The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c11.9

c11.9

¹ The *makara* was also the symbol of Kâma-deva, the God of Love, whose eyes, like those of a fish, never closed, but were for ever gazing at the object of his desire: the antithesis of the blind god of Europe. To the Indian mind, closed eyelids, or the shutting out of sensual vision, suggest meditation and the opening of the third eye of spiritual consciousness.