Ananda Coomaraswamy
Encyclopedia
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (22 August 1877, Colombo, Ceylon − 9 September 1947, Needham, Massachusetts
) was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician
, as well as a pioneering historian
and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history
and symbol
ism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. In particular, he is described as "the groundbreaking theorist who was largely responsible for introducing ancient Indian art to the West."
, to the Ceylonese Tamil
legislator
and philosopher Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy
and his English
wife Elizabeth Beeby. His father died when Ananda was 2 years old, and Ananda spent much of his childhood and education abroad.
Coomaraswamy moved to England in 1879 and attended Wycliffe College
, a preparatory school in Stroud, Gloucestershire
, at the age of 12. In 1900, he graduated from University College
, London, with a degree in geology and botany. On June 19, 1902, Coomaraswamy married Ethel Mary Partridge, an English photographer, who then traveled with him to Ceylon. Their marriage lasted until 1913. Coomaraswamy's field work between 1902 and 1906 earned him a doctor of science
for his study of Ceylonese mineralogy
, and prompted the formation of the Geological Survey of Ceylon which he initially directed. While in Ceylon, the couple collaborated on Mediaeval Sinhalese Art; Coomaraswamy wrote the text and Ethel provided the photographs. His work in Ceylon fueled Coomaraswamy's anti-Westernization
sentiments.
After their divorce, Partridge returned to England, where she later married the writer Philip Mairet
.
By 1906, Coomaraswamy had made it his mission to educate the West about Indian art, and was back in London with a large collection of photographs, actively seeking out artists to try to influence. He knew he could not rely on Museum curators or other members of the cultural establishment – in 1908 he wrote “The main difficulty so far seems to have been that Indian art has been studied so far only by archaeologists. It is not archaeologists, but artists … who are the best qualified to judge of the significance of works of art considered as art.” By 1909, he was firmly acquainted with Jacob Epstein
and Eric Gill
, the city's two most important early Modernists, and soon both of them had begun to incorporate Indian aesthetics into their work. The curiously hybrid sculptures that were produced as a result can be seen to form the very roots of what is now considered British Modernism.
Coomaraswamy then met and married an Englishwoman who performed Indian song under the stage name Ratan Devi. They had two children, a son, Narada, and daughter, Rohini. He moved to the United States
in 1917 to serve as the first Keeper of Indian art in the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston
. Narada was killed in a plane crash and an already ailing Ratan died shortly thereafter.
Coomaraswamy married the American artist Stella Bloch, 29 years his junior, in November 1922. Through the 1920s, Coomaraswamy and his wife were part of the bohemian
art circles in New York City, Coomaraswamy befriending Alfred Stieglitz
and the artists who exhibited at Stieglitz's gallery. At the same time, he was studying Sanskrit and Pali religious literature as well as Western religious works. He wrote catalogues for the Museum of Fine Arts, and published his History of Indian and Indonesian Art in 1927.
After the couple divorced in 1930, they remained friends. Shortly thereafter, on November 18, 1930, Coomaraswamy married Argentine
Luisa Runstein, 28 years younger, who was working as a society photographer under the professional name Xlata Llamas. They had a son, Coomaraswamy's third child, Rama Ponnambalam, who became a physician and author of Catholic Traditionalist
works.
In 1933 Coomaraswamy's title at the Museum of Fine Arts
changed from curator
to Fellow for Research in India
n, Persian, and Mohammedan
Art.
He served as curator in the Museum of Fine Arts, and was significant in bringing Eastern art to the West, until his death in Needham, Massachusetts
in 1947. In fact, at the Museum of Fine Arts, he built the first large collection of Indian art in the United States.
He also helped with the collection of Persian Art for the Freer Gallery of Art
in Washington, D.C.
and the Museum of Fine Arts.
After Coomaraswamy's death, his widow, Doña Luisa Runstein, acted as a guide and resource for students of his work.
, and contributed to the "Swadeshi" movement, an early phase of the struggle for Indian independence. In the 1920s, he made pioneering discoveries in the history of Indian art, particularly distinctions between Rajput
and Moghul painting, and his book Rajput Painting. At the same time he amassed an unmatched collection of Rajput and Moghul paintings, which he took with him to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, when he joined its curatorial staff in 1917. Through 1932, from his base in Boston, he produced two kinds of publications: brilliant scholarship in his curatorial field, but also graceful introductions to Indian and Asian art and culture, typified by The Dance of Shiva, a collection of essays that have lost none of their attractiveness and remain in print to this day. From 1932 until his death in 1947, he was yet another man, another mind. Deeply influenced by René Guénon
, he became one of the founders of the Traditionalist School
. His books and essays on art and culture, symbolism and metaphysics, scripture, folklore and myth, and still other topics, offer a remarkable education to readers who accept the challenges of his resolutely cross-cultural perspective and insistence on tying every point he makes back to sources in multiple traditions. He once remarked, "I actually think in both Eastern and Christian terms—Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Pali, and to some extent Persian and Chinese." Alongside the deep and not infrequently difficult writings of this period, he also delighted in polemical writings created for a larger audience—essays such as "Why exhibit works of art?" (1943).
In his book The Information Society: An Introduction (Sage, 2003, p. 44), Armand Mattelart credits Coomarswamy for coining the term 'post-industrial' in 1913.
as That noble scholar upon whose shoulders we are still standing. While serving as a curator to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the latter part of his life, he devoted his work to the explication of traditional metaphysics and symbolism. His writings of this period are filled with references to Plato
, Plotinus
, Clement
, Philo
, Augustine
, Aquinas, Shankara
, Eckhart
, and other Rhinish and Asian mystics. When asked what he was, foremostly Dr. Coomaraswamy referred to himself as a Metaphysician, referring here to the concept of perennial philosophy
, or Sophia Perennis.
Along with René Guénon
and Frithjof Schuon
, Coomaraswamy is regarded as one of the three founders of Perennialism, also called the Traditionalist School
. Several articles by Coomaraswamy on the subject of Hinduism
and the Perennial Philosophy were published posthumously in the quarterly journal, Studies in Comparative Religion
, alongside articles by Schuon and Guénon (among others).
Although he agrees with Guénon on the universal principles, his works are very different in form from Guénon's. By vocation, he was a scholar, who dedicated the last decades of his life to searching the Scriptures. He offers a perspective on the tradition which complements well that of Guénon. He had a very highly active aesthetic perceptiveness and he wrote dozens of articles on traditional arts and mythology. His works are also intellectually finely balanced. Although born in the Hindu
tradition, he had a deep knowledge of the Western
tradition as well as a great expertise and love for Greek metaphysics, especially that of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism
.
He built a bridge between East and West that was designed to carry a two-way traffic: his metaphysical writings aimed, among other things, at demonstrating the unity of the Vedanta and Platonism. His works also sought to rehabilitate original Buddhism, a tradition that Guénon had for a long time limited to a rebellion of the Kshatriya
s against Brahmin
authority.
"Alan Antliff documents (...in I Am Not A Man, I Am Dynamite) how the Indian art critic and anti-imperialist Ananda Coomaraswamy combined Nietzsche's individualism and sense of spiritual renewal with both Kropotkin
's economics and with Asian idealist religious thought. This combination was offered as a basis for the opposition to British colonization as well as to industrialization."
Needham, Massachusetts
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...
) was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, as well as a pioneering historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
and symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. In particular, he is described as "the groundbreaking theorist who was largely responsible for introducing ancient Indian art to the West."
