Sounds become muffled and a silence descends as you walk down the stairs at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery and enter Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Glowing chakras on the floor form a winding path that beckons you in to wander through the art.
The exhibit begins with the birth of yoga in the Indus valley and showcases a beautiful folio from the Nath tradition. This three-part artwork shows an empty field of gold on the left, representing the origin of existence. The center part displays the emergence of consciousness in the form of a seated person, and on the right we see the final emergence of form as the earth.
When we think of yoga today, we imagine a calm practice, but yoga was not always a peaceful philosophy. Early on, it was often represented by yoginis, frightening statues of women with supernatural powers whose very names meant “horrific.” Three of these goddesses from a 10th century Chola temple are being reunited for the first time in this exhibit.
Later in the history of yoga, meditation became a common practice used to attain enlightenment. Great yogic lineages were created, in which a master passed on his knowledge to his disciples, forming a line of spiritual thought and practice.
Much later in the history of India, around the 16th century, yogis and yoginis became part of the popular culture and folklore. They were portrayed as good and evil, as magicians, spies, heroes, and heroines.
With the arrival of the British Empire, yogis lost prestige as westerners questioned their practices. During this time the advent of early photography created a market of faked “fakir-yogi” photographs, sold as curios from the “exotic Orient.” The Smithsonian’s exhibit highlights how this fed the image of the yogi as a charlatan in the transnational imagination.
Along with photography, early film propagated this concept as well. The first movie about India, Thomas Edison’s Hindoo Fakir, promoted the existing stereotypes about yogis.
Following the chakra signs through the gallery, you come to realize that yoga as we know it today has only been seen as its own practice for a little over a century. Since the early 20th century, there has been much more of an emphasis on the physical body. With the publication of Swami Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga in 1896, the modern practice gained recognition as a tool in the yoga path.
Lululemon-wearing and coconut water-toting modern yoga practitioners in the West are primarily focused on the asanas, the physical yoga postures that aim to harmonize mind and body. However, it would be a shame to forget about the rich and varied history of yoga while focusing only on one of its many parts.
Instead, Yoga: The Art of Transformation explores the changing nature of yoga, starting with its deep religious and historical roots and working toward its modern incarnation. In effect, the Smithsonian reveals the very transformation of the “art of transformation” itself.
The Sackler Gallery
1050 Independence Ave., SW
Monday – Sunday, 10 am – 5:30 pm
asia.si.edu
