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Bull or Nandi

Nandi (‘the happy one’), the bull on which lord siva rides is another common symbol. It represents virility and strength, the animal in man. In siva temples, there is always a recumbent bull placed in front of the chief shrine or just outside it with the head turned away from the deity but the gaze fixed on it. It is interpreted as the jivatman, the individual soul, with its animal nature pulling it away from god, but his grace pulling him back to him. According to some, it symbolises dharma or the moral law.