Iconic Transformations from Hinduism to Islamic Art

Abstract

The strategic location of the Malay Peninsula at the Straits of Malacca became the key attraction to the successful trade route between the East and the West. It became the meeting point for traders who not only brought their trades but also their religious belief system. Since the beginning of the Christian era, other religious culture such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam had arrived the shores of the Peninsula. The coming of Hinduism in 500 AD has brought an end to animist culture of the Malay people. Gradually Indian belief system became the embodiment of Malay art and culture not only in the form of literary Sanskrit words but also in carved wood and textiles to fulfill religious devotions and the daily utilitarian needs. Therefore, the objectives for this paper are (1) to investigate how Hindu worldview influences the form and content of its artistic element in selected field-woodcarving and textiles, (2) to postulate the Malay-Islamic aesthetic principles derived from the Qur’an and hadith, and (3) to discuss the transformation from Hindu icons to Islamic worldview in art. The appropriate approaches that merged and integrated with the iconic elements of such transformations are determined. In addition, based from the key evolution factors of Hindu characteristics, several samples of iconic images were identified and classified. The samples presented justified when Islam came to the Malay Peninsula in the fifteenth century; it has brought Hinduism to an end. Indeed, through the whole Islamization process, Islam has transformed the body and soul of the Malay mind. It shaped both religious and spiritual vision of reality specifically in terms of artistic and cultural expressions.