Seeing and Touching: Distance and the Sacredness of the Senses

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 In her book Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India Diana Eck discusses the importance and role of vision in Hindu religious practices. One element of this that stood out, is how the idea of looking in Hindu practice seems to be reciprocal. Looking upon the statue of a deity is a significant religious act and so is being looked at by one. The gaze of a newly sanctified statue is considered powerful enough that when their eyes are painted on they must not be looking directly at someone. This significance of looking, with vision having the power to transfer blessings and curses between humans and gods is particularly interesting when considered in comparison with other religious contexts.

In The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch by Constance Classen, an important topic is the importance of touch in Medieval Christianity. During the era of relics, a different example of a religious object thought to be imbued with holiness, in some sense, and able to bestow its blessings on others, touching the relic was considered to be the best way to receive this blessing.

Obviously the comparison here is not with its full context. Eck focuses primarily on sight in her text, so it's more than likely that touch plays its own role in Hindu religion. And, the focus of Classen's text is a historical (and mainly European) one. Christianity has shifted to a focus on vision over touch since that time period, though how that sense is emphasized is very different than it is in Hinduism. This is not the full picture, but the comparison of which senses are thought to be sacred, from religion to religion is an interesting one despite that.

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