This volume is a sustained demonstration of Coomaraswamy's knowledge of the external features of iconography, his knowledge of the entire metaphysical tradition underlying the iconogrpahy, as well as the corresponding traditions in Islam and Christianity. Buddhist art in India begins about the second century BC, with a well developed set of symbols in its Iconography. Coomaraswamy believes that the sources of early iconogrphy of the Buddhist art is in still earlier Vedic and Upanisadic conceptions. In addition, he notices many surprising similarities between passages in the Vedic literature and in the mediaeval Christian theologians and mystics. The present study deals with the basic symbols of Buddhist art, viz., the Tree of Life, the Earth-Lotus, the Word-Wheel, the Lotus-Throne, and the Fiery Pillar, and shows that these symbols can be traced back beyond their first representation in Buddhist Iconography through the anicomic period of the Brahmanical Vedas, even into the Rig Vedic period itself and that they represent a universal Indian symbolism and set of theological concepts.
