Asian Art

Cult image

In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the person, deity, spirit, or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece, Rome and India, cult images in a temple may undergo a daily routine of being washed, dressed, and having food left for them. Processions outside the temple on special feast days are often a feature. Religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, subject, or connection. In many contexts "cult image" specifically means the most important image in a temple, kept in an inner space, as opposed to what may be many other images decorating the temple.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Ambika (Jainism)
• ▸Bar Kokhba refuge caves
• ▸Bhatra Sikhs

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.