The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.63

v1.c9.63

"The form, therefore, that would appear to us as a monster is by them regarded as a god. How low is the stage of consciousness which can recognize the divine only in that which is unnatural, distorted, and monstrous! And how should sculpture ever rise to higher forms when hand in hand with such a religion! Langlés, in his *Monuments of Indian Art*, gives the copy of a drawing by a Brāhmin, from the Imperial Library at Paris, which exhibits better than many words the unplastic spirit of these religious ideas. The subject is the birth of Brahmā. Viṣṇu is represented as a woman, lying feebly on a lotus leaf. All round are to be seen small fishes, and among them a floating man. This is the expiator, Mārkaṇḍeya, who swims about in the Milky Way to save the world from destruction. Viṣṇu is naked, and is adorned with foolish ornaments; after the fashion of a child, he holds his left foot with its large toes, in his mouth. The many-headed, many-armed, and many-legged Brahmā is fastened to his umbilical cord. This one instance of the theological ideas of Brahminical dogmatism will suffice.