is your society highly dependent on symbols for communication?

I believe that the Indian society is highly dependent on different kinds of symbols while communicating with each other. In a country as diverse and complex as India, it is not surprising to find that people here reflect the rich glories of the past, the culture, traditions and values relative to geographic locations and the numerous distinctive manners, habits and food that will always remain truly Indian. According to five thousand years of recorded history, India has been invaded by armies, traders and immigrants who brought with them their own habits, faiths, practices and observances which have all contributed to the rich texture of Indian life and living.

The symbolic view of culture holds symbols to be both the practices of social actors and the context that gives such practices meaning. Anthony P. Cohen (1985) writes of the "symbolic gloss" which allows social actors to use common symbols to communicate and understand each other while still imbuing these symbols with personal significance and meanings. Symbols provide the limits of cultured thought. Members of a culture rely on these symbols to frame their thoughts and expressions in intelligible terms. In short, symbols make culture possible, reproducible and readable. They are the "webs of significance" .

I feel that essentially things like pain, love, sorrow, happiness, basically human emotions and values are more or less same in all the cultures. But they take different forms in different societies and that is what forms the culture of that particualar society also. Symbols and icons are like products of different cultures. So if we do a parallel study of symbols for the same attribute from different societies, it will help us to compare the different societies. For eg.

The force of the evil eye (or Nazar) is a widely accepted and feared random element in Turkish daily life. The word *Nazar* denotes seeing or looking and is often used in literally translated phrases such as "Nazar touched her," in reference to a young woman, for example, who mysteriously goes blind.

The traditional nimbu mirchi is a symbolic representation, he says is, meant for guarding property and spaces from evils and ghoul spirits. It is supposed to attracting Lord Shani Dev into the house in a respectful manner. He, as the Supreme warder of evils protect the homes and others abodes, from the Evil Black Eye. Shaped in a string form, a normal strand of nimbu mirchi consists of seven green chilies (mirchis) and a green lemon (nimbu).
A green lemon is considered a symbol of strength, purity and freshness, whereas, the chilies are considered tough, adamant like the walls of a house, which refuse to let everything pass through. Hence, the green combination makes for a deadly defense and protection according to Hindu mythology.Note:- In India people hang lemon & green chillies in their vehicles to drive away the bad omen.

As the sheep is to Christianity, the cow is to Hinduism. Lord Krishna was a cowherd, and the bull is depicted as the vehicle of Lord Shiva. Today the cow has almost become a symbol of Hinduism. Here cows are everywhere! Because the cow is respected as a sacred animal, it's allowed to roam unharmed, and they are pretty used to the traffic and the rhythm of the city. So, you can see them roaming the streets in towns and cities, grazing unmindfully on the roadside grass verges and munching away vegetables thrown out by street sellers. Stray and homeless cows are also supported by temples, especially in southern India.

As opposed to the West, where the cow is widely considered as nothing better than walking hamburgers, in India, the cow is believed to be a symbol of the earth - because it gives so much yet asks nothing in return.

Cows are also thought to be cleansers and sanctifiers. The cow-dung is an efficacious disinfectant and often used as fuel in lieu of firewood. In the scriptures, we find the sage Vyasa saying that cows are the most efficacious cleansers of all.
Cows form the core of religious sacrifices, for without ghee or butter, which is produced from cow's milk, no sacrifice can be performed.
In the Mahabharata, we have Bhishma saying: "Cows represent sacrifice. Without them, there can be no sacrifice…Cows are guileless in their behaviour and from them flow sacrifices…and milk and curds and butter. Hence cows are sacred..."
Bhishma also observes that the cow acts as a surrogate mother by providing milk to human beings for the whole life. So the cow is truly the mother of the world.