The Book

The Search for the "Symbol" led Maendra Jocelino Araujo Alvares across the European continent and went beyond. During his travel across Europe, with his family, he first came upon a "strange phenomenon"as he describes it, when he noticed an unusual format in some crosses as opposed to the "usual"! He began looking for anomalies and found so many, he was intrigued. This was the first step of what eventually became a Marathon quest!
In Possession of over 500 crosses today, Maendra has in his collection over 70 classifications! It has required a lot of hard work, and a search unlike any he has indulged in so far. Aided only by instinct he sought to find, in the ocean of information, that aspect of the "Symbol" he needed.

His greatest moments of triumph were when he drew the interest of many societies and "Clerics" in his search. Study of the crosses led him to further discover that these crosses could be classified into certain laid down categories. Mastering these subtle difference and then applying this knowledge in sorting out the crosses into these various categories was a tough but enjoyable fulfilling job. The one person who has encouraged him, helped out with the search and added immeasurably to the collection is Rev. Fr. Savio Rodrigues s.j,, a counselor at St. Britto's, Mapusa. At the peak of his information, Maendra has one thing to add... "Knowledge of Divinity is an   I infinite process and I aspire only that aspect which makes my artistry soar in the unknown. I welcome the obscure that is out of reach for it makes my search all the more intriguing!"
The collection of crosses is only one aspect of Maendra's many other collections. The Ganesha idols, the black & white picture postcards and even the "Mecca & Medina" in different forms are some of the many.
The collection of crosses can best be described as an "Artistic rendition of Symbolism" - Maureen A. Alvares

INTRODUCTION

Life is, very often, a burden of sorts. It is a bearing of the various crosses that come our way. But, the way we carry them and our courage to face life, despite the crosses, determines the kind of humans we are and above all, aspire to be.
From a long time, probably even before the formative time of society, crosses have been used for various purposes. They have been determiners of beliefs, symbolic emblems and later the flagstaff of the various religions as a bid for the independence and individuality of human beings.
How the cross came about, its symbolism and gradually its relation to the suffering of mankind is a mystical journey of sorts. No other symbol has such variations, so many explanations and so much of historical repertoire to fall back upon as the cross does. From the swastika, to the sun cross, the "Tau" to the cross of St. Benedict, the cross has traveled a long way from the wooden symbol upon which the Catholic kingdom lays its belief with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. You are therefore, invited to an artistic collection and interpretation of one of the oldest symbols of all Time.........

"THE CROSS"

ABOUT THE CROSS

Tere are many cross-shaped incisions in European cult caves, dating back to the earliest stages of uman cultural development in the stone_age. Like other symbols from this period, their use -ontinued in the Celtic cultures in Europe. For example, Celtic coins minted many centuries before the Christian era may have an entire side showing this type of cross, sometimes with the five cardinal points marked by concave depressions in the same style as in stone_age carvings. Other coins may be showing the cross held by a rider on a horse and springing forth a fern leaf, sometimes identified as a Tree of Life symbol. These early sun crosses or Celtic crosses have nothing to do with later Christian ' ones-.Other early images of crosses were found in the Central_Asian steppes, and some were found in Altay. The cross in the old Altaic religion called Tengriism symbolizes the god Tengri and the three-world cosmology; it wasn't an elongated "dagger" cross, instead resembling a plus sign (+).The first Christian books from Armenia and Syria contained evidence that the cross originated with horsemen from the east, possibly referring to the first Turkic people. Particular types of crosses have, during medieval times, come to be associated with individual saints- as their personal symbols.