentation by Dr. Kasdorf of the Detroit Institute of Arts on the topic of Yoginis – female master practitioners of tantra and yoga, as well as the sacred feminine force made incarnate, as an aspect of Parvati, and revered in the yogini temples of India. This presentation will focus on the latter aspect of Yoginis.

Look forward to seeing you virtually at the event.

Warm Wishes.

Jai Varadaraj

Chair SAAC@SDMA

Registration in advance is required for this event. Please register here