Interreligious Art in Light of Hindu and Buddhist Thought Melanie Barbato Art is nourished by religious imagination, often from more than one religious tradition. But how do we know in which cases of art with multi‐religious elements it makes sense to speak of explicitly interreligious art? Maybe we can exclude all forms of polemical art that integrate icons and symbols of other traditions in order to devalue or deny them the right to be part of a respectful interreligious dialogue. Starting the definition that way allows us to concentrate on the other end of the spectrum: deliberate attempts to foster constructive interreligious dialogue through art. A type of art that lies between the ends of this spectrum is enculturated interreligious art: art that does not consciously form part of interreligious activism but which brings together elements from different religions due to the contact between different traditions, such as Christian artists operating in an environment dominated by another religion. This article will deal predominantly with the growing trend of art that aims to be interreligiously stimulating, and it is this narrower sense in which the term “interreligious art” will be used throughout the text. After presenting different possible forms of art in interreligious dialogue, the discussion will center on the question of what issues have to be considered if interreligious art is to be effective in interreligious dialogue. Of course, there is always something elusive about “good art.” However, there are certain issues in interreligious dialogue that should be considered if art should have the ability to speak to an interreligious or religiously plural audience as a means for furthering mutual learning experiences. If interreligious art is to live up to the relational aspect implied in the name, it is to integrate and reflect the conceptualizations of what interreligious art could mean for different traditions, as well as the dynamics that arise from the de‐ and recontextualization of religious imagery in this new art form. Theorizing in this context does not have to imply the possibility or desirability of an alternative grand narrative, but a discussion of the theoretical issues that underlie interreligious art and that are relevant to those engaged in creating, curating, and critiquing interreligious art. It means that theoretical questions like “what is the role of art?” have to be answerable from the perspective of different religions, denominations, and world views and that there is an awareness of the plurality of answers that is possible for these questions. This article will concentrate on the issues of verbality, representation, hybridity, and context, and it will develop the discussion in the light of Hindu and Buddhist thought. The examples of interreligious art are, however, drawn from a variety of traditions. Besides the general applicability of the issues, this is due to the fact that hardly any depictions of dialogue‐oriented Buddhist–Hindu art are known to the author. There are of course Hindu depictions of the Buddha as an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, but these are typically produced solely for the Hindu community and constitute a form of inclusivism rather than interreligious dialogue. However, there are some examples of contemporary artists from a Hindu background who draw on Buddhist (as well as Christian) imagery: Satish Gupta's paintings include among many Hindu themed works one of A Thousand Buddhas. Gupta states on his personal website that his work was “honed through a deep engagement with mysticism and Zen spirit.” Also, Govinda Azad, whose recent work concentrates on depictions of cosmic space on the boundaries of abstraction and concreteness, “recognizes that his artistic roots first germinated from the unique fusion of Hindu and Buddhist Tantric traditions that are found in Nepal.” Overall, the majority of interreligious art projects are initiated by Western organizations and artists, and hence, art works tend to be focused, for example, on Hindu–Christian or Buddhist–Christian, but not Hindu–Buddhist dialogue. Also, contrary to the peaceful image both Buddhism and Hinduism enjoy in the West, the interreligious relations between Buddhists and Hindus are far from well developed, if not to say tense and marked by mutual animosity. The engagement with Hindu and Buddhist art includes thus for the Western observer before creativity the...