Studies in Indian Art c7.s1.11.2

c7.s1.11.2

or the Aṣṭa-maṅgalika-chihna, the Eight Auspicious Signs; or the Chaturdaśa Svapna, the Fourteen Lucky Dreams, each constituting an imago of thought to symbolise some phenomenon either of the cosmos or of the individual's life. These with many more constitute alphabet of Indian symbolism representing religious ideas through art. With the march of civilisation when the contents of both life and mind become more elaborate in succeeding generations, the symbols also multiplied and sometimes changed their form. New themes were attempted by the side of old ones; e.g. the number of Mother Goddesses together with their forms and names was an ever evolving conception. The sports of Rādhā and Kṛiṣhṇa were perfected as the arche-type of love symbolism in all its nuances, imbued with hot passion and the fire of the Indian wind and the Indian sky, but always true to its spiritual background and being vitalised by it. Rādhā as the human soul passes through all experiences in her quest for union with the Divine Puruṣha symbolised by Kṛiṣhṇa. As Dr. Coōmaraswamy interprets it: "In the Vaiṣhṇava devotional approach and its poetry human love is conceived as the means and symbol of all union. Lovers represented are always Rādhā and Kṛiṣhṇa, typifying the eternal motif of Man and Woman and revealing in every day events their heavenly image.