Curators’ introduction to Ancient India: living traditions

Photo © 2025 The Trustees of the British Museum
 
Join curator Dr Sushma Jansari and project curator Kajal Meghani as they introduce the context, scope, themes and highlights of this major exhibition, in this illustrated online talk.
 
This eye-opening event will explore where the image of the beloved and playful Hindu god Ganesha, with his elephant head and rounded belly, originates, and what inspired the depictions of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain deities and enlightened teachers in the forms we are still familiar with today.
 
The major new exhibition, Ancient India: living traditions, reaches back more than 2,000 years to explore the origins of the sacred art of these major world religions in the ancient and powerful nature spirits of India, and the spread of this art beyond the subcontinent.
 
From the symbolic footprints which preceded portrayals of the Buddha in human form, to the cosmic serpents incorporated into Hindu art and the nature spirits who attend Jain enlightened teachers. Jansari and Meghani will set out the ancient stories behind these living traditions, explored in this compelling exhibition.