HINDUISM AND SANATANA DHARMA

Why Are Hindu Deities Portrayed in Erotic Forms?

Hindu deities and temple sculpture often appears erotic or voluptuous, so that Western missionaries thought these images were only a glorification of sexuality even though they were part of a tradition that has always valued asceticism.

God is the ultimate bliss and delight. Union with God is the supreme love, in which the male and female sides of our nature, the masculine and feminine aspects of consciousness must be unite. To show this Hindu artists have traditionally employed graphic images.

Such images are symbolic like Radha and Krishna, who represent the soul and its love of God. To the Hindu mind all of our passions should be directed to the Divine. For this reason it has not hesitated to portray them as part of a spiritual symbolism. But to confuse these with a glorification of sexuality is to completely misinterpret them.

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