The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting "Household Gods: Hindu Devotional Prints, 1860–1930," an exhibition exploring the evolution of Hindu visual culture through the rise of chromolithography. The show traces how mass-produced prints transitioned sacred imagery from exclusive temple environments into the intimate, everyday spaces of domestic shrines.
This exhibition is significant for its examination of how technological advancements in printing democratized religious practice across South Asia. By focusing on the concept of darshan—the reciprocal act of seeing and being seen by the divine—the Met highlights a pivotal era where affordable art transformed private worship and redefined the accessibility of religious iconography.