Across The Threshold Of India

In the Hindu worldview, a door’s threshold is profoundly important as a symbol of the boundary between the physical and spiritual realms. Intricate diagrams of rice flour and chalk are painted by Hindu women on the thresholds of buildings as sanctification tools that trap negative energy within their complex geometric configurations and cleanse those who pass over them with positive energy. Martha A. Strawn was immediately captivated by these diagrams during her first visit to India, and they inspired her to explore the power of these images in Across the Threshold of India.

Drawing upon interviews with Hindu women, as well as international scholars and her own personal experiences, Strawn examines this lesser-known aspect of Hinduism through photographs and reflective writings. Utilizing her pioneering analytical method of visual ecology, Strawn explores how Hindu women, through their creation of the threshold images, carve out a unique artistic and cultural niche within the strictures governing their lives. Offering new insights into Hindu art and religion, Across the Threshold of India illuminates how culture and religion shape each other’s influence in the creation and maintenance of a society.

“Martha A. Strawn welcomes us across the threshold into a world of remarkable and little-known women’s art. Conveying the depths of her own experience and the energy of place, she is the perfect guide to these intricate cosmograms that straddle everyday life and ancient ritual.”--Lucy R. Lippard, author of On the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art, and Place