The Hindu Temple v1.c4.s1.2

v1.c4.s1.2

¹ ‘Agnipurāṇa’, ch. CIX. 1b-2a. ² ‘Mahābhārata’, Ādiparva, II. 2; Vanaparva, Tirthayātrāparva. ³ Kṣetra is sacred ground, a field of active power, a place where ‘mokṣa’, final release, can be obtained. The ‘Garuḍa Purāṇa’, I. XVI. 14, enumerates seven cities as givers of ‘mokṣa’. They are: Ayodhyā, Mathurā, Māyā, Kāśī, Kāñcī, Avantikā, Dvāravatī. The sacred geography of India recognises the whole country as a field of more than human activity. It is carried by the rivers, from the celestial region where they have their prototype and origin, down to the earth. Śaiva tradition knows the special potency of certain places (pīṭha) in India resulting from the fall to earth of the dismembered body of the dead Satī, a form which