Elements of Buddhist Iconography

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Objective linguistics seems to be near the end of its resources in dealing with the many remaining obscurities of Rig Vedic phraseology. Dr. Coomaraswamy’s new subjective approach to the problem will therefore be welcome to all students of Indian art, literature, and philosophy. In this volume he has studied the Tree of Life, the Lotus of Space, the Word-Wheel, the Lotus-throne, and the Fiery Pillar. He traces these symbols far back of their first representation in Buddhist iconography through the aniconic period of the Brahmanical Vedas, even into the Rig Vedic period itself, and he shows that they represent a universal Indian symbolism and set of theological concepts.