The beauty of Indian pots lies in the fundamental aspects of design: harmony and balance of form, shape, proportions, line and colour. A finely shaped pot without any surface ornamentation appears perfectly ornamental. Making each conventional pot nothing less than a sculpture, with a naturalness of form and a quality of timelessness.

The Sanskrit word for pot also means body. In fact, the symbolic Indian pot has been used in Indian literature and art for as long as history can take us back. Commonly, the image refers to the womb, bounty, earth, woman and plentitude. It is a receptacle that holds life, spirits and the dead; water, soma and amrita. The Amara Kosha [II.2.I], one of the earliest established lexicons of the Sanskrit language states that a synonym for Earth (bhu) is Kumbhini (she who is the pot).

“Thou art the earth, the ground, thou art the all-sustaining Aditi, she who supporteth all the world. Control the earth, steady the earth, do thou the earth no injury.”
[Yajur Veda XIII.18: Tr. R.T.H. Griffith]

The main advaita philosophical analogy of the relationship of the individual soul to brahman (universe) is recounted through the relationship of air in a pot to the outside air.

“The drink or food of the gods (soma, amrita, etc.) [is] always conceived as contained in or drunk from a special vessel…fashioned for the gods by Tvashtri. … and precisely such a full or brimming vessel (purnaghata) is the commonest of all Indian symbols of plenty.”
A.K. Coomaraswamy, Yaksas, vol II, p. 40, 1927

The lota, kumbha or kalasha has had a tremendous significance in Vedic, Buddhist and Jain ritualism as a symbol of wealth and fertility.