Symbols of Hinduism
Symbolism
is used extensively in Hinduism as a means of understanding and describing concepts
like God, Self and Creation. The underlying principles behind these concepts
are very abstract and are not easy to grasp, which is why in Hinduism abstract
ideas have been translated into more tangible and concrete symbols.
For example, Hindus consider the Almighty God as the ultimate, which cannot be perceived through the sense organs, is not an emotion to be felt by the mind and is not a concept to be comprehended by the intellect. God is an unknown 'ideal', so a symbol or an 'idol' is often used to reach or appreciate that unknown ideal.
An idol leads the worshipper to the ideal. There are literally hundreds of symbols portraying various religious concepts and beliefs. Sacred symbols embody the unspoken intuition of the spirit and God himself.
Hindu symbols adorn India's art, architecture and iconography. In some instances symbols have emerged as objects of prayer, as in the temple where the deities and their individual parts of the body are symbolic representations of the supreme power and attributes. In the following sections, details of some of the important Hindu religious symbols are described.
These can be categorized as follows: