TURTLE TORTOISE, IMAGE AND SYMBOL, THE EAST. 1. INDIA

TURTLE TORTOISE, IMAGE & SYMBOL is published here in two volumes Volume One: THE WEST and Volume Two: THE EAST, and each volume is divided into four books. The WEST series is presented as a chronological sequence and the EAST series as individual studies of specific cultures. Together they constitute an in-depth coverage of the image and symbol of the turtle/tortoise throughout the world from the earliest times. Reference is made to specific artifacts, documents and monuments, works of science, literature and art, which may be viewed or consulted today in museums and public places, libraries and private collections, and the writing is intended for all readers with an interest in turtles, scientific or sentimental, for collectors of antiques, curios and objets d'art, and for everyone with an interest in the diversity of cultural history, in myth and religion, custom and art. INDIA is the first of four books in the series TURTLE TORTOISE, IMAGE & SYMBOL: THE EAST. As well as India, it is devoted to the related cultures of Nepal and Indonesia. Clarification is made of the Hindu conception of the cosmos as distinct from the still generally accepted European misinformation purveyed originally by Kircher. The turtle/tortoise is presented in its numerous forms: as clan totem, as sacrificial victim in the Vedas, as the Rishi Kasyapa, as Vishnu's avatar Kurma, as associated with Lakshmi in the Kathmandu Valley and with the river Yamuna, as Bedwagnala under the god-thrones of Bali, in Buddhist analogies and parables, and as Buddha in previous lives. The exposition is followed by a bibliography.