The Hindu Temple v1.c4.s3.6

v1.c4.s3.6

King Pṛthu does his work at a definite stage in the ‘history’ of the world : his prototype is Yama, the Dharmarāja, ‘King Law and Order’. King Pṛthu who has made the earth yield, and she, the wide, the ‘broad one’, Pṛthivī (Ś. B. VII. 4.2.6), are thence connected in fact and name. Her fugitive, errant state has found rest.²⁶ The earth will no more run away. She exists protected by law and order. This contract is sealed when her plains are ploughed and her ground is levelled for buildings. It is then that the earth is a place of abode (āyatana) for all gods (Ś.B. XIV. 3.2.4.) and the building ground (bhūmi)²⁷ the share of the gods (‘Śāṅkhāyana Gṛhya Sūtra’, III. 3.2).