ABSTRACT
Chakshudana, the ritual opening of eyes for images, bestowing sight and by extension life, is practiced across multiple South Asian communities. In mainstream Hindu worship, priests, artists, and other devotees transform sculpted forms into gods by delineating the eyes, thereby bestowing divine insight upon these material forms. A variety of practices ranging from marking with chisel and painting the surface with pigment and brush, to inlaying precious stones or affixing pre-made external eyes of painted glass, crystal, or enamelled silver, offer the gods access to the world of their mortal followers. For the consecration of Buddhist images in Sri Lanka, the complex coordination of eye and hand through use of a reflection, rather than direct visual engagement with the Buddha figure, guides the artist’s hand in articulating the eyes. These rituals involve more than mere optical engagement; they are bodily, sensorial, and emotional.
