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The Hindu Temple v1.c5: Part II. The Plan

The Hindu Temple v1.c5

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Part II. The Plan

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Prthivī, the element and goddess Earth (bhū), yields her surface; it is the ground (bhūmi) of architecture ritual, as it is the realm of manifestation, and of bodily existence; "it is the place where mortals and immortals reside (vas). The following four are considered as Vāstu, residences, by the ancients who were experts in architecture: Bhūmi, the ground; Prāsāda, the temple or palace, Yāna, the conveyance, and Śayana, the couch. Bhū, the earth, is considered the main Vastu, it is the underlying stratum of existence. Those that originate therefrom, the Prāsādas and other works of architecture are Vāstu (dwelling places, planned sites), because they are Vastu (existing things) and have their support on Vastu (an existing, concretely real thing)" ('Mayamata', II. 1-3a). Of these four classes, Bhū, the earth, is described first in the 'Mayamata', and the other treatises on architecture because "it is the first of the elemental principles (bhūta) and a support for the existence of the world" (ibid. II. 9).¹

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¹ The 5 'bhūtas'—earth, water, fire, air and ether—are the first or lowermost of the 24 principles (tattva) of the world of duality (ātma-tattva). Vāstu, with long ā is derived from Vastu, with short a.

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Vāstu, is primarily the planned site of the building. Its shape is square as a rule and its full name is Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala. This name consists of three parts, Vāstu, Puruṣa and Maṇḍala.

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Vāstu here, is the extent of Existence in its ordered state and is beheld in the likeness of the Puruṣa. The image of the Supernal or Cosmic Man, the Puruṣa, is congruous and identical to the planned site.

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Puruṣa, Cosmic Man, the origin and source of Existence (aparā-prakṛti), is its instrumental or efficient cause (nimitta-kāraṇa) and causes it to be of His substance as its material cause (upādāna). This is how He is known in the world, the manifested aspect of Himself, the Parā-prakṛti, the Beyond-Existence, the Avyaya Puruṣa, the immutable, Supreme One (Uttama-Puruṣa). In his identity with the 'plan', Puruṣa is shown in his conditioned aspect. The plan makes the site of the building in his image which is his form. The plan of the building is in the likeness of the Puruṣa, or of the totality of manifestation.

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Maṇḍala denotes any closed polygon. The form of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala is a square. This is its essential form. It can be converted into a triangle, hexagon, octagon and circle of equal area and retain its symbolism ('Bṛhat-Saṃhitā', ch. LII. 56, comm.).

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The relation of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala to the site-plan, ground-plan and vertical section of any building is similar to that of the tonic and any musical composition. The Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala gives the principle of all planned architectural form and the prototype of its various rhythms. Vāstu-śāstra speaks of Talacchanda or Adhaśchanda, the rhythm of the level and of Ūrdhvacchanda, the rhythm of the elevation implying the proportionate measurement which connects the ground-plan and the vertical section of a building.

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The Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala is the plan of all architectural form of the Hindus. The site-plan, the ground-plan, the horizontal and vertical sections are regulated by its norm. Originally and in practice the site-plan is laid out according to the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala; and the ‘general form of the temple’ (sāmānya prāsāda; Part VII) given in the earlier texts, rests on the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala.

Square and Circle: Vedic Origins

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“The shape of the Vāstu for gods and Brāhmaṇas is prescribed as square” (‘Mayamata’, III. 1).² The square is literally the fundamental form of Indian architecture. Baudhāyana’s prescription how to make a square (caturaśrīkaraṇa) requires a cord (sūtra) of the desired length of the square, its division in half, fixing of poles in the middle of the east-west line and at the cardinal points, and the drawing of circles from these points with the length, and half the length of the cord respectively as radius. The exterior points of intersection of the four circles about the eastern, southern, western and northern poles with a diameter equal to the length of the cord are the four corners of the required square field.³ The square is the essential and perfect form of Indian architecture. It presupposes the circle and results from it. Expanding energy shapes the circle from the centre; it is established in the shape of the square. The circle and curve belong to life in its growth and movement. The square is the mark of order, of finality to the expanding life, its form; and of perfection beyond life and death.

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² Also ‘Vāstuvidhāna’ of Nārada (Ms. 1602, Adyar Library), VIII. See Appendix.

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³ ‘Baudhāyana Śulva Sūtra’, I. 22-28. The very same method of constructing the square with the help of circles is prescribed in later texts with reference to the square of the Vāstupuruṣa (for instance, ‘Śaradātilaka’, III. 6; VI. 3-7), it is similar to the method prescribed in the ‘Āpastamba Śulva Sūtra’, VIII. 8-10; XI. 1. where a bamboo rod is rotated. The construction of the square by, rotation, of rod or cord, is however not the only one. Three further methods are prescribed in the ‘Śulva Sūtras’ (‘Āpastamba Śulva Sūtra’, I. 7; ‘Baudhāyana Śulva Sūtra’, I. 29-35 and ‘Āpastamba Śulva Sūtra’, I. 2) where the square is constructed by the stretching of the cord only, and without rotation (B. B. Datta, ‘The Science of the Śulba’, pp. 55-62). See also Part VII.

