Multiple Perspectives

This painting is a tourist map. At first glance it is all confusion, and I didn't know which way to turn my head. But a longer look revealed an immensely practical, informative map for pilgrims to the temple complex of the Pushti Marg sect.



It is full of detailed directions, easily understood and remembered. Go through these arches, it says, and you will be in a paved courtyard with this rather complex layout. The office you require is down this narrow passage, attended by a guard. You will be walking towards a domed tower.



Walk along the outer wall to your right, and you will reach another entrance with a windowed tower. Follow the paved pathway to a certain temple.



Behind this feature in the outer wall, with two towers, is a water garden. Its entrance is here.



The central shrine, where the cow festival is held, is entered through the door adorned with elephants, in a square courtyard with an earthen floor.



It's a fascinating use of multiple perspectives; we looked at it for quite a while.

The exhibition is Krishna & Devotion — Temple Hangings from Western India at Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1. It's a collection of devotional hangings used by the Western Indian Krishna sect, Pushti Marg, and some paintings connected with them and with the temple complex as a place of pilgrimage. It's £2.50 to get in. Asia House is a cultural charity and probably doesn't have much of a budget. The exposition is only the barest description of how these works are used and what is depicted in them; it doesn't cover any technical details or relate them to any wider artistic traditions. But there was a well-informed attendant, and a catalogue is on sale.