Life
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was born in Colombo, Ceylon, now Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, to the Ceylonese Tamil
Sri Lanka Tamils (Indian origin)
The Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Hill country Tamils, Up-country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils. They are partly descended from workers sent from South India to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee, tea and...
legislator
Legislator
A legislator is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are usually politicians and are often elected by the people...
and philosopher Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy
Muthu Coomaraswamy
Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy, FRGS was a prominent colonial era legislator from Sri Lanka. He was the first native Asian and Sri Lankan to be knighted by Queen Victoria....
and his English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
wife Elizabeth Beeby. His father died when Ananda was 2 years old, and Ananda spent much of his childhood and education abroad.
Coomaraswamy moved to England in 1879 and attended Wycliffe College
Wycliffe College (Gloucestershire)
Wycliffe College is a co-educational independent school located in the town of Stonehouse in Gloucestershire, in the West of England. The school was founded in 1882 by GW Sibly, and comprises a Nursery School for ages 2 – 4, a Preparatory School for ages 4 – 13, and a Senior School catering for...
, a preparatory school in Stroud, Gloucestershire
Stroud, Gloucestershire
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture...
, at the age of 12. In 1900, he graduated from University College
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, London, with a degree in geology and botany. On June 19, 1902, Coomaraswamy married Ethel Mary Partridge, an English photographer, who then traveled with him to Ceylon. Their marriage lasted until 1913. Coomaraswamy's field work between 1902 and 1906 earned him a doctor of science
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
for his study of Ceylonese mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
, and prompted the formation of the Geological Survey of Ceylon which he initially directed. While in Ceylon, the couple collaborated on Mediaeval Sinhalese Art; Coomaraswamy wrote the text and Ethel provided the photographs. His work in Ceylon fueled Coomaraswamy's anti-Westernization
Westernization
Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...
sentiments.
After their divorce, Partridge returned to England, where she later married the writer Philip Mairet
Philip Mairet
Philip Mairet was a designer, writer and journalist. He had a wide range of interest: crafts, Alfred Adler and psychiatry, and Social Credit. He was also a translator of major figures including Sartre. He wrote biographies of Sir Patrick Geddes and A. R...
.
By 1906, Coomaraswamy had made it his mission to educate the West about Indian art, and was back in London with a large collection of photographs, actively seeking out artists to try to influence. He knew he could not rely on Museum curators or other members of the cultural establishment – in 1908 he wrote “The main difficulty so far seems to have been that Indian art has been studied so far only by archaeologists. It is not archaeologists, but artists … who are the best qualified to judge of the significance of works of art considered as art.” By 1909, he was firmly acquainted with Jacob Epstein
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein KBE was an American-born British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British citizen in 1911. He often produced controversial works which challenged taboos on what was appropriate subject matter...
and Eric Gill
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill was a British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement...
, the city's two most important early Modernists, and soon both of them had begun to incorporate Indian aesthetics into their work. The curiously hybrid sculptures that were produced as a result can be seen to form the very roots of what is now considered British Modernism.
Coomaraswamy then met and married an Englishwoman who performed Indian song under the stage name Ratan Devi. They had two children, a son, Narada, and daughter, Rohini. He moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1917 to serve as the first Keeper of Indian art in the Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Narada was killed in a plane crash and an already ailing Ratan died shortly thereafter.
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
art circles in New York City, Coomaraswamy befriending Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form...
and the artists who exhibited at Stieglitz's gallery. At the same time, he was studying Sanskrit and Pali religious literature as well as Western religious works. He wrote catalogues for the Museum of Fine Arts, and published his History of Indian and Indonesian Art in 1927.
After the couple divorced in 1930, they remained friends. Shortly thereafter, on November 18, 1930, Coomaraswamy married Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
Luisa Runstein, 28 years younger, who was working as a society photographer under the professional name Xlata Llamas. They had a son, Coomaraswamy's third child, Rama Ponnambalam, who became a physician and author of Catholic Traditionalist
Traditionalist School
The term Traditionalist School is used by Mark Sedgwick and other authors to denote a school of thought, also known as Integral Traditionalism or Perennialism to denote an esoteric movement developed by authors such as French metaphysician René Guénon, German-Swiss...
works.
