British Museum, London
Embraced by the 60s counterculture including the Rolling Stones, the ancient spiritual philosophy of Tantra finds enlightenment not just in sex but death
On a stone relief from 11th-century India, a moustached man is enthusiastically pleasuring his lover. She’s upside down, legs in the air, so he can devote himself to tonguing her yoni. Their acrobatic enjoyment is precisely and gracefully carved.
This isn’t just erotic art – it’s a religious masterpiece. A new philosophy emerged in India from about 500AD, defined in Tantras, religious dialogues written down in Sanskrit, some of the oldest copies of which are in the British Museum’s first new exhibition since lockdown. One key belief emerging from these texts is that women can personify divine beings. So female sexuality has sacred power. This artistic masterpiece depicts the Tantric devotion to the vulva and its needs.
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