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Square and circle are co-ordinated in the architecture of India from the Vedic Fire altar, Agni. The Fire (Agni) and its support, the altar, are one in name. The ‘Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa’ and the ‘Śulva Sūtras’ give the rules for piling up these hearths or altars. In the sacrificial shed (prācīna-vaṃśa-śālā) are three altars, two of them on the east-west line in the middle, the ‘easterly spine’ (prācīnavamśa), and one to the south of the line. Of the two altars on the east-west line, the one at its eastern end is square, the other at its western end is circular. The square one, on which burns the Āhavanīya fire, denotes the heaven (dyau) world; from this celestial fire all other fires are subsequently lighted.⁴ The circular one, the Gārhapatya hearth, denotes this terrestrial world. The third hearth, which is that of the Southern fire, Dakṣiṇāgni, denotes the air-world (Ś. B. XII. 4. 1. 3).⁵

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⁴ The fire is first lighted by friction of wood on the Gārhapatya hearth. From the Gārhapatya the fire is transferred to the Āhavanīya hearth.

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⁵ The rules and meaning of the Agni and the Vedi are given in the Brāhmaṇas (c. 2000 B.C.). They form part of the Karmavidhi, the rules for the performance of the sacrificial rites. The Śrauta-Sūtras (2000-1500 B.C.) contain the rules for the rites ordained by the Veda. Each Śrauta-Sūtra seems to have had its Sulva-Sūtra, or section dealing with the measurements and the ‘geometry’ of the altar.—The Vedi is the sacred ground measured out for the sacrifices (yajña); RV. VIII. 19. 18. In the ‘Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa’, VII. I. I. 37; VII. 2. 2. ff. are explicit descriptions of the Gārhapatya and Āhavanīya hearths.

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The square Āhavanīya hearth at the eastern end of the sacrificial shed is in the middle of an area, one fathom (vyāma) square. In the Soma sacrifice, the highest of all sacrifices, after the initiation of the sacrificer, the square Āhavanīya hearth makes way on the first Upasad day⁶ for the new brick-built Śālādvārya Gārhapatya which has one fathom square for its area (Ś.B. VII. 1. 1. 37)⁷ and is round in shape.

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⁶ The Upasad days are counted from the commencement to the completion of the altar (Agni).

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⁷ S.B.E., Vol. XLIII, p. 307. Vyāma, a fathom, is the distance between the tips of the middle fingers when the arms are stretched out horizontally. This length of a fathom is also the height of man, from the soles to the root of the hair on the forehead, and remains throughout Indian art and symbolism the perfect proportion; cf. Weber, ‘Indische Studien’, XIII, p. 242.

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Outside, to the east of the sacrificial shed, at a given distance a plot is demarcated; this is called the Mahāvedi.⁸ The square High altar, Uttara Vedi, is on its eastern side.⁹ The Uttara Vedi, too, symbolizes the heavenly world (Ś.B. VII. 3. 1. 27). In the centre of the Uttara Vedi is a small square, its ‘navel’ (nābhi), one span (vitasti) square (Āp.Ś.S. VII. 5. 1).

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⁸ The Mahāvedi is a trapezium, its ‘prācī’ or middle line in the E-W direction measures 36 units (‘prakrama’ or ‘pada’, the east side 24 units, the west side 30 units. 1 prakrama = 3 pada: 1 pada=10 aṅgulas or 15 aṅg. or also 12 aṅg. (‘Taitt. Saṃh.’, VI. 2. 4. 5; ‘Mānava Sulva Sūtra’, ch. IV). The Mahāvedi is also called Saumikī Vedi and is situated in the open to the east of the sacrificial shed (prācīnavamśaśālā) for the purpose of the Soma sacrifice. The Vedi in the shed, between the three hearths, is rectangular with concave, curved sides (cf. the drawing in S.B.E., vol. XXVI, p. 475 and W. Caland-V. Henry ‘L’Agniṣṭoma’, I. Pl. IV). Neither of these Vedis is square.

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⁹ The Uttara Vedi is the principal—and primary—Vedi.

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The square is the shape of the Uttara Vedi, the High altar; it is also the shape of the hearth of the celestial Fire, the Āhavanīya Agni; it is the shape of the centre, the Nābhi, of the Uttara Vedi, and also of the Ukhā, the pan in which the celestial fire is carried from the Āhavanīya Agni.

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The Ukhā, the earthen fire pan (Ś.B. VI. 5. 2. 8), has the shape of a cube. It is the earthen 'womb' of the Fire (Agni; Ś.B. VI. 5. 2. 21).¹⁰ In the Soma sacrifice, the celestial sacrificial fire is transferred daily from the Āhavanīya hearth to a seat of Udumbara wood by the sacrificer in an initiation of one year's duration; the fire is transferred in the pan, the Ukhā (Ukhya Agni) serving as Āhavanīya Agni. On the first day after the initiation, a new round Gārhapatya hearth is built. Its new site is the space of a fathom square in the centre of which was the original square Āhavanīya hearth. The new Gārhapatya hearth (śālādvārya), near the eastern entrance of the sacrificial shed, is built of brick. Its area is equal to one fathom square. It preserves its identity in its name, Gārhapatya, and in its round shape. The domestic fire (Gārhapatya) of the sacrificer has now been transferred to the place of the celestial fire (Āhavanīya) not only by its position but also by its extent. The circle of the Gārhapatya, now situated in the east of the sacrificial shed is equal to a square of one fathom. Its nucleus in the centre is also square.

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¹⁰ The Ukhā is burnt with fire of the Dakṣiṇāgni, or with newly made fire. Weber, op. cit., vol. XIII, p. 225 f.

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The Purāṇa Gārhapatya, the old Gārhapatya hearth, was of terrestrial nature. This now, at the completion of the initiation, is commuted in the Śālādvārya Gārhapatya, to its celestial nature and destination.

