Kalash ( A Pot)

Kalash ( A Pot)

Kachchhapaghata Dynasty, 9th -10th Century AD,Bhopal Museum

       Invariably the top of a Hindu temple is crowned with a pot. This pot too must have crowned the main tower of a temple.  

       Although pots are ordinary objects, but they have extra - ordinary meanings and symbolism. Pot is the symbol of Man's first invention: the wheel. Without the potter's wheel a round pot is an impossibility.  The Mayan civilisation did not invent the wheel. It had no round spherical pots. The pots in Mayan civilisation were hand moulded into either faces of human beings or animals and birds. 

      Pot is also mass produced. Thus, it may be one of the first "industrial product" we produced as a species. 

      Pot is also commonly used as a symbol of good fortune--to find a pot of gold, a pot of luck. 

      In Hinduism it is a symbol of Nature. For it contains water,  Mango leaves and a coconut. It thus stands for the bounty of Nature. 

       In Hindu mythology it is connected with the pot of nectar which Lord Vishnu as Mohini had to lure from the demons. 

       It is also the last resting place as the ashes of the dead are brought in a clay pot before the ashes are immersed in  holy rivers. 

      It is, thus, a symbol of our achievement, our hopes and aspirations, our life and Nature.

Lord Vishnu in His Universal Form (Virat Swaroop )

Lord Vishnu in His Universal Form (Virat  Swaroop )

Kachchhapaghata Dynasty,10th Century AD, Bhopal  Museum

        The Kachchhapaghata Dynasty is a minor dynasty which ruled around Gwalior area of Madhya  Pradesh  in the 10th century AD. It has left beautiful temples around this area. 

       The Universal form of Lord Vishnu is rarely depicted in Indian art. It is described in Bhagwat Gita-- a form seen by Arjun. 

God is said to be infinite, undesirable, an abstract entity. It is formless, 'nirgun'--one without specific attributes. But in order to be comprehensible, He takes human forms. The universal form is a human display of the infinite form. In a way the concept is self - contradictory.  One who is infinite becomes finite to display His infinity. But then the very concept of God is that He is an amalgamation of contradictions.

        Here we see a multi-armed Lord Vishnu. He holds a sword in His right hand, and shield, 'pasha'(noose), bow, conch shell, and his blade (Sudarshan Chakra) in his left hands. He appears to his devotees and to the myriad gods who have assembled to witness the infinite aspect of God.