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Siva-linga with yoni-pitha,<br />
beneath a banyan tree. The figure<br />
of the bull of Siva, Nandi, stands<br />
between an early iconographic<br />
image of Siva, on the left, and his<br />
symbol, linga with yoni, on the<br />
right. Bastar, Madhya Pradesh,<br />
c. 13th century. Stone. The brass<br />
figure of Nandi is a contemporary<br />
tribal artefact.<br />
46<br />
through successive generations. In this respect the varied forms of<br />
tantra present a living art functioning within the confines of<br />
defined traditional limits.<br />
Tantric imagery cannot be understood purely on the level of art<br />
criticism, analysing it on the basis of style, form, compositional<br />
elements, colour symbolism, and the like. Its concept overrides the<br />
percept, for tantra is predominantly a way of knowledge, a way of<br />
life with its exclusive concern for enlightenment. Its art, therefore,<br />
is intimately related to living rites. Art and ritual in tantra are<br />
umbilically dependent. As ritual enfolds the entire multiplicity of<br />
life, equally it also creates and multiplies art symbols to suit its<br />
specific context. Art and ritual merge into each other and combine<br />
their resources in exploring and expressing the meaning of<br />
existence, affording an experience to the neophyte which leads him<br />
to inner realization. Art, thus, holds out a new dimension to ritual<br />
and makes its generic symbols emotionally cogent to the<br />
individual.<br />
Most tantric images, if not all, serve as intermediaries between<br />
the transcendent and the immanent to a greater or lesser degree,<br />
forming indissoluble cosmic links through which reality is made