The Crown

Durga's head bronze statue

The crown is an emblem of victory, sovereignty, and empire. It is a visible sign of success, thus the term "crowning achievement," and its significance as the decoration of the ultimate level of rank and power, makes bearing the crown a great honour. Crowns are also sometimes symbols of God, as he is considered by some to be the "King of all."

Indra Sculpture, 2nd century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The essential meaning is derived from the character of the head, which surmounts the body and rises above it. Thus it symbolizes the idea of pre-eminence, which is at the core of such designations as a crowning achievement. It is the completion of things, signifying continuity and duration within the circle of time. Bringing to an apex all these attributes, it is the perfect symbol for sovereignty and seems to suggest a point where immortality and mortality converge.  Kings wearing crowns patterned after this archetype were considered as divine channels through whom a whole kingdom gained strength, virtue and life.  The crown is representative of a victory over darkness and vice.

In the Christian tradition, the image of Mary crowned as Queen of heaven is usually known by the Latin phrase "Maria regina". In them Mary is represented in a number of ways: as the throne of God carrying the Lord and giving him to humanity; as a praying figure in an attitude of intercession and as a sign of the divine presence on the journey of the faithful until the day of the Lord; as the protectress who stretches out her mantle over the peoples (Pokrov).
In Mexico, a crown filled with this grain was the symbol of Tonacatecuhtli (Lord of Our Flesh), who was believed to be the creator god and food-giver and who gave man all things and was the only one pictured with the royal crown.
All of these crowns were believed to contain a spiritual power which was either bestowed or was an attribute of the wearer's power. In the alchemy, the radiant nature of pure gold relates closely to the shape of the radiating crown which, like a halo, represents the power contained in the head and signifies the seat of the soul. To wear this crown is to have arrived at a threshold of spiritual enlightenment.

Buddha Maitreya statue, Ladakh.The representation of a Dhyani-Buddha can be seen on each of the leaves of this five-leaves crown.

In India and Southeast Asia the crown usually took the form of the sikhari of Hindu temples or the shape of a Buddhist stupa. The powerful crown thus encircling the head was echoed in the shape of the temple tower in India, where the structure was considered to be a microcosm of the cosmic Heavenly Man. Its tower was its head and was fashioned in the shape of a tapering sikhara which rises above the inner sanctum of the temple. On its ornamented sides progressive stages of manifestation, from above below, can often be traced. It is crowned with an octagonal or circular dome-like form called a stupika, which itself is capped by a fluted blue lotus and the Kailasa, symbolizing the Jar of Nectar.

Kandariya Mahadeva, Khajuraho

Thus, the sikhara acts as a channel for immortality which passes through the lotus crown down into the sanctuary below. In these cases, the crown it is also a symbol of divine connection and eternal life. That through a divine connection, there is a heavenly realm where all things are perfect.

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA