Sean Anderson Flames of Devotion. Oil lamps from South and Southeast Asia and the Himalayas. Exhibit in the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles, Fall 2006 

Thousands of small clay lamps illuminated the scene of festive celebrants ; homes were equally decorated ; a variety of food offered to the god, but also meant for the enjoyment of the participants ; prayers, chanting, ceremonial bells and wellwishes floated over the temple area …

A dream from distant antiquity ? Yes and no ! Mediterranean archaeologists – and especially lychnologists – would feel themselves mysteriously transported to a time and place far away and long ago. This must be similar to what many ancient sanctuaries looked like on the occasion of certain festivals, e.g. the Thesmophoria, or the sanctuary of Palaemon at Isthmia. How often do we today have a chance to experience something like it ? Well, in fact, once a year !

The scenes described are not part of a long forgotten tradition of an old civilization, but are a living custom upheld over centuries, and over a large part of our globe ! The Hindu Festival of Lights is well and alive, and celebrated with enthusiasm not only in India, but also in Hindu and Buddhist communities in the diaspora all over the world. Revealing its original ties to a rural agrarian society, it is linked to the lunar calendar, the harvest season and thus has a fluctuating fall date. In 2006 it fell on October 21. This festival represents the primary, but not the only, religious ritual of Hindu traditions of lamps.

As also in other religions, the prominence of light is here a symbol of hope and prosperity, of victory of light over darkness, of good over evil. The Diwali (or Deepavali) dispels darkness, physically marked by masses of oil lamps or diyas, placed in homes, villages, gardens, roof-tops --- and still only rarely substituted by candles or electric lights.

The world’s third largest religion was thus celebrated by many thousands of followers also in a city known for its cosmopolitan multi-cultural society --- Los Angeles, California, the City of Angels. The annual Festival of Lights, welcoming the New Year 2063, was in fact particularly significant to Los Angeles’ devotees of oil lamps. Just a month earlier, a small but remarkable exhibit opened at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History on the campus of UCLA, the University of California ; Flames of Devotion. Oil Lamps from South and Southeast Asia and the Himalayas (Los Angeles 2006). The exhibit is accompanied by a slimcatalogue (45 entries, but 60 plus images), beautifully designed and illustrated, with a richly informative text written by Sean Anderson. His text attempts to bridge the chronological gaps of the collection itself. There is also a brief bibliography and list of terminology (The catalogue will be available in the ILA library in Olten, CH). A large collection of Indian temple lamps, mostly brass, were gathered over many years by Dr and Mrs Pratapaditya Pal, and donated to UCLA, forming the basis for the exhibit. Dr Pal, a Senior Curator of Los Angeles County Museum of Art for 25 years, was responsible for building the Indian collection there. This private lamp selection is thus a witness to his taste and expertise, and Dr Pal’s Introduction to the catalogue makes the material come movingly alive, especially for a non-Indian specialist. Born in Calcutta, he is eminently placed to enrich the presentation of the lamps with their metaphorical context of daily life in Indian culture, drawing references from the sacred to the secular, from Buddha to the poet Tagore.

Technique

Though imaginatively decorated, the majority of these lamps are straight-forward in terms of actual lighting devices. The dish or cup is mostly open, both on the present day clay lamps and on the historical items of the exhibit ; the wick of rolled cotton strips, and only the fuel presents a more expensive item ; oil or clarified butter (ghee) in India and Nepal, but yak butter in Tibet.

Historically clay was the original material, still prevailing today ; but cire perdue or lost wax method (with local modifications) was the most prevalent in the brass production of the collection discussed, whether the lamps derived from tribal craft or sophisticated sculpture ; occasionally precious metals were used, e.g. silver. A variety of repeated motifs and surface patterns were applied, both organic and geometric.

Time span

We learn that the word for lamp (dipa or pradip) was know from the time of Buddha (5th-6th century BC), but no visual depiction occurs until 2nd century BC. However, the collection under discussion is much later, but forms part of an enduring tradition. These objects date primarily from the 17th- 19th century, with a few exceptions, e.g. a hanging basket-shaped lamp from Vietnam, attributed to ca. 500 BC to A.D.200.

Iconography

The widespread artistic tradition of Hindu ritual lamps (Tibet, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia) make for a bewildering, but charming array of styles and compositions, depending on the period as well as the regional contexts and workmanship. They are in general much more imaginative and elaborate than what Greco-Roman metal remains allow us to believe existed in ancient Mediterranean (cf. eg. D.Bailey, Lamps in the British Museum, vol.IV, London 1996). Multiple functions – domestic rituals and temple illuminations – also contribute to this rich diversity of design ; small and large, standing and hanging lamps. (Unfortunately no measures are given in the catalogue ; the average height varies between 15-30 cm, but several are taller).

Intersections of Hindu and foreign traditions have also created some odd results. Just to mention one example ; Cat.no.1 is in essence a Roman lamp, with fretwork handle shield, a hinged central lid, but a small open cup instead of the wick-hole ! (Indonesia, 18th-19th century). The setting for the cup or cups is at times very simple ; an upright stand topped by a bowl, maybe guarded by an animal, a bird or a monkey. The elephant frequently serves as a sturdy base. Or you find a towering complexity, perhaps more pompous than aesthetically balanced ; a sizeable jug (oil reservoir) with lothus decor, sporting a cobra handle, and an elephant-headed god (framed by a lace pattern), seated in front of the cup ! A wealth of symbols ! (Nepal 18th-19th century). Nature is present not only in the form of animals (birds, fish, horses, even mice), but as a tree of life, tall and graceful, offering oil cups at the end of each branch ; it must have looked very much like a Christmas tree when lighted. And not surprisingly, a female divinity of delightfully modest proportions is central to the iconographic repertory, the goddess personifying light, known by many names, e.g., Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, one manifestation of Devi, the mother goddess. She occurs in several examples, standing with an oil cup in her outstretched hands, with intricate graceful clothing and distinctly sensuous curvatures.

But the single largest category of lamps must also have been the most dramatic vehicle for ritual appeal to the divine, the arati lamps. The common denominator among these lamps is a vertical handle at the back, to hold, raise and swirl the multi-dish lamp around clock-wise in front of the divine image, during a benediction ceremony (arati). Often an animal again presides – with ingeniously inventive design – above the flames at the end of the handle, e.g. a monkey or a peacock. The multiple flames represent a powerful appeal to the divinity.

This catalogue fills a void, as very little has been published in a systematic way on the shape and meaning of these lamps. In the end it is stressed that “a lamp’s existence is liminal”, i.e. a spiritual agent between the sacred and the ordinary world, an enduring reflection of the owner’s faith.

The words of a prayer – bhajan – used in northern India during the arati ceremony, convey the essence and metaphorical allusions of this ritual ;

“As we light the lamp of love in our hearts, we perform your arati. O light of the world, remover of all distress, do destroy the darkness from our lives.”    

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