In 1933 Coomaraswamy's title at the Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
changed from curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
to Fellow for Research in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n, Persian, and Mohammedan
Mohammedan
Mohammedan is a Western term for a follower of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As an archaic English language term, it is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muhammad or the religion, doctrines, institutions and practices that he established...
Art.
He served as curator in the Museum of Fine Arts, and was significant in bringing Eastern art to the West, until his death in Needham, Massachusetts
Needham, Massachusetts
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...
in 1947. In fact, at the Museum of Fine Arts, he built the first large collection of Indian art in the United States.
He also helped with the collection of Persian Art for the Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
The Freer Gallery of Art joins the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery to form the Smithsonian Institution's national museums of Asian art. The Freer contains art from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, and ancient Egypt, as well as a significant collection of...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and the Museum of Fine Arts.
After Coomaraswamy's death, his widow, Doña Luisa Runstein, acted as a guide and resource for students of his work.
Contributions
Coomaraswamy made important contributions to the philosophy of art, literature, and religion. In Ceylon, he applied the lessons of William Morris to Ceylonese culture and produced, with his wife Ethel, a groundbreaking study of Ceylonese craft and culture. While In India, he was part of the literary circle around Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, and contributed to the "Swadeshi" movement, an early phase of the struggle for Indian independence. In the 1920s, he made pioneering discoveries in the history of Indian art, particularly distinctions between Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
and Moghul painting, and his book Rajput Painting. At the same time he amassed an unmatched collection of Rajput and Moghul paintings, which he took with him to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, when he joined its curatorial staff in 1917. Through 1932, from his base in Boston, he produced two kinds of publications: brilliant scholarship in his curatorial field, but also graceful introductions to Indian and Asian art and culture, typified by The Dance of Shiva, a collection of essays that have lost none of their attractiveness and remain in print to this day. From 1932 until his death in 1947, he was yet another man, another mind. Deeply influenced by René Guénon
René Guénon
René Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...
, he became one of the founders of the Traditionalist School
Traditionalist School
The term Traditionalist School is used by Mark Sedgwick and other authors to denote a school of thought, also known as Integral Traditionalism or Perennialism to denote an esoteric movement developed by authors such as French metaphysician René Guénon, German-Swiss...
. His books and essays on art and culture, symbolism and metaphysics, scripture, folklore and myth, and still other topics, offer a remarkable education to readers who accept the challenges of his resolutely cross-cultural perspective and insistence on tying every point he makes back to sources in multiple traditions. He once remarked, "I actually think in both Eastern and Christian terms—Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Pali, and to some extent Persian and Chinese." Alongside the deep and not infrequently difficult writings of this period, he also delighted in polemical writings created for a larger audience—essays such as "Why exhibit works of art?" (1943).
In his book The Information Society: An Introduction (Sage, 2003, p. 44), Armand Mattelart credits Coomarswamy for coining the term 'post-industrial' in 1913.
Perennial Philosophy
He was described by Heinrich ZimmerHeinrich Zimmer
Heinrich Robert Zimmer was an Indologist and historian of South Asian art, most known for his works, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization and Philosophies of India. He was the most important German scholar in Indian Philology after Max Müller...
as That noble scholar upon whose shoulders we are still standing. While serving as a curator to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the latter part of his life, he devoted his work to the explication of traditional metaphysics and symbolism. His writings of this period are filled with references to Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, Plotinus
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
, Clement
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
, Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
, Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, Aquinas, Shankara
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
, Eckhart
Meister Eckhart
Eckhart von Hochheim O.P. , commonly known as Meister Eckhart, was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, born near Gotha, in the Landgraviate of Thuringia in the Holy Roman Empire. Meister is German for "Master", referring to the academic title Magister in theologia he obtained in Paris...
