Rihanna believes her tattoos show how spiritual she is.

The 'You Da One' singer - who has nearly 20 inkings on her body, including a Sanskrit prayer down her thigh, a star in her ear and the word love on the middle finger of her left hand - thinks they all show how she feels about religion and her thoughts about God.

According to The Sun newspaper, she said: ''My tattoos are all spiritual and show how I feel about religion. I have a falcon which is an Egyptian falcon and is supposed to stand for God.''

Rihanna previously revealed she had the Egyptian tattoo - of the goddess Isis, renowned as the ideal mother and wife - in tribute to her late grandmother Clara 'Dolly' Braithwaite.

She wrote on twitter: ''Goddess Isis - Complete Woman - Model for future generations - #GRANGRANDOLLY - always in and on my heart #1love. (sic)''

The 24-year-old R&B star has also claimed the tattoos are a form of rebellion, just like many other things in her life.

She added: ''[I'm] rebellious through my music, through my fashion, tattoos, and my hair.''