Detail: A dispute about the symbolism of the lingam (or linga), a cylindrical votary object that represents the Hindu god Shiva, has been going on for many centuries. Is its meaning inexorably tied to a particular part of the physical body of the god, or is it abstract, purely spiritual? This lecture will trace the history of this dispute, considering both the Shiva-lingams made of carved stone in the temples of ancient India (of which the Art Institute is fortunate to have several magnificent examples) and those made of words in ancient Indian texts. Present-day Hindu sensibilities about the lingam will be illuminated by a consideration of the historical role of two non-Hindu cultures in India–Muslim and British. Underlying this particular debate is the more general problem of the ambiguity of the symbolism, particularly the religious symbolism, of the body and of forms that represent the body.
Wendy Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago.