By many scholars, not least in the field of oriental studies, the existence of symbolism in general and of Indian symbolism in particular is cast in doubt or simply denied. Although there is too much dilettantism in this field, the author of this important study requests for the conviction that symbolism must be taken seriously as a subject of inquiry. The author has taken as point of departure the makara, the well known Indian water-monster. He traces the connections between monster-head and other motifs and then, clinging to this thread, penetrates to the core of Indian symbolism: the golden germ as the principle of life, the significance of the tree in the Indian conception of the world, the cult-image, and the like.
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