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Nagas?

The Gods and demons churn the ocean of milk, approx. 1800. Mysuru (Mysore), Karnataka state, India. Opaque watercolors on paper. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Gift of George Hopper Fitch, B87D13. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Nagas are semi-divine serpent beings and turn up often in the mythology and the arts of South and Southeast Asia. Are we sure what they look like, though, especially since shapeshifting is in their nature? Can they be distinguished from other serpent-like creatures? And, most fundamentally, what do they do and what can they signify?

Join Forrest McGill, the Asian Art Museum’s very popular Emeritus Senior Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, who will answer all these questions (and more!) about these mysterious creatures who figure so prominently in South and Southeast Asian art.

Forrest McGill was the Senior Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Asian Art Museum for more than twenty years. During that time, he organized major exhibitions such as “The Rama Epic: Hero, Heroine, Ally, Foe” and “Beyond Bollywood: 2,000 Years of Dance in the Arts of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Himalayan Region”. He has edited and co-edited numerous exhibition related catalogs in addition to giving lectures and writing articles about Asian art.

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