Background
Ajit Mookerjee was born on December 29, 1915 in Nalia, Faridpur, Bengal, India (now Bangladesh).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007B6X3A/?tag=2022091-20
1971
(From dust jacket notes: "This unique record of an Indian ...)
From dust jacket notes: "This unique record of an Indian art form that has survived centuries of foreign invasions and tribal warfare introduces the Western reader to yoga art -- mystical configurations that seek to clarify the viewer's perceptions and to unite him with the cosmic forces. Based on complicated systems of colors, numbers, and proportions, these largely abstract and geometric images recall the canvases of Klee and the sculpture of Brancusi, both of whom were familiar with Eastern philosophies. Richly illustrated, the book includes many superb reproductions of meditative drawings, sculpture in stone and wood, pages from scrolls and illuminated manuscripts. mandalas, charts for computing astrological events, and yantras, or power diagrams of the universal forces. All have a purity of conception, deftness of line, and compelling design quality that mirrors the discipline and concentration they are intended to enforce. Ajit Mookerjee, the world's foremost expert on yoga art and the author of Tantra Asana, contributes an authoritative text introducing the reader to the philosophy of yoga and describing the symbolic systems that underlie the art....Philip Rawson, a distinguished scholar of Eastern art and the author of The Art of Tantra (NYGS 1973), contributes a critical essay drawing on parallels between yoga art and Western art similar in appearance or intent; works by Klee, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Rothko, Noland, William Blake, and alchemists, Quabalists, and Christian mystics are examined and illustrated. Together text and art guide the reader to an understanding of the fundamental union between viewer and object -- the essence of yoga art." 76 full color and 58 black and white illustrations.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0821206842/?tag=2022091-20
1975
(The author draws on the powerful imagery of painting, scu...)
The author draws on the powerful imagery of painting, sculpture, and literature in this celebration of the Hindu goddess.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892812125/?tag=2022091-20
1988
(Over the last five thousand years, Indian artists have de...)
Over the last five thousand years, Indian artists have developed a wide range of unique and decorative artistic styles. This rich collection of copyright-free designs and motifs draws on that heritage to provide today's artists and designers with a stimulating and practical archive of usable material. In this volume are designs adapted from seals, dolls, and toys of the Harappa culture; punch-marked coins and pottery from South India; Ajanta and Bagh murals; Muslim monuments; Buddhist temples; textiles from Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and other regions; and much more. Embodying the variety and complexity of traditional Indian design, the motifs in this collection will be of immediate use to artists and illustrators as well as providing an exciting glimpse into the rich store of Indian decorative art. Over the last five thousand years, Indian artists have developed a wide range of unique and decorative artistic styles. This rich collection of copyright-free designs and motifs draws on that heritage to provide today's artists and designers with a stimulating and practical archive of usable material. In this volume are designs adapted from seals, dolls, and toys of the Harappa culture; punch-marked coins and pottery from South India; Ajanta and Bagh murals; Muslim monuments; Buddhist temples; textiles from Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and other regions; and much more. Embodying the variety and complexity of traditional Indian design, the motifs in this collection will be of immediate use to artists and illustrators as well as providing an exciting glimpse into the rich store of Indian decorative art.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486290611/?tag=2022091-20
1996
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892817216/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(In recent years, the West has shown a wide and enthusiast...)
In recent years, the West has shown a wide and enthusiastic interest in tantra and its application to everyday life. Though its roots are in Hinduism, tantra's goals are the universal ones of self-knowledge and liberated joy. Its methods and effects transcend geography and era. Basing its approach on a historical and explanatory survey, this book deals in a detailed way with astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and cosmology in tantrism. In addition, there is discussion of the different viewpoints of "left-hand" and "right-hand" tantrikas and their respective attitudes towards human sexuality and its place in ritual. The drawings and illustrations serve further to explain and instruct, thus providing a unique opportunity for close contact with one of the world's oldest practical methods of achieving an expanded and creative awareness of oneself.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0500270880/?tag=2022091-20
2003
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892811323/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(Today in the West, scientists and philosophers, mystics a...)
