New exhibition at the British Museum traces the evolution of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain devotional art from ancient India to modern-day worship
BY FRANCESCA RAPISARDA
The British Museum has launched Ancient India: Living Traditions, a major exhibition examining over 2,000 years of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain sacred art, open from May 22 to October 19, 2025, in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery.
The exhibition brings together more than 180 objects, many displayed in the UK for the first time, including stone sculptures, manuscripts, paintings, and devotional figures from across India and Southeast Asia.
Spanning the period 200 BC to AD 600, Ancient India: Living Traditions focuses on a pivotal era in South Asian history, when devotional imagery transformed from symbolic forms into recognisably human representations. This shift gave rise to the enduring iconography that continues to define these faiths today.
Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism all originated in ancient India, a region once divided into numerous kingdoms, empires, and republics. Despite their differences, the exhibition highlights how these religions share interconnected philosophies, artistic techniques, and devotional motifs.
A distinct sandstone sculpture of the Buddha shows him seated on a lion-flanked throne, hands poised in a teaching gesture, a symbol of his spiritual enlightenment and role as guide to others. The Buddha, meaning “enlightened one” in Sanskrit, represents the culmination of a path aimed at ending suffering and the cycle of rebirth through meditation and moral discipline.
“Buddhism emerged in northern India at the same time as Jainism,” reads the exhibition text, “which also focuses on learning from enlightened teachers.” The two faiths developed in parallel, their art often reflecting similar meditative ideals and serene composure.
Another centrepiece, a dancing Ganesha carved from sandstone, demonstrates Hinduism’s joyful embrace of divine energy. The elephant-headed god, “Lord of the ganas”, attendants of Shiva, is depicted mid-dance, a cobra coiled around his torso with its hood rising above his shoulder. The motif recalls ancient nature spirits once worshipped across India, linking the divine with elemental life forces.
Hinduism, the exhibition notes, encompasses a vast range of beliefs and practices, yet certain deities, such as Ganesha, transcend boundaries, venerated not only by Hindus but also by some Buddhists and Jains. Today, Ganesha remains a central figure in Hindu life, invoked at the beginning of new ventures as the remover (and placer) of obstacles.
A golden image of Ganesha displayed at the exhibition illustrates how these devotional objects continue to serve living traditions. Garlanded with flowers and surrounded by lamps, this statue has welcomed guests to countless Hindu weddings, originally purchased by a London family for a sister’s ceremony before becoming a recurring symbol of celebration and blessing.
In contrast, Jain devotional art reflects a profound commitment to non-violence (ahimsa) and detachment. A marble sculpture of a tirthankara, an enlightened teacher, sits in deep meditation. Unlike gods, tirthankaras are human exemplars who have achieved liberation.
The exhibition highlights Parshvanatha, the 23rd tirthankara, portrayed in a sandstone sculpture protected beneath the hood of a divine serpent, Dharanendra. The story tells how a spirit’s storm failed to break Parshvanatha’s meditation, symbolising triumph over suffering and distraction.
A later painted marble image of Parshvanatha, created in Gujarat’s pilgrimage town of Shankheshwar, echoes the same visual language that originated two millennia earlier in Mathura, from the serpent canopy to the delicately carved curls of hair.
The exhibition also demonstrates how these faiths travelled far beyond India’s borders. A golden Buddha from Thailand, originally commissioned for the royal opening of a temple in Ayutthaya province, was later installed at the Buddhapadipa Temple in London. Blessed by monks and venerated by the city’s Thai-Buddhist community, it embodies how devotional art continues to unite diaspora communities through shared ritual and belief.
Trade, migration, and intermarriage between artisans and merchants helped spread Indian religious art throughout Southeast Asia, particularly between India and Cambodia. DNA evidence from a cemetery in southern Cambodia, cited in the exhibition, suggests these cross-cultural exchanges were already established almost 2,000 years ago. Artistic ideas and symbols flowed both ways, evolving into distinctive regional forms while retaining echoes of their Indian origins.
Ancient India: Living Traditions forms part of the British Museum’s ongoing collaboration with UK-based Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist communities, ensuring that the exhibition reflects living practices and beliefs. Advisory groups guided decisions about interpretation, conservation, and display, even influencing sustainable design choices, such as the use of vegan and recyclable materials.
Ancient India: Living Traditions
📍 The British Museum, London
🗓 22 May – 19 October 2025
🎟 Tickets: £20 (concessions available)
🔗 britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/ancient-india-living-traditions
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