Five Elements
Aap (water), tej (fire), vayu (wind), pruthvi (earth) and akash (sky) are the panchamahabhut/panchatatva/panchatva (five elements) in indian tradition. The same were part of greek tradition and also of many other civilizations
Why five? Why not four (without akash) or 6 (with time)? It appears that there is some affinity to the number five. Just like 3 (trinities, triads), 7 (seven heavens, seven seas). The affinity could be due to five being a number attached to nature (five fingers, five-petal flowers) or it’s being one of the prime numbers or many other mathematical specialities of the number five. The exhibition also explores this aspect as well.