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The centre of the new Gārhapatya hearth is laid out in the shape of a cross: four large rectangular (2 'pada' by 1 'pada' each; double square) bricks, in one line from North to South, to which are added two bricks at the back and two in front (1 square pada each), that is West and East; these four bricks are half the size of those North to South. To these are added further bricks which fill the corners in the intermediate directions of the square area inside the round Gārhapatya hearth. To these, further bricks are added; they fill the round periphery with its 21 enclosing bricks (Ś.B. VII. 1. 1. 17-19). The new Gārhapatya hearth has the shape of a circle in area to a square fathom (vyāma = a man's length).

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Each kind of sacrifice requires an Agni (altar) of prescribed shape (and size). Sacrifices are (1) obligatory, daily or seasonal and (2) undertaken for the purpose of wish fulfilment.

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The main altars for the daily (nitya) sacrifices are the Āhavanīya, Gārhapatya and Dakṣiṇa. Amongst the seasonal or recurrent sacrifices, the Soma sacrifice necessitates a Vedi = altar-ground, outside the sacrificial shed, the Mahāvedi or Saumiki Vedi, and on it, the Uttara Vedi, and a Fire Altar (Agni). Their construction, form and meaning as well as those of the abovementioned hearths, are fundamentally important to the Hindu temple. The Soma sacrifice entails the building of the Agni, the Fire Altar, which is piled above the Uttara Vedi on the Mahāvedi. This rite is called Agnicayana, the piling of the Fire Altar. The 'Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa' gives its rules and meaning. This big sacrifice must be performed in a Vedic Hindu family at least once in three generations.

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The brick-built Gārhapatya altar is proper to the Soma-sacrifice. Weber, l.c. Vol. XIII, p. 242.

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About the Kāmya Agnis, the fire altars of different shapes for sacrifices performed with the purpose of attaining definite objects, see Thibaut, 'On the Śulva Sūtras', JASB., 1875; and N. K. Majumder, 'Sacrificial Altars: Vedis and Agnis', JISOA, Vols. VII and VIII; the one of falcon shape (caturaśra-śyena citi) is the most relevant. The Kāmya Agnis are not directly related to the Hindu Temple.

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"The Gārhapatya is this (terrestrial world) and this world is circular" (Ś.B. VII. 1. 1. 37). The earth as the terrestrial world, in Vedic tradition, is symbolised by the circle, and by the round Gārhapatya hearth in contradistinction to the square of the Āhavanīya hearth which stands for the heaven world. During the year of initiation the round hearth of the earthly fire is re-built, at the place of the celestial fire and to the extent of its square site. In this architectural rite it is transferred to another place where it is identical, by measure and position, though not outwardly by shape, to the site of the altar of the celestial fire. Agni is the name of the Fire wherever it burns and the altar, Agni, is its support, terrestrial or celestial, according to its shape.

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The Vedi, in Vedic tradition, represents the extent of the earth. It is an area for sacrificial purposes. The shape of the Vedi varies. It is symbolical as a delimited area and not as a definite figure. The Uttaravedi is square and it is said: "the Vedi is the earth, the Uttaravedi the heaven world" (Ś.B. VII. 3. 1. 27). This is its symbolic value by virtue of its squareness.

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In the Hindu temple, it is the square Vedi which makes the sacred ground. The circular aspect of the earth is left behind, it belongs to the world of appearance and its movement; the earth is beheld itself under the perfection of the heavenly world and, knowing this perfection, is drawn as a square.¹¹

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¹¹ Under this aspect the earth is known in RV. X. 58. 3 (caturbhṛṣṭi) ; VII. 99. 1 (catussrakti) ; Ś. B. VI. 1. 2. 29 (catussrakti). On this knowledge are based the square maṇḍala of the earth, Pṛthivīmaṇḍala, and the square Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala of the Hindu temple (see Part I).

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On the last day of the initiation (dīkṣā), the Mahāvedi is measured and demarcated and on it the area of the Fire altar which is to be built, so that the fire in the Ukhā can finally be deposited on it, having been brought from the new Gārhapatya (śālādvārya). Of the Agni now to be built, first the body (ātman) is thrown up on the Mahāvedi, the altar ground, which has been ploughed and sown during the introductory sacrifice (prāyaṇīyam) on the day following the last day of the initiation. The Agni lies symmetrically on the East-West line, the middle line or spine of the Mahāvedi, close to its east side ('Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra' XVI. 7. 31). The body (ātman) of the altar is laid out square. "Agni piled up for the first time should be without wings and tail and measure one square 'puruṣa'. A bamboo rod is the measure; it measures the length of the sacrificer when he stretches up his arms". (Āp.Ś.S. XVI. 17. 8-10). It is also laid down that the body (ātman) of the bird-shaped Agni has an area of 40 square feet (pada) or 4 men's length (puruṣa) square in an area of 7 men's length square (sapta-puruṣa).¹² "With man's measure he (the sacrificer) metes out. Man is commensurate with the sacrifice." (Taitt. Saṃh. V. 2. 5. 1). "As much as a man with arms extended, with so much a bamboo rod (the Fire altar) is meted out" ('Maitrāyaṇīya S.' III. 2. 4). He metes it out with (the measure of) man (puruṣa) with arms extended. "Verily the sacrifice is a 'puruṣa' and hence by it, all these are measured, and that is its best measure inasmuch as with arms extended he (man) has his maximum measure" (Ś.B. X. 2. 2. 6.). Man in his maximum measure is the standard of measuring the Agnikṣetra, the square field of the Agni.

