Michigan Museum to Display Hindu Puranas Manuscript

The Muskegon Museum of Art (MMA) in Michigan will be showcasing an 18th century manuscript in Sanskrit of an extract from the sacred Hindu text "Puranas", from December eight to February 12, in its "Expressions of Faith" exhibition.

"Expressions of Faith combines the written and printed word with the visual arts to examine the impact that religious faith has made on artists", a Museum announcement says, and adds: "In giving visual form to religious figures and stories, artists shaped how believers perceived their faith, and in doing so influenced the evolution of the religion itself". Commending MMA for exhibiting Hindu text manuscript, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada 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 Universal Society of Hinduism, urged major art museums of the world, including Musee du Louvre and Musee 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.

Award-winning MMA, which was dedicated in 1912, claims "a world-class collection of visual art" and "committed to fostering the lifelong study and appreciation of the visual arts". CharLes Johnson III and Judith Hayner are Trustees Chair and Executive Director respectively.

Puranas are exceptionally popular texts of Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and "moksh" (liberation) as the ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.