The concept of Divinity as a power above humanity and beyond full human comprehension, intangible but none the less vividly experience intuitively, has been a major source of inspiration for visual arts. It prompted, over the millennia, emanations of the spiritual that were often great and memorable works of art. aspects of the divine could be represent in diverse ways ranging from abstract symbols to images in human, animal or combined human and animal forms. The ancient Greeks conceived their gods and goddesses in idealized human forms with attributes to indicate their divinity - as Aphrodite or apollo, for instance - and this practice was taken over by the Christians for their saints. The prohibition of graven images in the Second Commandment, however, prevented them using it as regards God the Father except in narrative scenes where the image could not be mistaken for an idol to be worshipped. Muslims also abominated idolatry and were as rigorous as the Christians in their respect for the prohibition and even more so in destroying the religious art of countries they over-ran, notably in the Indian sub-continent. Yet nowhere have the possibilities of giving concrete form to abstract concept of divinity been more subtly explore than in Hindu sculpture. The earliest Indian scriptures, the Vedas ( C. BC 1300-600 ) and the Upanishads ( C. BC 800-500 ) , embody lofty metaphysical doctrines that could be fully understood only by the initiated. They make no concessions to the common human demand for divinities that can be visualized. In the later and more accessible Bhagavad Gita of the second century BC, however, the warrior Arjuna asks Krishna, avatar of Vishnu, god of gods, to show himself in his Supreme Being: he was vouchsafed; ... countless visions of wonder: eyes from innumerable faces, numerous celestial ornaments; celestial garlands and vesture, forms anointed with heavenly perfumes. The infinite divinity was facing all sides, all marvels in him containing. If the light of a thousand suns rose in the sky that splendor might be compared to the radiance the whole universe in its variety, standing in a vast unity in the body of god of gods. Trembling with awe and wonder, Arjuna bowed his head, and joining his hand in adoration he thus spoke to is god; 'I see in thee all the gods, O my god, and the infinity of the beings of the creation ... All around I behold thy infinity; the power of thy innumerable arms, the visions from thy innumerable eyes ... I rejoice in exultation, and yet my heart trembles with fear. Have mercy on me Lord of gods, Refuge of the whole universe, show me again thine own human form. I yearn to see thee again in thine own four-armed form, thou of arms infinite'. The god of all gave pace to his fears and showed himself in this peaceful beauty. The Bhagavad Gita is the earliest Indian text in which the idea of a personal relationship between a mortal and a god is found. The first images of Hindu gods appear to have been carved at about the same time. Their distinguishing features were presumably determined initially by priests and knowledge of them handed down from one generation of sculptors to another. By the sixth century AD they were codified in such treatises as the Manasara Silpasastra which ruled that, for instance, an image of Shiva 'should be furnished with four arms, three eyes and be crowned with matted hair ... the upper right hand should be in the refuge offering pose, the upper left hand in the boon giving pose; the other left and right should hold the antelope and the drum respectively ... Saravati [ consort of Brahma and goddess of learning ] should be placed on a lotus pedestal and seated in the cross-legged posture ... ' Similarly, rules were also laid down for a scale of bodily proportions, distinguish deities from mortals. It was assumed, though not started, that more than two arms were necessary to express divine omnipotence, and more than two eyes to suggest all-seeing omniscience. Such sculptures were easily misunderstood as objects of worship in themselves, rather than representations that could be consecrated or charged with divine spirit by ritual. According to the eight-century AD philosopher and mystic Shankara, 'the Supreme Lord may if he wishes assume a corporeal form as a favor to his devout worshippers'. Theologians interpreted the popular cult of statues of Vishnu as proof of the god's compassion in manifesting himself to be perceived by the sense even at the risk of being confused with the material objects he had sanctified with his presence. For Hindus, truth lies beyond the world of appearances and their images of dieties are thus illusory manifestations of a single ultimate reality. On the left is balanced, on the other side, by that of a female counterpart, softly modeled with voluptuous lips and delicately dressed hair. They indicate respectively the male and female, destructive and creative, principles that proceed from the divine essence or Absolute represented by a sublimely aloof androgynous central countenance. As a whole this overpowering image - so different from the simply conceived and , one might say, naively anthropomorphic deities of the ancient West - gives concrete form to the mystery of the unfolding of the Absolute into the dualities of phenomenal existence. It was not, however, the main object of worship in the temple.