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¹² Of the bird-shaped Agni it is said (Ś. B. VI. 1. 2. 36). "For what object is this fire (altar) built? 'Having become a bird, he (Agni) shall bear me to the sky', so say some; but let him not think so; for by assuming that form, the seven breaths [(prāṇa) in the sense of the Greek 'pneuma'] became Prajāpati" (cf. VI. 1. 1. 5-6); "by assuming that form Prajāpati created the gods; by assuming that form the gods became immortal: and what thereby the immanent breaths and Prajāpati, and the gods became, that indeed he (the sacrificer) thereby becomes" (trans. Eggeling, S.B.E. XLI). One 'puruṣa' is the length of man standing on tiptoe (or not) with raised arms; it measures 5 'aratni' (the length from the elbow to the tip of the little finger, an ell) or 'hasta', the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger, or 10 'padavitasti' (span) ;

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The square Ātman within the Agnikṣetra has two spines (vaṃśa, pṛṣṭhva); the main one, in the East-West direction coincides with the middle line of the Mahāvedi; the other cuts across it at a right angle.¹³ Where the middle lines meet the sides of the square 'body' an earthen brick (logeṣṭakā) is laid down on each side. From the point, which is to be the centre of the Ātman and of the Agnikṣetra and where a bundle of Kuśa grass has been placed, the Uttara-Vedi is now thrown up, a square mound or platform.¹⁴ The earth for it has been taken from a square pit (cātvāla) of the same content. Its height is made equal to that of the earth bricks in the middle of the sides of the body (ātman) of the Fire altar. The remaining area of the Ātman is then filled up (with sand) to the same height. The Uttara-Vedi, the High altar, is made part of the first layer (citi) of the Fire altar. The 4 earth-bricks and the Kuśa grass bundle in the centre are counted as 5 'bricks' of the first layer (Ś. B. X. 4. 3. 14).

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¹³ The Agnikṣetra, the complete extent of the Fire altar, has 95 increasing sizes, the area of each being increased by one-seventh of the original size (1 square puruṣa); Weber, l.c. p. 240.

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¹⁴ The measurement of the Uttara-Vedi is given in Ś. B. VII. 3. 1. 27; cf. also 'L'Agniṣṭoma', op. cit., I. p. 75.

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The Navel (nābhi) in the centre of the Uttara-Vedi, the High altar, is square and measures a span;¹⁵ it is the centre of the sacrifice. There, originally, the fire was laid and it is here that the symbolism of the square has its root in the Vedic rites.¹⁶ The Ukhā, the fire-pan made of clay, in which the Fire (Agni) is carried from the Āhavanīya hearth, to the Agni, the Fire altar, piled above the Uttara-

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¹⁵ Prādeśa, or it has the length of a bull's foot or a horse's foot ('Āpastamba Ś. S.' VII. 5. 1).

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¹⁶ K. F. Johansson, 'Die Altindische Göttin Dhiṣaṇā', p. 51, speaks of the Uttara Vedi as more ancient than the Vedi of the Prācīnavaṃśa.—The sacrifice itself is called 'bhuvanasya nābhiḥ', RV. I. 164. 34.

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Weber, l.c. p. 239. These are relative measures; they vary with the height of the sacrificer. The cubit 'hasta' = 2 'padas' = 24 aṅgulas is the generally accepted unit in Hindu architecture.

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A 'puruṣa' is the measure of man with arms raised. Vyāma, the measure of man from the soles to the root of the hair on the forehead, is equal to one fathom. The latter is the standard of measure for the altars of the daily sacrifices. The Agni of the Soma-sacrifice is measured with man's greatest measure.

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The length of a 'puruṣa' is standardised as 120 aṅgulas. Aṅgula is the width of a finger, i.e., the thumb (see Part V). A Vyāma has 120 or else 96 aṅgulas. Generally however 'puruṣa' and Vyāma denote a length of 120 aṅgulas. This explanation is given in the commentary by Bhaṭṭabhāskara Miśra of the 'Taittirīya Saṃhitā' (Mysore Oriental Library series, Bibl. Sanskr., No. 15, pp. 134-136). The 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', IX. 45, however, gives 84 aṅgulas as equal to 'vyāma = puruṣa'. Re: the different types of aṅgula, see Part V.

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Vedi, is necessarily square in section; it measures a span as does the Nābhi. It is spoken of as the womb, and its cube holds the entire manifested universe, its under surface being this world; the lower part of its sides is the air; the upper portion is the sky (Ś. B. VI. 5. 2. 22). This womb of Agni survives its name and retains its function and to some extent its form in the shape of the Phelā, which is the ‘womb’ of the temple (Pt. IV), and also in the Garbhagṛha, the ‘womb chamber’ of the Embryo, or innermost sanctuary of the temple. It also is generally built on a square plan and is cubical. The navel and womb as places of generation and continuity are images which endure. They are fitted into the square, not in any way as visual symbols, but in virtue of their function, the one accommodating the celestial Fire and the other the Garbhagṛha with the image or symbol of God.

