The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c11.7

c11.7

symbolism, inspired by the poetry of the Vedic hymns, which was read into the structural use of it, was again that of the sun and of its floral emblem the lotus or water-lily; it suggested the sun on the horizon in a cloudless sky rising or setting over sea, lake, or river. As a theological symbol, therefore, it stood for Brahmâ, or Buddha, or Siva, and when image-w aureole of a seated figure of the divinity, the form of which was associated in the mind of the devout with the lotus leaf. The outside line of the arched opening, following the curve of a village thatched roof, took the shape of a conventionalised leaf of the sacred pîpal—the Bodhi tree (fig. 20).