KALI STRIDING OVER SHIVA, PROBABLY KRISHNANAGAR, BENGAL, 1890S. cTHE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, HIRAPUR TEMPLE cTHE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, HIMANGSHU SEKHAR / ALAMY, DANITA DELIMONT STOCK/AWL
Some exhibitions don’t need much in the way of explanation to draw the crowds (witness the Tutankhamun spectacular now in its last weeks in London). The British Museum – on the other hand – is about to tackle a subject that’s been at the heart of spiritual life in India and many of its neighbours for 1,500 years, but is most often thought of in the West as having something to do with advanced sexual techniques. This new exhibition, ‘Tantra: enlightenment to revolution’, brings together objects from India, Tibet, Japan and beyond (including a Bengali depiction of the goddess Kali, pictured here), to explore the diverse ways that Tantric philosophy changed the practice of Hinduism and Buddhism, and even came to shape 1960s counter-culture. Kali herself embodies much of the mystery of Tantra: often cloaked in violent imagery, yet also worshipped as a symbol of maternal love, and more recently seen through a feminist lens.
Tickets £15; 23 Apr-26 Jul 2020; britishmuseum.org