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The square, as fundamental figure of sacrificial symbolism and temple architecture, lends itself to many variations. Baudhāyana prescribes the construction of the Sārārathacakracit and the commentator explains how to form at first a small square with 4 bricks in the middle of the Agnikṣetra then to enlarge this square, to one of 16, etc. This method has become known in the West, through Aristotle, as the Pythagorean ‘gnomon’.” It is in this way too, that the various types of the Vāstumaṇḍala are enumerated in Vāstuśāstra in a progressive series of 1, 2, 3, 4 units square, etc., the most sacred being the plan of 64 squares, preserving the meaning of 64 which is exemplified in “64 bricks form the spokes of the wheel, 64 the Vedi.¹⁸

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¹⁸ G. Thibaut, l.c. quoting ‘Baudhāyana Śulva Sūtra’, III, with reference to the Sārārathacakracit. In this particular instance, three consecutive squares are constructed. The central one of 16 squares for the nave, that of 64 squares for the interior edge of the felloe, and the third square as its outer edge. These squares are then turned into circles. The Vāstumaṇḍala of 64 squares is, according to Varāhamihira, prescribed for the temple (‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, LV. 10; cf. Part I). It is its original plan. Utpala, however, commenting on LII, 73, admits the Vāstumaṇḍala of 81 squares for all kinds of temples, regulating the rhythmical disposition of their ground-plan (adhaśchanda, talacchanda), etc., whereas palaces, etc., must have a Vāstumaṇḍala of 81 squares.—The royal maṇḍala, it appears, is thus admitted and established in the sacerdotal field.

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In general a brick in the Brāhmaṇas is one foot square, or its multiple or sub-multiple.¹⁹ It is a natural unit and its name ‘iṣṭakā’, which denotes a brick, has remained the name of any building ‘stone’.

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¹⁹ Ś.B. VIII. 7. 2. 17. prescribes one foot square. The bricks are classified as ‘padya, ardhapadya, padabhāga’ according to their side length of one foot, a half and, a quarter foot respectively (Weber, l.c.) ; the 4 bricks which form the ‘body’ of the Gārhapatya hearth are rectangular, twice the length of the square bricks laid at the front and back, east and west ; Ś.B. VII. I. 1. 18. This makes the centre of the round Gārhapatya hearth a square (p. 253). According to Āp. Ś.S., XVI. 13. 6. bricks may also measure one ‘aratni’ or ell, or the length of the thigh or the upper spine. The unit of the measure of the sacrificial body which the sacrificer builds up for himself is always taken from his physical body.

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The description of the Gārhapatya (śālādvārya) as a circle equal in area to the square of one fathom is given in the ‘Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa’ (VII. I. I. 37).²⁰

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¹⁷ G. Thibaut, ‘On the Śulva Sūtras’, JASB., 1875, p. 200 f. ; T. L. Heath, ‘History of Greek Mathematics’, Vol. I. p. 77.

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²⁰ In the ‘Śulva Sūtras’ various (approximate) methods are given for the circling of the square and the squaring of the circle. That for circling the square is identical in the various

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The square shape of the Āhavanīya hearth, of the Uttara Vedi and the other sacred centres and objects cannot as an alternative be circular; whereas the Gārhapatya, fundamentally circular, may be set up on a square or circular area according to one or the other school.²¹ That is, the ‘earth’ may be thought of as round, in its own shape or square in its figure ordered by the law of the ‘heaven world’.

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²¹ Āp. Ś.S. XVI. 14. 1, and elsewhere. Similarly too, the Dhiṣṇya hearths are piled on a square or circular (base); Āp. Ś.S. XVII. 21. 5.—Analogously, the funeral mound (śmaśāna) is either square or round. Ś.B. XIII ; 8. 1. 5. See also Caland, ‘Die Altindischen Todten und Bestattungsgebräuche’, p. 141.

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Because it is the perfect shape the square is sacred in the hierarchy of Indian architectural symbolism; the square is of greater significance than the circle.

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Sūtras; whereas alternative methods are given in the Sūtras for squaring the circle. The circling of the square is described and its various methods are given in translation by B. B. Datta, op. cit. pp. 140-149, from the Sulva Sūtras of Āpastamba, Kātyāyana, and Baudhāyana.

The Square Maṇḍala of the Earth and of the Ecliptic

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The earth is round. The Brāhmaṇas repeatedly say that the whole earth, once floating and mobile remained in this condition until the cardinal points, becoming fixed themselves, also fixed the earth. In its fixed position it is spoken of as four-cornered (caturbhṛṣṭi; RV. X. 58. 3) or four pointed (catussrakti, Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 29). These points are where heaven and earth seem to meet, where the sun appears to rise and set; East and West, and the other cardinal points complete the square. The earth, in its contact with heaven of which the sky is the figure, is kept in position by this contact, by the regular appearance and disappearance of the sun, at these points, which are the seal on the marriage of heaven and earth then contracted. The four cardinal points, the four orients, are beheld periodically and become known as perpetually recurring, permanent in a cyclical sense, by which the days are measured and time. In Indian symbolism, the earth, fixed and ruled over by time, is known as, and correspondingly drawn as, four-cornered, each side of the square ruled over by the regent of the cardinal point situated at its middle. Whereas the earth, as the surface of this world which supports the movements and weight of our bodies, is round, the earth held in the embrace of the sky and subject to its laws is represented as fixed four-fold. The Pṛthivī-maṇḍala, therefore, is a square maṇḍala or cakra (‘Vāstuvidhāna’, 1. c.).

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Thirty-two divinities are assigned to the outermost border of the square Vāstumaṇḍala (Fig. on p. 32). The number 32, geometrically, results from a repeated division of the border of the square. It denotes four times 8 positions in space. The original value of 4 in space are the four directions, 8 are the cardinal points and the corners of the square in the intermediate directions. This is the natural division of the border of the square. The 8 directions are held by 8 Vāstupuruṣas, each having his name and position. These 8 are their visualized potencies within the total Vāstupuruṣa; they are each associated with one of the planets and also with one of the leading stars of eight of the Nakṣatras or houses of the moon.²²

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²² The ‘Matsyapurāṇa’, ch. XCIII, 10-16, moreover distinguishes between the regents (adhidevatā) and the secondary presiding divinities (pratyadhidevatā) of the planets, etc.

