Articles by Anonymous

According to Indian tradition, statues and icons do not only possess aesthetic value, representing the image of an idol. They are also, in fact, a physical vessel that carries with it the intangible qualities of the idol. The Indian ceremony of Pran-pratishtha recognizes the bequeathal of life on the lifeless icon of an idol. However, long before the ceremony, from the moment the craftsman begins to create the statue, the sacred process of bestowing both the physical and spiritual attributes of an icon begins. The beauty of statues, such as the Buddha head statue, is in both the accurate representation of physical features and in the artistic interpretation of the idol’s spirit.