Raison d'être

"For Indian art, man is god, and art is created so that he might experience this truth and need art no longer... Its raison d'être lies in the fact that it points beyond itself: it can appear as essence only to someone limited by Ignorance (avidyā), Not-yet-enlightened (a-pra-buddha):

'For the Brahmin versed in sacrifice and the Vedic texts, God is in fire;
for the worshiper, in his own heart;
for the Not-yet-enlightened, in the sacred image;
but for him who is aware of the highest Self, God is in All Things.'"

- Henrich Zimmer, Artistic Form and Yoga in the Sacred Images of India. quotation from Kulārnava Tantra IX.44.