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Born from the contact of heaven and earth, brought about by the apparent movement of the sun, the eight directions are presided over each by a planet and its regent. Their terrestrial powers in space are determined by celestial powers in time.

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The square, with reference to the level of the earth, is the graph of the pair of opposites initially marked by sunrise and sunset and caused by the daily apparent movement of the sun. These successive and recurrent critical moments are given a permanence by the symbol of the square on which they are shown stationed opposite one another. The balance of their positions is made conclusive by marking the South and North points as the second corresponding pair of opposites and by connecting these points by straight lines; where they meet at right angles, are the intermediate directions North-East, South-East and so forth, so that by a geometrically progressive series the original two points engender four and eight, sixteen and thirty-two. These stations are marked along the outline of the square diagram; 32 divinities are assigned to the 32 fields in the outer border of the square (Fig. on p. 32). A cyclical sequence is held in the square by the pairs of opposites. They encompass all manifestation, in terms of space, as it is beheld on the level of the earth. This initial translation of the rhythm of time into a pattern in space forms the basis of larger cycles than that of the day; they also are supported by the square drawn on the ground.

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Over the 8 Vāstupuruṣas, over the eight points of the compass, preside the regents of the planets and each Vāstupuruṣa has his star²³ (chart on page 38). The planets, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn rule over the four points of the compass with reference to the Ecliptic.²⁴

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²³ The 8 Vāstupuruṣas are called by the following names in the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, commentary of the 10th century, and the ‘Vāsturājavallabha’ of the 15th century: Wilderness or Crow, Flag, Crow or Smoke, Lion, Dog, Bull, Monkey and Elephant. These are place marks indicative of the favourable potencies or the auspiciousness of a particular direction. They represent a chthonic correspondence to the eight directions of space and belong to a tradition different from that of the one and comprehensive Vāstupuruṣa, in whose diagram they come to have their place. Utpala speaks about them as forming part of the knowledge of ‘other Ācāryas’ then Varāhamihira.

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²⁴ Mus, ‘Barabuḍur’, BÉFEO, XXXII, p. 420. The East, however, (chart on p. 38) is presided by the Moon, and Mercury (Budha) is assigned to the South-West.

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The Ecliptic, the great circle on the apparent sphere of the sky which the sun and the moon seem to traverse, has its symbol in the square Vāstumaṇḍala. The square compass of the directions symbolises at the same time the apparent daily movement of the sun and the apparent monthly and annual movements of the moon and the sun. The former is shown by the lunar mansions, the Nakṣatras, whereas the signs of the Zodiac are not entered in the Vāstumaṇḍala.

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The Ecliptic is drawn in India as a square and this coincides in the Vāstumaṇḍala with the square compass of the orients and all directions. The square symbol of the Ecliptic represents the different cycles and the enclosures in space that are separately traversed by the celestial bodies and also the number of units of time taken by the bodies in traversing such an enclosure.²⁵ At present in Indian astrology, the Ecliptic is drawn under the name of Rāśi-cakra, the wheel, a closed polygon, of signs, as a square Zodiac. The astrologer bases his calculations and predictions on this square of which he divides each side into four. The position of the heavenly bodies is represented by him on the ground by a sub-division and bordering of the square, the four squares in the centre being obliterated. The 12 signs of the Zodiac are assigned to the 12 squares of the border.²⁶ The 12 signs of the Zodiac are identical in number to the 12 Ādityas who are the different manifestations of the one Sun god in the 12 stages of his journey.

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²⁵ The ‘Sūryaprajñapti’ (G. Thibaut, ‘On the Sūryaprajñapti’, JASB, Vol. 49, pt. I, p. 117) and the Purāṇas explain 3 different motions of the sun: (1) the daily motion. The sun seems to approach from the east, passes through our field of vision, disappears in the west; (2) the annual motion. The sun seems to pass in the course of a year through the circle of the Nakṣatras, proceeding from west to east. (3) The motion in declension. The sun ascends towards the north during one half of the year and descends towards the south during the other half.

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²⁶ C. P. S. Menon, ‘Early Astronomy and Cosmology’, p. 36.

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In the Vāstumaṇḍala on which all architecture rests, the border of the square cycle of the Ecliptic is not sub-divided into 12, but into 32 units. This original number of the symbolism of space accommodates, within the border of the square of the Ecliptic, the "32 Nakṣatras".²⁷

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²⁷ The ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, Pt. II, ch. XXIX, 24, speaks of 32 Nakṣatras.

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The Nakṣatras are the constellations or lunar mansions through which the moon passes in his monthly course. They are a scale of 27 or 28 divisions, capable of representing time intervals as well as spaces. Each Nakṣatra has a leading star and is presided over and sacred to a particular divinity. The 27 and 28 divisions of the Ecliptic become fixed in position like a great, fixed, square dial with the numbers ranging not along the Equator, but along the Ecliptic itself.²⁸ The square, cycle of the Ecliptic, would thus have to be sub-divided into 27 or 28 compartments. Instead of this, the number of Nakṣatras is augmented to 32, so that each field of the border represents a lunar mansion or Nakṣatra. In the Vāstumaṇḍala their number is thus adjusted to the helio-planetary cosmogram²⁹ of the Pṛthivīmaṇḍala. There, the four cardinal points, with reference to the Ecliptic are the equinoxial and solstitial points in the annual cycle. The solar cycles of the days and years are shown in the Vāstumaṇḍala together with the lunations, the monthly revolutions of the moon round the earth. The solar-spatial symbolism is primary and the lunar symbolism is accommodated within the Vāstu-diagram.

