Studies in Indian Art c9.s3.4

c9.s3.4

The symbols of the lotus and [Figure: ] are primarily Vedic symbols. And so is the full vase or the *Pūrṇa-Ghaṭa* in which, as the seer of the Atharva Veda sings, the gods filled in one place immortality and life, prosperity and food, and many a good thing besides. Their opposites, the principles of non-life and non-riches, also lurk, with divine sufferance, in some unperceived corner of this *Pūrṇa-Kumbha*. But what is essential and auspicious for life is the brimming and overflowing aspect of the *Pūrṇa-Kumbha* symbolising the growth and creative fertility in every phase of man's being on this earth. The *Pūrṇa-Kumbha* is verily the human body or Man himself containing within him the fullest range of divine blessings and the choicest gifts to which the soul aspires. With such a perfect symbol to express the idea of fulness and prosperity the Indian artist felt enraptured, and with his genius for the beautiful he portrayed that idea in the form of a full vase overladen with foliage and adorned with girdles of flowery garlands on the neck, shoulder and base. A comprehensive study of the *Pūrṇa-Ghaṭa* and its variations as found in Indian art would be interesting. The same is the case with other symbols which enriched art as elements of decoration and at the same time gave to it deeper philosophic meaning. Not only trees and creepers but also animals and birds of various forms, e.g., *Siṃha*, *Vṛiṣha*, *Haṃsa* and *Suparṇa*, lion, bull, goose and ‘bird’, constantly appear in Indian art contributing to its richness, gaiety and freshness as it would be from al iving contact with nature.