, and other Rhinish and Asian mystics. When asked what he was, foremostly Dr. Coomaraswamy referred to himself as a Metaphysician, referring here to the concept of perennial philosophy
Perennial philosophy
Perennial philosophy is the notion of the universal recurrence of philosophical insight independent of epoch or culture, including universal truths on the nature of reality, humanity or consciousness .-History:The idea of a perennial philosophy has great...
, or Sophia Perennis.
Along with René Guénon
René Guénon
René Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...
and Frithjof Schuon
Frithjof Schuon
Frithjof Schuon, was a native of Switzerland born to German parents in Basel, Switzerland. He is known as a philosopher, metaphysician and author of numerous books on religion and spirituality....
, Coomaraswamy is regarded as one of the three founders of Perennialism, also called the Traditionalist School
Traditionalist School
The term Traditionalist School is used by Mark Sedgwick and other authors to denote a school of thought, also known as Integral Traditionalism or Perennialism to denote an esoteric movement developed by authors such as French metaphysician René Guénon, German-Swiss...
. Several articles by Coomaraswamy on the subject of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and the Perennial Philosophy were published posthumously in the quarterly journal, Studies in Comparative Religion
Studies in Comparative Religion
Studies in Comparative Religion was a quarterly academic journal published from 1963–1987 that contained essays on the spiritual practices and religious symbolism of the world's religions. The journal was notable for the number of prominent Perennialists who contributed to it...
, alongside articles by Schuon and Guénon (among others).
Although he agrees with Guénon on the universal principles, his works are very different in form from Guénon's. By vocation, he was a scholar, who dedicated the last decades of his life to searching the Scriptures. He offers a perspective on the tradition which complements well that of Guénon. He had a very highly active aesthetic perceptiveness and he wrote dozens of articles on traditional arts and mythology. His works are also intellectually finely balanced. Although born in the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
tradition, he had a deep knowledge of the Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
tradition as well as a great expertise and love for Greek metaphysics, especially that of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
.
He built a bridge between East and West that was designed to carry a two-way traffic: his metaphysical writings aimed, among other things, at demonstrating the unity of the Vedanta and Platonism. His works also sought to rehabilitate original Buddhism, a tradition that Guénon had for a long time limited to a rebellion of the Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s against Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
authority.
"Alan Antliff documents (...in I Am Not A Man, I Am Dynamite) how the Indian art critic and anti-imperialist Ananda Coomaraswamy combined Nietzsche's individualism and sense of spiritual renewal with both Kropotkin
Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin was a Russian prince and anarchist.Kropotkin may also refer to:*Pyotr Nikolayevich Kropotkin , Soviet/Russian geologist, tectonician, and geophysicist*Mount Kropotkin, a peak in Antarctica...
's economics and with Asian idealist religious thought. This combination was offered as a basis for the opposition to British colonization as well as to industrialization."
Works by Coomaraswamy
; 2003, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 978-0766129252)- Figures of Speech or Figures of Thought?: The Traditional View of Art, (World WisdomWorld WisdomWorld Wisdom is an independent publishing company established in 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana. World Wisdom publishes religious and philosophical texts, including the work of authors such as Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus Burckhardt, Ananda K...
, 2007, ISBN 978-1933316345) - The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, (2003, World WisdomWorld WisdomWorld Wisdom is an independent publishing company established in 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana. World Wisdom publishes religious and philosophical texts, including the work of authors such as Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus Burckhardt, Ananda K...
, ISBN 978-0941532464) - Hinduism and Buddhism (Golden Elixir Press, 2011), ISBN 978-0984308231 [New edition containing additions and changes contributed by the Author to the French translation of his work]
- Hinduism And Buddhism, (Kessinger PublishingKessinger PublishingKessinger Publishing is a publisher that offers for reprint rare, out of print and out of copyright books originally issued by other publishers. They are located in Whitefish, Montana.The original dates of publication of the titles are usually prior to ca...
, 2007) ISBN 978-0548124420 - Introduction To Indian Art, (Kessinger Publishing, 2007) ISBN 978-1432577636
- The Dance Of Siva, (Kessinger Publishing, 2006) ISBN 978-1428680302
- Buddhist Art, (Kessinger Publishing, 2005) ISBN 978-1425464066
- Guardians of the Sundoor: Late Iconographic Essays, (Fons Vitae, 2004) ISBN 978-1887752596
- History of Indian and Indonesian Art, (Kessinger Publishing, 2003) ISBN 978-0766158016
- Bugbear of Literacy, (Sophia Perennis, 1979) ISBN 978-0900588198
- Teaching of Drawing in Ceylon (1906, Colombo Apothecaries)
- The village community and modern progress (12 pages) (1908, Colombo Apothecaries)
- The Indian craftsman (1909, Probsthain: London)
- Viśvakarmā ; examples of Indian architecture, sculpture, painting, handicraft (1914, London)
- Myths of the Hindus and Buddhistshttp://books.google.com/books?id=YKjplFZl3AEC (with Sister Nivedita) (1914, H. Holt; 2003, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 978-0766145153)
- VidyāpatiVidyapatiVidyapati Thakur , also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil was a Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer. He was born in the village of Bishphi in Madhubani district of Bihar state, India. He was son of Ganapati...
: Bangīya padābali; songs of the love of Rādhā and Krishna, (1915, The Old Bourne press: London) - Buddha and the gospel of Buddhism (1916, G. P. Putnam's sons; 2006, Obscure Press, ISBN 978-1846647390)
- The mirror of gesture: being the Abhinaya darpaṇa of Nandikeśvara (with Duggirāla Gōpālakr̥ṣṇa) (1917, Harvard University Press; 1997, South Asia Books, ISBN 978-8121500210)
- Indian music (9 pages) (1917, G. Schirmer; 2006, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 978-1428680319)
- Rajput Painting, (B.R. Publishing Corp., 2003) ISBN 978-8176463768
- Early Indian Architecture: Cities and City-Gates, (South Asia Books, 2002) ISBN 978-8121505185
- The Living Thoughts of Gotama the Buddha, (Fons Vitae, 2001) ISBN 978-1887752381
- The Origin of the Buddha Image, (Munshirm Manoharlal Pub Pvt Ltd, 2001) ISBN 978-8121502221
- Perception of the Vedas, (Manohar Publishers and Distributors, 2000) ISBN 978-8173042546
- The Door in the Sky, (Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
, 1997) ISBN 978-0691017471 - The Transformation of Nature in Art, (Sterling Pub Private Ltd, 1996) ISBN 978-8120716438
- Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government, (Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1994) ISBN 978-0195631432 - A New Approach to the Vedas: An Essay in Translation and Exegesis, (South Asia Books, 1994) ISBN 978-8121506304
- What is Civilisation?: and Other Essays. Golgonooza Press, (UK), Cloth.ISBN 0-903880-77-6. Paper.ISBN 0-903880-78-4
- Yaksas, (Munshirm Manoharlal Pub Pvt Ltd, 1998) ISBN 978-8121502306
- Metaphysics, (Princeton University Press, 1987) ISBN 978-0691018737
- Coomaraswamy: Selected Papers, Traditional Art and Symbolism, (Princeton University Press, 1986) ISBN 978-0691018690
- Bronzes from Ceylon, chiefly in the Colombo Museum, (Dept. of Govt. Print, 1978)
- Early Indian Architecture: Palaces, (Munshiram Manoharlal, 1975)
- The arts & crafts of India & Ceylon, (Farrar, Straus, 1964)
- Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art, (Dover PublicationsDover PublicationsDover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...
