Mas India Posting Page
Monday, July 13, 2009
It would be mundane to suggest that this extraordinary book In a World of Gods and Goddesses should be consigned to a coffee table as opposed to being part of a museum. Yet this large 17 x 17 book of spiritual art by Indra Sharma can certainly grace any surface that bears it. Indra Sharma has for decades painted scenes from sacred events of Hindu mythology as well as myriad forms of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses within the Hindu pantheon. His paintings of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses have been described as both prayer and puja. To see these Gods and Goddesses in brilliant color in this book is similar to visiting a renowned museum of art. The text by James H. Bae is a brilliant exposition and combination of Hindu lore, mythology and religion of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. We are treated to the many pieces of art of Mr. Sharma that have long been available to the Indian population in forms of books, calendars, treatises, religious art. Vishnu, Shiva, Hanuman, Ganesh, and Kali are but a few of the various Hindu Gods and Goddesses rendered in individual pages that might even be removed from the book for separate suitable framing. A true treasure trove of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. 
Considered by some to be an aspect of Kali, this Durga Statue stands in her own power amongst Hindu Gods and Goddesses as an embodiment of the creative feminine force of Shakti. She represents beauty, compassion and fierceness as shown by her ten arms carrying weapons while maintaining a meditative smile and practicing her mudras. Always depicted within the Hindu pantheon of Gods and Goddesses as the goddess riding a lion or a tiger, Durga shows through her fearlessness, her mastery over humanity’s lower nature and her conquering, by her purity, the evil of mankind. This 9-inch brass Durga statue with amazing detail can sit upon any puja and be that Hindu God and Goddess that protects from any evil that might beset the true devotee.
Known to be the most beloved and gentle representation of love within the Hindu Gods and Goddesses is our sweet Krishna known to appear to all the Gopis in the form in which they found most desirable. In the mythology of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, he shows himself to be both fierce and loveable within the same incarnation. From assuming different forms in dance and protecting cowherd villagers from an angry manifestation of rain by the God Indra, these youthful stories of Krishna in Krishna, Lord of Love told by James Bae, we are treated us to an enchantment of stories about love and devotion of the great God Krishna. Wonderful for children’s bedtime stories.
There are many renditions of Kali within representations of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. She is shown as black and fierce, shiny and pale, and many shades of fierce from subdued to passion. Here we see a Krishna like influence of Kali through the blue color and perhaps we may even liken her to a Kali Shyama representation. We see this 11-inch light Blue-Skinned Kali Statue standing on Shiva, showing her confidence, bravery and power as Shakti subduing and consuming the great God Shiva. When one witnesses this Goddess, one can evoke one’s own mastery over evil in the world.
by: Mas India 
