The sculpted human form, created in a range of media that includes stone, metal, wood, and clay, is the most striking and exuberant expression of South Asian art. South Asian sculpture was closely associated with religion, and the images featured in this exhibition were created to embellish sacred spaces.

India, the largest of the countries in South Asia, is the birthplace of three world religions. Hinduism, which originated in the second millennium B.C.E., embraces the power of multiple deities, the three most popular being the male gods Shiva and Vishnu and the great goddess Devi. Around the fifth century B.C.E., Buddhism was founded by the chieftain Siddhartha who achieved enlightenment and became known as the Buddha (Enlightened One), while Jainism was preached by Mahavira, the last of twenty-four jinas (victors). Down the ages, countless temples were built to enshrine the images of these deities; the walls were covered with sculpted images, narratives from myth or legend, and rich decorative carving. Fine metal images were created to grace altars or to be honored in temple processions and festivities.

Sculptors did not model their images from life, but produced idealized forms, sensuous and youthful, for gods and humans alike. A popular stance was the contrapposto pose, known in India as tribhanga, or triple-bent, and gave the semblance of swaying. Deities were frequently given multiple arms to express their omnipotence, while a variety of hand gestures, known as mudras, expressed mood (such as compassion) and meaning. Thus, a palm raised to face the worshiper signifies protection, while one lowered with fingers pointing downward is a promise to grant the devotee's wishes. Deities were identified not by facial features, but by the objects they carried, their dress and adornment, their animal vehicles, and their consort. Hindu god Vishnu, for example, carries a war discus and a conch shell, wears a tall crown and rich jewelry, and is accompanied by his mount, the divine eagle Garuda, and often by his consort Lakshmi, goddess of fortune. The Buddha invariably wears a monastic robe and has a cranial bump, generally disguised as a topknot, indicating his superhuman perfection.