Ancient India: Living Traditions

Interesting exhibition at the British Museum looking at the origins and visual development of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism.

I felt the show was wrongly titled as a lot wasn’t ancient. I thought I’d read somewhere that it was about how India influenced Greece and Rome but I should have paid more attention to the subtitle. However I liked the way the show began with ancient sculptures from the three religions and ended with contemporary ones. 

There were some beautiful objects and it was well explained but, as ever in large British Museum shows, the low wordy labels created bottle necks not helped by people who’d opted for the large print booklets of labels still standing in front on the label to read the booklet! 

It did make me muse on how art, like standard archetypal human stories, develops in a similar way everywhere. A lot of the art and sculpture from around 1000AD had a feel of Norman art and a lot of the iconography felt similar like the use of halos.  

Closed 19 October 2025


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