Why a Turtle?
I use the imagery of a turtle in my large works in the series: “Descent into the Incredible Stepwells of India”, like the one I have on the first page of this write-up. This image in my art represents a ‘totem’ that has spiritual significance for me. A totem is a natural object or an animal that is believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and is adopted by the society as an emblem.
Why then a turtle? During the course of field visits for this art project I happened to spot turtles swimming in the waters of the stepwells of Loni Bhapkar at Baramati, Maharashtra. It was just after the verdant monsoon season when everything is emerald green and I happened to visit this amazing stepwell next to the ancient Mallikarjun temple. This place exuded peace and tranquility and I wanted to meditate on the steps. After some time I noticed to my pleasant surprise some turtles swimming merrily in the cool, slightly greenish colored water of the stepwells. They were frolicking in the waters and I imagined that they were having the most wonderful time of their lives.
(Stepwells of Loni Bhapkar, Baramati)
After this I visited the Ganesha temple at Moregaon. This is one of the Ashtavinayaks, meaning “Eight Ganesha statues” in Sanskrit. The Ashtavinayaka yatra refers to the pilgrimage of the eight Hindu temples in the State of Maharashtra, India and centered around my home in Pune. Each of these Ganesha idols are distinct and are referred to as Swayambhu as they were formed by nature and excavated and installed in temples by the devotees. This loving Elephant God Ganesha is a Hindu deity of unity, prosperity, learning and he is supposed to remove all obstacles. I went to seek blessings from Ganesha before I could start this art project.
To my amazement I saw the statue of the turtle on the temple floor just outside the entrance. The devotees had offered white flowers on this sculpture and this turtle was facing the deity inside the inner sanctorum of the temple. I wondered whether the universe is giving me a hidden symbol to use a ‘mark-maker’ in my art so I decided to research on this concept. Am I considering the ecology and water bodies so needed for all living organisms? I found through my research that the sculpture at the entrance of the temple is always a turtle not a tortoise. Turtles have flatter shells and are water dwellers.
Meaning of this symbolism
My research led me to conclude that the turtle is present in the Nagara style of temples and that too in the medieval and modern ones. The highest concentration of these turtle -rich temples is in Western India – Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The entire South and East India does not feature them. I remember in the year of 2016, when I first encountered the sculpture of a turtle outside a temple in Rajasthan and I asked the priest for an explanation of this symbolism. He had explained that the turtle is a symbol of Lord Vishnu, being the fourth or the Kumra avatar of Vishnu on Earth. Since Lord Vishnu must be invoked before any puja involving an installed or a temporary idol, hence a sculpture of a turtle is constructed in these temples. This turtle imagery in the temples is a stand in for Vishnu. My travels in Gujarat led me to conclude that every Shiva temple in Gujarat features the turtle.
My further research has enlightened me to the fact that the ‘turtle’ represents detachment in Shiva or Ganesha temples. Just like a turtle can totally cocoon itself in its shell, a yogi when meditates cocoons himself from the world too and gets inside his meditative shell. He renounces material possessions, negative feelings and emotions like greed, anger, jealousy and lust. According to the Bhagwad Gita, the most important spiritual text of Hinduism, Lord Krishna says that – one who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the turtle draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness. In Hindu mythology the Earth is supported by four elephants standing on the back of a turtle. Lord Vishnu was reincarnated as the turtle Kachhapa that carried the weight of the world on its back.
“Many a Hindu temple has an etched or stone made turtle on the doorstep of the entrance. It always faces the sanctum sanctorum. Just as the tortoise that glides effortlessly from land into the quiet depths of deep waters, so should man glide easily from the agitations of the outer world to the inner depths of solitude and peace.”
…. Partha Saran, “Symbolism of turtle at temples”, Sunday Guardian, 31/07/21
What does this symbol mean to me?
The significance of turtles represents spirituality in my drawings and art. For me this is a call from higher source, my creator to whom I dedicate all my creations. This represents the exchange of energy from our creator to us, the artists and we breathe life into our creations.
“Turtles are associated with great number of mystical and supernatural abilities and connections in mythology and folklore. Thus, user with this power may have access to enhanced intelligence, enhanced wisdom, serenity and immortality. Around the world, the turtle can be seen as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge and is able to defend itself on its own.”
Source: “Cultural depictions of Turtles”, Wikipedia.