Studies in Indian Art c9.s3.31

c9.s3.31

With respect to the auspicious symbol the basic point of view was that each one of them represents the truth and power of the creative force that is in nature. For example, a single lotus flower in full bloom of its beauty is not an isolated phenomenon which depends on chance but it is the fruit of Universal system in which the minutest part is related to the whole and depends essentially for its full manifestation on the glory of the law that exists everywhere and at all times. Similarly a conch depicted as a symbol points to the whole background of Nature's laws which are operative in the ocean and the birth of aquatic life in it and the evolution of the crustacea in its waters. The same is true of a Kalpa-Vriksha or a Mithuna motif, which although singly represented, stand as dominant symbols of the whole idea of Uttarakuru. Each one of them is like a sampling of the auspicious substratum of the divine laws in the universe. Even one symbol depicted in painting or on the wall or in relief in sculpture, terracotta or stucco was considered apotropaic and auspicious like the presence of the divine. It is from this point of view that the many representations of the auspicious objects (Mangala-dravya) in stone sculpture or in toy figurines were loved and adorned, and were adopted as decorative motifs,