Today in the West, scientists and philosophers, mystics and seekers of higher consciousness are intensively searching for means of releasing the vital energy (kundalini) that lies latent in each of us. Tantra, which does not deny the body, but harnesses its energies and powers for spiritual growth, is the most detailed and authoritative teaching of this kind in existence. In Kundalini: The Arousal of the Inner Energy, Ajit Mookerjee writes of the core experience of Tantra, the process in which the energy is awakened and rises throughout the energy centers (chakras) to unite with Pure Consciousness at the crown of the head. • The author drew on an extensive range of original manuscript sources for both the text an the magnificent illustrations found throughout the book. • Kundalini: The Arousal of the Inner Energy examines the modern accounts of the kundalini experience, both Eastern and Western, and describes the findings of the clinical studies and research so far undertaken in the West.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0892810203/?tag=2022091-20
Ajit Mookerjee was born on December 29, 1915 in Nalia, Faridpur, Bengal, India (now Bangladesh).
Mookerjee graduated from the University of Calcutta with master's degree in ancient Indian history and culture in 1939. Also he attended University of London, earning his master's degree from it as well, three years later.
In addition to his educational process he received training in museology from the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Horniman Museum, London, for three years from 1939.
Mookerjee has a big amount of academic writings about Indian art. In addition to it, he has traveled the globe to give lecture tours and appear at formal conferences.
Mookerjee’s first book, Folk Art of Bengal: A Study of an Art for, and of, the People, was published in 1939 when its author was still in his early twenties.
In the midst of World War II, Mookerjee embarked upon a quasi-exile world tour, living first in London and studying museum practice at England’s eminent Victoria and Albert Museum, and later travelling in sometimes dangerous circumstances through Africa and South America. During his subsequent directorship of New Delhi’s Crafts Museum, he would be instrumental in developing that institution’s holdings, while beginning to write and edit a number of scholarly works, including The Arts of India: From Prehistoric to Modern Times and Folk Toys of India.
Mookerjee has become best known for his study of Tantrism, an Indian philosophy, and its relationship to the folk art of his native country. He has written extensively on Tantric philosophy and its relationship to Indian folk art, and his books have been translated into several other languages.
One of Mookerjee’s many volumes on this subject is Tantra Art: Its Philosophy and Physics, first published in 1966. In it, the author attempts to define and analyze the Eastern philosophy for a Western-minded audience; ample color illustrations of Indian art serve to assist the reader in understanding Mookerjee’s theses.
As Mookerjee notes, the Tantric view of the world and its attempt to redefine it through a specific set of symbolic imagery can be found in certain movements of modern art in Western culture. A Times Literary Supplement reviewer praised Tantra Art and stated that its author “does his very best to guide us through the intricacies of his subject.”
In his research, Mookerjee has amassed a large personal collection of objects that showed how Tantric spiritual beliefs have often been visually manifested in common items. His collection became part of an exhibition that traveled to numerous European museums.
Mookerjee wrote more about the subject of Tantrism in Tantra Asana: A Way to Self-Realization - published in 1971, and Yoga Art in 1975. Two volumes appeared in 1977—Tantra Magic and The Tantric Way: Art, Science, Ritual, co-authored with Madhu Khanna. Kundalini: The Arousal of the Inner Energy, a 1982 work, was followed by Ritual Art of India, a 1986 volume in which Mookerjee attempts to present the many ways in which art is a part of everyday life in India. The author defines ritual art in India as a tangible object that brings together certain components to make an offering to a god, and discusses the strong ties between spirituality and decorative elements in Indian households and the public strata. In the illustrated volume Mookerjee offers evidence in support of his theories regarding the spiritual in Indian life, from the decoration of common household objects to the elaborateness of a wedding ceremony.
(From dust jacket notes: "This unique record of an Indian ...)
1975(Today in the West, scientists and philosophers, mystics a...)
(The author draws on the powerful imagery of painting, scu...)
1988(Over the last five thousand years, Indian artists have de...)
1996(In recent years, the West has shown a wide and enthusiast...)
2003Mookerjee describes the Tantric set of beliefs as a way of viewing the universe as well as a scientific method to uncover one’s own spirituality. One pillar of the Tantra philosophy is that the human body is a microcosmic form of a greater macrocosm: the universe. In its artistic manifestation, this awareness of the corporeal lends itself to a healthy regard for human sexuality that is sometimes perceived as slightly defiant to the Western eye.
Mookerjee is a member of Indian National Committee for ICOM (UNESCO) and Museum Association of India.
Mookerjee married a woman named Sudha, they have 2 children - Priya and Parvati.