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²⁸ Cf. W. Brennand, ‘Hindu Astronomy’, p. 39.

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²⁹ P. Mus, ‘Barabuḍur’, op. cit., p. 420.

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The square ‘cakra’ or maṇḍala is a closed polygon symbolical of recurrent cycles of time. Pṛthivī-maṇḍala, and Vāstu-maṇḍala are both squares; the one connotes the earth ruled in its life by the apparent movement of the sun and filled in its extent by the equilibrium of the pairs of opposites on which this order is established. In its whole extent it is a Vedi, and this is also true of the Vāstumaṇḍala into which it is incorporated. In the form in which the Vāstumaṇḍala is the ‘plan’ of the temple and regulates the rhythms of its groundplan (adhaśchanda, talacchanda) a further accentuation of its squareness is the rule. In the sub-division of its sides or borders from four to eight and up to thirty-two, the original geometrical progression, fixing positions, can be seen at work. The 32 positions, four times eight in space, are held by divinities identified with those of the mansions of the moon, by some schools. The border in its continuity is associated with the course of the moon, and inasmuch as it faces the eight directions it is associated with the stations of the sun.

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The Vāstu had come to be the place of the adjustment of solar and lunar cycles. The number 32 of the divinities residing in the squares of the border of the Vāstumaṇḍala is also the sum of 4 and 28, the number of the regents of the four planets who rule over the equinoxial and solstitial points referred to the cardinal points, and of the regents of the 28 Nakṣatras. Their location in the Vāstumaṇḍala shows a reconciliation of the motions of the Sun and the Moon, and they have their nature in their number which is 32; the single divinities who make up this sum act each as a ‘locum tenens’. In Vāstuśāstra they are nearly unanimously identified with the divinities whose names are shown in the border of the Figure below, following the ‘Bṛhatsaṃhitā, LII. 43 f.

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VĀSTUPURUṢAMAṆḌALA

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VĀSTUPURUṢAMAṆḌALA

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The identification of the Nakṣatras with the 32 gods, who are designated as Padadevatās, divinities of whom each occupies a square of the outer border of the maṇḍala, is made in the ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, Pt. II. ch. XXIX. 18-30. There the names of the gods are listed, four in each of the directions and four in the intermediate directions. Then follows, according to the text, the list of the “stars”. These are enumerated in groups of eight, in the four directions. Their names are almost in every instance identical to those of the Padadevatās; they are not the names of stars, and only roughly correspond in their positions in the Vāstumaṇḍala with the presiding divinities of the stars (cf. Fig. on p. 32 and chart on p. 34).

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Agni, amongst the gods, is assigned the SE; Agni, amongst the presiding divinities of the stars, is assigned the NE. The latter position he holds in the Vāstumaṇḍala of the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ as Padadevatā (Fig. on p. 32). The former position however is assigned to him in most of the later texts, where Īśāna rules over the North-East.³⁰ From this it appears that the star gods form the one, and presumably the more ancient, series in the border of the Vāstumaṇḍala; the Padadevatās are but loosely connected with the stars and their special significance is given in detail in the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’ of the early eleventh century (Part III).

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³⁰ But for this and the corresponding changes in the intermediate directions, where Agni occupies the South-East in the place of Anila; and Anila who is Māruta who is Vāyu, the Wind, is placed in the North-Western corner, there are no major differences in the positions of the Devatās in the Vāstu of all the schools and at all times. Roga (disease) in the later Vāstu-śāstra is ousted from his position and disappears from the Vāstu, while Pāpayakṣman and Soṣa remain in the retinue of Varuṇa; their evil presence suffices. In the inner border Rājayakṣman (consumption) is replaced by Rudrajaya, and Nirṛti occupies the South-West corner. The other divinities remain the same under identical or else alternate names or synonyms (Bhujaga, for instance, in the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, is Kuvera in the ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ and the other texts; Agni is Śikhin, Śikhā or Anala, in the Br. S. LII. 43 and Comm.). [*] When Aryaman, east of the Brahmasthāna is replaced by Marīci, as in the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. XXVII. 4-7, his name appears in the South outside the Vāstu. The entities stationed outside the Vāstu, who occupy positions but of no definite extent, are also mentioned in the early texts (‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, LII. 82, etc.). They figure in the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, etc. (see Part III) and their names are added on p. 32 to the Vāstumaṇḍala of the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, for the sake of completeness. The Devatās and their identifications are given in the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’ (see Part III, where also drawings are given of the most frequent versions of the two main types of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala of temples).

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The number of the Nakṣatras, the ‘stars’, is 27 or 28. The latter is the number of squares in the outer border of a Vāstumaṇḍala of 64 squares. The astronomically, unsubstantiated increase of their number to 32 appears motivated in two ways. It makes them identical in number and therefore in substance with the 32 Padadevatās; and this assigns to each divinity a full square in the marginal border of a Vāstumaṇḍala of 81 squares. Geometrically, the maṇḍala of 81 squares is a logical form of the proliferation of the 2, 4 and 8, directions; in a series they progress to 16, 32 and 64; in the ritual diagram of the architect, however, the 32 gods find each their unbroken place in the border of the square of 81 units whereas in the square of 64 units the squares in the corners have to be halved so that all the Padadevatās are accommodated in its border. These two varieties of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, the one of 64, the other of 81 squares are its two main types that underlie sacred architecture.

