Showing posts with label Sivling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sivling. Show all posts

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Aniconic and Iconic images in Indian Religion

In India, while there are millions of deities, with well-defined forms, there are also aniconic images that are worshiped regularly.

Examples of aniconic images include:
  1. Local devtas, typically called devis, bhairavs, peers etc. You see them by the side of the road, with a silver-colored foil and kumkum on them.
  2. Saligram (typically found on the bed of Gandaki river in Nepal) - represent Vishnu
  3. Stones from Vraj - represent Krishna
  4. Stones from Narmada - Bana Linga - representing Shiva
  5. Crafted shivlings
  6. Fire
(2, 3, and 4 above are considered to have divinity in them, and can be put in a temple, and their pooja started even without consecrating them.)