Hindu Shrine Cloth

IP met me at Avalon Conservation Labs in Goleta where he had brought an antique piece of tapestry, about 42” square, framed inside a Lucite box. The family from whence it came was involved with a major museum, and IP thought it was worth preserving. Yet he knew nothing about it. As beautiful as he thought it was, it lived in a closet. He paid me to investigate.

What interested me was the repeated images of the little chariots that line the edges, in which six holy men, or sages, ride. The center of the cloth features a line of paisley. The historically correct name of the motif is boteh: paisley is the modern European name – after a town in Scotland where the pattern was loomed on cloth as a design feature in the 19^th century. The figure is of 16^th century Persian origin, and symbolizes life, fertility, eternity and the spiritual East. The seed-like shape further represents newness and enlightenment. Let us put these symbols together and see if we can ascertain the origin and function of this tapestry.

IP has a rare and almost perfect example of a Hindu shrine cloth, a cloth which covered an idol of a deity within his/her shrine in a place of worship. The cloth is late 18^th, early 19^th century, and bears a great deal of meaning. I discovered 18^th and 19^th century Indian paintings portraying a main character named Arjuna from the Mahabharata, who famously went to war in a chariot driven by the god Krishna (more about that later) which carried a similar theme as the tapestry. 

Chariots “carry” a multiplicity of meanings because the Sanskrit word “Ratha” means a chariot or car – a “goer” – the vehicle in which one is transported. “Ratha” therefore also means our bodies and limbs, as well as spiritual elements that transport us, such as love and delight. Thus, the chariot in Hindu literature symbolizes the concept of the human body as a vehicle, with the mind and intellect as the charioteer, notably described as such in the Ratha Kalpana metaphor of the holy book called the Upanishads. There it is used to explain the concept of self-control and the need to steer one’s mind and senses towards spiritual liberation. 

Chariots feature prominently in the Vedas, the Puranas, and the great epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. A potent symbol dating to the Vedas over 3,500 years ago, the chariot is ideal for a cloth woven to safeguard a deity, and to remind a devotee of the spiritual path accompanied by the wisdom of the Rishis – the holy men/sages. In fact, huge chariots in Hindu holy festival parades often bring the idol of the deity to a shrine. These processional temple chariots have been used from antiquity. Myth holds that Hindu gods also ride in such conveyances, such as the deity Dawn (Usha) who rides with his messenger Agni, the god of fire and communication.

Are these woven chariots correctly depicted? No one knows exactly how the Vedic chariot was actually built, because the Vedas were composed between 1,500-1,200 BCE, with the oldest book of the four being the Rigveda (which features many such chariots). The Vedas (Wisdom) are amongst the oldest Hindu sacred texts, written in Sanskrit in the Punjab region of India.

My favorite chariot story is “The Chariot of Arjuna,” from the Mahabharata, which was begun in the 3^rd century BCE. The tale involves a battle between two mighty warriors who are related to each other, Arjuna and Karna. The god Krishna is the mortal Arjuna’s charioteer. Karna, also a mortal, lacks divine protection but even so is a fierce and strong opponent. Krishna himself marvels to Arjuna over Karna’s power, but Arjuna receives scant praise from the god. After the battle is over, Ajuna prevailing, the god and the man dismount, and the chariot crumbles to soot and dust. Krisha explains to Arjuna that Karna had in fact set fire to Arjuna’s chariot miles back, and Krishna’s protection allowed Arjuna to stay mounted and fighting. Krishna says, “It was I who was protecting it; you have not achieved great heights on your own, so be humbled and grateful. When you achieve a decisive battle, it is because of divine intervention.” 

I found it difficult to find any such remarkable temple shrine cloths outside of textile museums, such as the George Washinton University Textile Museum, particularly ones for sale – yet period paintings similar to this used as devotional images sell for $3,000-$4,000 when of this quality.