Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), was the curator in the Department of Asiatic Art of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He is recognised as one of the great art historians of the twentieth century. His writings on traditional symbols are some of the most enriching of their kind. No less a scholar than Heinrich Zimmer described Coomaraswamy as “that noble scholar upon whose shoulders we are still standing.”

Eye of the Heart and the Philosophy and Religious Studies program (La Trobe University, Bendigo) announces the Ananda Coomaraswamy Essay Prize for the best essay on a traditional symbol or symbolism.

We are looking for essays that explore, à la Ananda Coomaraswamy, the meaning of traditional symbols. To give a more or less random sample of the kinds of symbols which might lend themselves to investigation: the damaru (drum) of Śiva, the Rainbow Serpent of the aboriginal peoples of Australia, the shofar (trumpet) blown on the Jewish Day of Atonement, the hijab (veil) in the mystical traditions of Islam, the symbolism of the blacksmith, the elixir of immortality of Lao Tzu, the ship of Ut-napishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the conch shell in Botticelli’s Birth Of Venus, the meaning of the hyssop plant offered to Christ on the Cross, the Tibetan dilbu (bell), the emptiness of a Zen garden… and on and on.

Prizes are offered for best essay in an open category and best post-graduate essay. Each winner receives their choice of books from the catalogues of Fons Vitae Publishing and World Wisdom Books, up to the value of $400 (US).*

All submissions should include a cover-note including contact details and a short biography.

Submission deadline: September 1st 2008.

Ananda Coomaraswamy Essay Prize pdf - please print, display and distribute.

All enquiries can be directed to the editor of Eye of the Heart:
Dr Timothy Scott
La Trobe University, P.O. Box 199,
Bendigo 3552, Australia
Tel: +61 3 5444 7243
Fax: +61 3 5444 7970
Email: t.scott@latrobe.edu.au

*Each prize is made up of books and postage to the value of $200 (US) from
Fons Vitae Publishing and $200 (US) from World Wisdom Books