Hindus worldwide have welcomed the Israel Museum, “largest cultural institution in the State of Israel”, exhibiting various Hindu Devi, and Devtas in the holy city of Jerusalem; calling it a remarkable interfaith gesture.

The exhibition, titled “Body of Faith”, which will run through June 10, displays 14 sculptures of Hindu deities; including Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, etc. The exhibition announcement notes that all Hindu believers “share a responsibility to maintain the benevolent world order through their daily decisions and actions and with the help of the gods”.

Applauding the Israel Museum for Hinduism focused exhibition, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth.

Rajan Zed, who is President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, urged major art museums of the world; including Musée du Louvre and Musée d'Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc.; to frequently organize Hindu art focused exhibitions, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.

The sculptures shown in this exhibition are made of bronze, porphyritic basalt, stone, etc. Miriam Malachi is the curator and Ronit Cernica is the designer of this exhibition.

Hinduism, the oldest and third largest religion in the world with rich philosophical thought, has about 1.2 billion adherents, and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

Founded in 1965, Israel Museum, with a collection of nearly 500,000 objects, is said to be ranked among the world’s leading art and archaeology museums. It reportedly houses encyclopedic collections, including works dating from prehistory to the present day, in its Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Jewish Art and Life Wings; and features the most extensive holdings of biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world; and also holds the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest biblical manuscripts in the world; as well as rare early medieval biblical manuscripts. Denis Weil is the Director and Isaac Molho is its Board Chairman.

Image provided by the author.