Introduction
It is true that religions express mystery of life and reality of sacred by symbol systems. A symbol is a thing or a signifier, which represents something else. From time immemorial, human beings have been symbolizing creatures. The religious symbols entail emotional and intellectual significance to those who hold them. Therefore, religion is essentially made up of either symbols or the activities, which are mediated by the symbols. This essay focuses on the symbolism of fire altar in India. In the first part, it gives some background information about this altar. In the second part, this essay focuses on the impact and purpose of this symbol. Finally, the essay describes my opinion about the appealing things in this religious symbol.
Part One
Hinduism employs symbolism art with an effect that is amazing. There is no religion that is so replete with the symbols like this ancient religion. It is interesting to note that all the Hindus are actually touched by their all-pervasive symbolism throughout their lives in one way or another. One of the imperative religious symbols in India is the fire altar. Fire altar in India is actually regarded as a unique symbol of the ancient Vedic rites (Chandra 57). Thus, the fire element denotes the divine consciousness and through this fire element the Hindus makes their offerings to the Gods. Another important thing to note is that Hindu sacraments are actually solemnized before the fire.
Saffron is the color of the altar fire or Agni. This color symbolizes all the aspects of Hinduism and reflects Supreme Being. This saffron color that is also auspicious to Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists appears to have obtained its religious importance much earlier than these religions started. The worship of fire came into being during the Vedic age. The Rig Veda’s foremost hymn glorifies this fire: "Agnimile purohitam yagnasya devam rtvijam, hotaram ratna dhatamam (Chandra 72)." It was customary for the sages to carry fire along when they moved from a specific ashram to the other. Thus, this shows how Indians respect saffron and why the erected the fire altar.
Around 1500 B.C, the nomads who were Indo-European language speakers entered India. They evolved complex ritual that involved Soma and fire cults. Their Vedic language thus developed into Indian civilization classical language called Sanskrit. Among later Indian religions, Buddhism rejected and Hinduism accepted this Vedic culture. However, both of these religions retained a number of their recitations and ritual forms. The fire or Agni is still worshiped by these religions.
Part Two
Fire altar in India has a crucial impact and purpose among the Indians. As stated above, the fire element in this altar denotes divine consciousness and hence Indians offer their offerings to God through this fire. Therefore, the erection of the fire altar is essentially a repetition of cosmogony as Eliade notes in his book, “Sacred and Profane.” The fire altar is thus regarded as the year. Thus, the 360 bricks of its enclosure correspond to 360 nights present in a year and 360 yajusmati bricks correspond to 360 days also present in a year. This means that with building every fire altar, the year is built and the world is remade. In simple terms, this means that time is actually regenerated through being created anew (Eliade 74).
Nonetheless, the year is essentially assimilated to the Prajapati that is, the cosmic god. Therefore, with every new altar, Prajapati is in real sense reanimated. This means that the world sanctuary is strengthened hence it is thus not a matter of the profane time or of the mere temporal duration but it is a matter of cosmic time sanctification. Through erecting the fire altar, Hindu seeks to sanctify the world and this means that their aim is to place the world in a sacred time. For that reason, the purpose of the fire altar is to sanctify the world.
In addition, the fire altar in India has an impact on the Indians as it is a religious symbol that acts to establish the pervasive, powerful, and the long lasting motivations and moods in them through formulating the conceptions of general order of the existence and also clothing these conceptions with a factuality aura that their motivations and moods appear uniquely realistic. This religious symbol thus orders the Indians, hence eliminating ambiguity, chaos, and helplessness among them.
Part Three
In the Indian fire altar symbol, there are a number of things that I personally find appealing. The things that I find appealing in this symbol are its interpretations and how it is used to offer sacrifices to God. By this altar being regarded as the year, I find it most appealing since the presence of 360 bricks and other 360 yajusmati bricks correspond to the 360 days and nights that are present in one year (Eliade 74). Therefore, through building every fire altar, they remake the world and build the year and this in real sense is more appealing. In reality, I have always experienced mystery of life, which Indian fire altar points to and I am drawn to how it expresses mystery of life and reality.
Works cited
Chandra, Rai G. Indian Symbolism: Symbols As Sources of Our Customs and Beliefs. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2001.
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959.
