The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c14.6

c14.6

The idea of the Vishnu mystic pillar, or holy mountain supporting the sky, is of very remote antiquity and common to Europe and Asia. The Christian church tower and steeple, and the Indian Vishnu sikhara are one and the same symbol with different implications. The Vedic philosophers took it as the symbol of the equilibrium of the two opposing cosmic forces, which they named Brahmâ and Siva, or evolution and involution. The three symbols together, the Trimûrti, are not separate "gods," but three Aspects of Ishwara, the first manifestation of the cosmic creative power proceeding from the Unknowable, Brahman. But the man in the Indian village, though not a polytheist, as is popularly believed,¹ would always think of a Vishnu shrine as the holy Mount Meru, or as Mount Mandara, Vishnu's abode in the Himâlayas.