Destiny and Design

The manuscripts and objects on display in the Rosenwald Gallery of the Van Pelt Library were selected to illustrate the intimate relationship between time and doctrine in three of the great religious traditions of South Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. How do the religious traditions of South Asia conceptualize time? How do these notions of time shape their social institutions and cultural practices? Each text from the various traditions of South and Southeast Asia reflects a particular facet of time: the measurement of time, the understanding of time, the interpretation of time, the use of time, the control of time, even timelessness itself. The exhibit dramatically evokes the extent to which perceptions of time are deeply rooted in cultural traditions.