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No more than a glimpse of thesubcontinent

The white elephant enters the womb. PHOTO COURTESY OF NMH

When it was decided that the National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館) was to host an exhibition focusing on the religions and spiritual aspects of India, the institution's director, Huang Kuang-nan (黃光男), was fully aware that such a venture was going to prove a mammoth task.

With limited floor space and access to artifacts, telling the story of a country where civilization stretches back 5,000 years, covers an area of over three million square kilometers and is home to over one billion people, was a daunting prospect according to Huang.

"Obviously it was a huge task to choose what and how we were going to exhibit, and arrange for these artifacts to be shipped to Taiwan," recalled Huang. "Thankfully the Indian Museum was more than happy to work with us as was the India-Taipei Association. Without their help this exhibition would never have been possible."

Close collaboration with Indian residents of Taiwan and the Indian Museum of Kolkata (Calcutta) enabled the history museum to secure the loan of 160 artifacts dating from 2,500BC to the early 20th Century. Established under the auspices of the Asiatic Society on Feb. 2, 1814, the Indian Museum of Kolkata is now both India's oldest and largest such institute. It boasts over 60 galleries and an exhibition area of over one thousand square meters.

Any concerns Huang and his staff may have had about the exhibition's possible shortcomings proved groundless, however. And when Land of Spirituality opened its doors last Wednesday, the general public turned out in numbers greater than those for previous large-scale exhibitions held at the museum.

Plotting a solid, yet all too brief story of the religious and spiritual history of the subcontinent, the exhibition has been divided into five chronologically organized categories.

While basically an exhibition dealing with spirituality, Land of Spirituality begins with a more historically focused section dealing with the Indus Valley Civilization, a culture that flourished around 2,500BC in the western part of South Asia, in what is today Pakistan and western India. This early section includes terracotta figurines of gods, animals and jewelry as well as a selection of what are today thought to be royal seals.

From the history of the Indus, visitors are transported to India's earliest encounters with Buddhism and then on to the exhibition's largest section, that dealing with the rise of Hinduism on the subcontinent. Here visitors can see various deities as well as read a brief explanation of how religion and daily life in India are closely intertwined.

The exportation of India's cultural and religious heritage are explored in section four, with a glimpse of how other countries have been influenced by India. Here visitors see Indian-styled relics and artifacts from Tibet, Persia and other Asian countries.

The exhibition is rounded off with a look at Indian folk arts and daily life, with figurines of dancers and musicians as well as paintings celebrating sexuality and early religious eroticism.

Although this is a fine attempt to bring the history of a huge nation to a small museum, the exhibition still lacks depth. Visitors who know little about the history of the subcontinent will leave having gained little useful information, while those with some knowledge of Indian culture could well be thoroughly disappointed by the whole costly affair.

Land of Spirituality -- Glimpses of Indian Civilization will be on display at the National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館), 49 Nanhai Rd., Taipei (台北市南海路49號) until July 20.
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