Population Economy Maps Art Classical Indian sculpture does not seem as though it were cut and chiseled as much as growing from the rock, organically, like a ripe fruit to be plucked. The yakshis embody the trees, as much as the celestial goddesses, embody the flow of rivers Ganga and Yamuna. It is expressed though the elements, the rivers, the mountains, the trees.
Divinity exists as much in a stone.
The most obvious instances of this belief are to be seen in the elemental shapes of stones that are enshrined, daubed red and orange and silver, and worshipped with flowers, under the shade of a tree or beside a river. Offerings are made to the Salagrama, the stone that represents the god Vishnu, to the tulsi plant in the garden by the housewife, to the lingam which represents Lord Shiva, to the peepal tree outside almost every village that represents the local guardian deity. Tiny terracotta seals introduce Peepal leaves surrounded with a railing, as though marked sacred. In another seal a horned deity in the yogic posture is enthroned, surrounded by four animals which have earned him the name of Pashupati, the Lord of animals. This archic deity is an early form of the god Shiva, inspects that are worshipped to the present day.