Hinduism is the largest religion on the Asian subcontinent, a part of the lives of nearly a quarter of all Asians. It is a religion of beauty and color, filled with vivid characters and stories told and recorded sine time immemorial.
It is also a religion of symbols and of relics. Thankfully Hindu doesn’t go for the same bodypart fetish that some other religions have (but see item three), but many of the Hindu sacred objects may be unfamiliar to westerners.
Take for example the humble pot. Here are five such vessels which have a sacred role to play in Hindu mythology.
1. Kalasha: The Vase of Longevity
2. Kamandalu, drinking Vessel of the Ascetics
3. Kapala: the Skull Cup
4. Kumbha, the Clay of the Womb
5. Akshaya Patra, the Pot that would Never Empty
Top Image: A Kapala skull cup, one of the sacred pots of Hindu mythology. Source: Suyash.dwivedi / CC BY-SA 4.0.
By Joseph Green
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