Deer

In Hindu iconography, an animal
strongly associated with the god Shiva,
particularly in his form as Pashupati,
the “Lord of Beasts.” In many of the fourarmed images of Shiva, one of the upper
arms will have the figure of the deer
emerging from it, symbolizing his control over all life. In Hindu bhakti (devotional) poetry, the musk deer is often
used as a symbol for an ignorant,
180
Day of Brahma
unenlightened person. According to this
image, just as the deer does not recognize that the heady scent of musk comes
from its own body, but rushes all over
the forest in search of it, so are human
beings ignorant of God inside and ever
close to them, but looking outside themselves in search of the divine.