, 1956) ISBN 9780486203782 - Time and eternity, (Artibus Asiae, 1947)
- Am I My Brothers Keeper, (Ayer Co, 1947) ISBN 978-0836903355
- Archaic Indian Terracottas, (Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1928)
Works about Coomaraswamy
- Ananda Coomaraswamy: remembering and remembering again and again, by S. Durai Raja Singam. Publisher: Raja Singam, 1974.
- Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, by P. S. Sastri. Arnold-Heinemann Publishers, India, 1974.
- Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy: a handbook, by S. Durai Raja Singam. Publisher s.n., 1979.
- Ananda Coomaraswamy: a study, by Moni Bagchee. Publisher: Bharata Manisha, 1977.
- Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, by Vishwanath S. Naravane. Twayne Publishers, 1977. ISBN 0805777229.
- Selected letters of Ananda Coomaraswamy, Edited by Alvin Moore, Jr; and Rama P. Coomaraswamy (1988)
See also
- Ivan AguéliIvan AguéliIvan Aguéli also named Sheikh 'Abd al-Hādī 'Aqīlī upon his acceptance of Islam, was a Swedish wandering Sufi, painter and author. As a devotee of Ibn Arabi, his metaphysics applied to the study of Islamic esoterism and its similarities with other esoteric traditions of the world...
- Titus BurckhardtTitus BurckhardtTitus Burckhardt , a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984. He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom and Tradition.He was an eminent member of the "traditionalist school" of twentieth-century authors...
- Calico Museum of Textiles
- Comparative ReligionComparative religionComparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
- Esoterism
- René GuénonRené GuénonRené Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...
- Seyyed Hossein NasrSeyyed Hossein NasrSeyyed Hossein Nasr is an Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and a prominent Islamic philosopher...
- Martin LingsMartin LingsMartin Lings was an English Muslim writer and scholar, a student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, and Shakespearean scholar...
- Whitall PerryWhitall PerryWhitall Nicholson Perry was born of old New England stock in Belmont, Massachusetts , on January 19, 1920. A quest for wisdom led him, as a young man, to travel out to the Far East...
- Huston SmithHuston SmithHuston Cummings Smith is a religious studies scholar in the United States. His book The World's Religions remains a popular introduction to comparative religion.-Education:...
- William StoddartWilliam StoddartWilliam Stoddart is a Scottish physician, author and "spiritual traveller", who has written several books on the philosophy of religions. He has been called a “master of synthesis” and is one of the important writers on the Perennial Philosophy in the present day. For many years he was assistant...
- Michel ValsanMichel ValsanMichel Valsan was a Muslim scholar and master of the Shadhuliyya tariqah in Paris under the name of Shaykh Mustafa 'Abd al-'Aziz...
- Advaita VedantaAdvaita VedantaAdvaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
Literature
- T.Wignesan, "Ananda K. Coomaraswamy’s Aesthetics" # Tamil studies Now published in the collection: T.Wignesan. Rama and Ravana at the Altar of Hanuman: On Tamils, Tamil Literature & Tamil Culture. Allahabad:Cyberwit.net, 2008, 750p. & at Chennai: Institute of Asian Studies, 2007, 439p.
- "Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy" in One Hundred Tamils of the 20th Century
- "Coomaraswamy, Ananda K.", Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, vol. 1, ed. Amaresh Dutta, Sahitya Akademi (1987), p. 768. ISBN 8126018038
- Mattelart, Armand. The Information Society: An Introduction, Sage: London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, 2003, p. 44.
External links
- Books by Coomaraswamy - Fons Vitae Series
- 1999 Coomaraswamy lecture by Sandrasagra
- Ananda K. Coomaraswamy at WorldCat
- Coomaraswamy bibliography at religioperennis.org
- "Ananda K. Coomaraswamy’s Life and Work" at World Wisdom publishers
- The Colonial Context and Aesthetic Identity Formation: Coomaraswamy, A Case Study by Binda Paranjpe
- Coomaraswamy’s Impetus to Eastern Spirit
- Coomarswamy in Dictionary of Art Historians