Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s1.13

c12.s1.13

In the Hindu temple also, of which the architecture followed similar metaphysical principle, we find this fourfold division in the form of the basement (jagatī), the cubical portion (garbhagriha or maṇḍovara), the tower (śikhara), and the kalaśa placed on the āmalaka-śilā as its base and surmounted on the top by the dhvaja or the emblem of the deity corresponding to the yaṣṭi and chhatra in the centre of the harmikā. It is evident that the ancient Stūpa and the Prāsāda were developed from an identical religious consciousness and both were symbolic representations of the manifest cosmos and unmanifest divine. In one case the deity is the Buddha, in the other the Deva, both enshrining the great light. The Stūpa from this point of view, although raised on the relics of a Mahāpurusha when he had passed away, actually was not a mournful sign but an emblem of greatest festivity. That the Great Man had entered parinirvāṇa was no cause for sorrow. The idea behind it was one of universal joy and felicitation—a thanksgiving that the Mahāpurusha had appeared on earth and lighted a flame which was going to be perpetual, a light which would never be put out, a ray emanating from his forehead that would encompass all regions of space. Thus the Stūpa was verily the mound of gold (Hiraṇya-stūpa), standing as the dominant symbol of Wisdom, Dharma and Sovereign Spiritual Authority. This is shown in the numerous scenes of dance and music as well as the varied life of gods and men amongst the carved scenes on the railings and gatways of the Stūpa, and later on as at Amaravati and Nagarjunikonda even on the casing slabs.