ABSTRACT
INDIAN RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM presents an example of the challenge of inter-preting artistic symbols cross culturally. Indian art is a good place to study problems of symbolism, meaning, and interpretation because, as Jane Duran noted in her article on the Nagaraja, Indian art is heavily symbolic.1 Nagas, the subject of her research, are serpent forms or serpent-human forms. These images symbolize the life force that motivates birth and rebirth; like a river, they embody the water of life.
