Elements of Buddhist Iconography c8.69

c8.69

FIGURE 21. Indus Valley seal, *ca.* 3000 B.C. Archaeological Survey of India photograph. The cult of the deity (Yakṣa?) of the *pippala* (*Ficus religiosa*, the Bodhi-tree of Buddhism) is represented. The deity wears a three-pointed (*triśūla*? symbol, *cf.* the Vedic conception of Agni as Vanaspati, and as latent or nascent in vegetation, etc. *Cf.* Marshall, *Mohenjodaro*, London (Probsthain), 1931, Pl. XII, Fig. 18, and p. 65 f.