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The elaboration of the Vāstumaṇḍala, the square dial of all cyclical time, and its identification with the Vāstupuruṣa, according to his legend, appear almost completed at the age of the ‘Bṛhatsaṃhitā’ and the ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’. Only a few traces like the double list of the ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, or the number 32 as that of the Nakṣatras given by Utpala, commenting on the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, remain of the various traditions which met in the Vāstu.

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Utpala, commenting on ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, LII. 73, gives the position of the Stars and their presiding divinities, in the border of the Vāstumaṇḍala as follows :

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THE STARS AND THEIR REGENTS IN THE BORDER OF THE VĀSTU RULING OVER THE POSITIONS OF THE ENTRANCE³¹

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³¹ The above chart shows for each of the four directions, the names of eight lunar mansions, in the first line; the numbers in the second line belong to the mansions in the sequence in which the moon enters them. The third line gives the name of the presiding divinity of each Nakṣatra (star). The chart is drawn up according to Utpala, l.c., and its lacunae are filled from the ‘Taittirīya Saṃhitā’, IV. 4. 10, and the ‘Bṛhatpārāśarahorā’. The names of 27 Nakṣatras are given while the number of entrances or their positions is 32. Certain stars therefore are repeated, Viśākhā appears thrice, and Revatī, Bharaṇī and Aśvinī twice each. The position of the Nakṣatras does not agree with the relative situation of the principal stars, in the ‘Sūrya Siddhānta’. E: Rohiṇī, Āśleṣā, Mūla. S: Bharaṇī, Kṛttikā, Maghā, Revatī. W: Hastā, Dhaniṣṭhā. N: Aśvinī, Mṛgaśiras, Pūrva-Phalguni, Viśākhā, Pūrva-Aṣāḍhā, Uttara-Aṣāḍhā, Pūrva-Bhādrapada, Uttara-Bhādrapada. Middle: Puṣya (Tiṣya), Anurādhā, Jyeṣṭhā, Śravaṇā.

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| E | Kṛttikā 3 Agni | Uttarā-phalguni 12 Bhaga | Jyeṣṭhā 18 Indra | Viśākhā 16 Indra-Agni | Punarvasu 7 Aditi | Tiṣya 8 Bṛhaspati | Hastā 13 Sūrya | Ārdrā 6 Rudra |
| S | Citrā 14 Indra | Viśākhā 16 Indra-Agni | Revatī 27 Pūṣan | Mūla 19 Nirṛti; Rākṣasa | Bharaṇī 2 Yama | Uttarā-ṣāḍhā 21 Viśvedevāḥ | Aśvinī 1 Aśvinī | Anurādhā 17 Mitra |
| W | Maghā 10 Pitaraḥ | Prauṣṭhapada 25 Ajapād | Pūrva-phalguni 11 Aryaman | Pūrvāṣāḍhā 20 Varuṇa | Viśākhā 16 Śakra-Agni | Śatabhiṣaj 24 Varuṇa | Aśvinī 1 Aśvinī | Revatī 27 Savitṛ |
| N | Svātī 15 Vāyu | Āśleṣā 9 Sarpa | Abhijit 7 Brahmā | Mṛgaśiras 5 Soma | Śravaṇā 22 Viṣṇu | Dhaniṣṭhā 23 8 Vasus | Bharaṇī 2 Yama | Rohiṇī 7 Brahmā |

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The entrance to a building or settlement or else the position of a building on the site-plan is favourable, brings good luck to the builder, at certain of the 32 positions, and ill luck of various kinds, at others. If the moon and the stars are favourable, then only should a building, on a site, or the entrance to site or building be placed in that position. These astrological and other considerations are specially applicable to domestic architecture, whereas the positions and directions of temples depend on further observances (Pt. VII).

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The knowledge of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala which implies the settling and forming (vikalpana) of the Vāstupuruṣa is the first limb of the body of Hindu architecture (‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, XLV. 2); it is a prerequisite of all architectural work, sacred and domestic.

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In the Vāstumaṇḍala, the eight directions of space are held by eight Vāstupuruṣas; over these preside the regents of the 8 planets and 8 divinities of the Nakṣatras. Its square thus houses the daily apparent movement of the sun by which are determined the 2, 4 and 8 directions of space; it houses also the annual movement of the sun, when the points of the compass are taken to refer to the Ecliptic, and are presided over by the regents of the planets; and also the course of the moon on the Ecliptic and its passage through the lunar mansions.

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The regents of the planets and of the stars rule over the destinies of men. The particular lunar mansions and lunar days have their presiding gods. They are the powers which rule over the Nakṣatras and over the actions of men and their results on these days, the good or evil which they shall bring to man. The house and the life of the builder or donor, are connected and their fate is determined by the stars. The connection of man, his work and the cosmos, in the cycles of time is verified in the Vāstumaṇḍala of which the entire extent is covered by the one and only Vāstupuruṣa whose legend is told in many versions and whose body is occupied by 45 Vedic gods. It is this complete Vāstupuruṣa congruous to his magic diagram, which forms the basis of Indian architecture. Its square is symbolical of all cyclical time, the day, the month, the year and the wider cycles marked by the recurrence of eclipses.

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The 32 gods of the outer border, surround, and have their centre in Brahmā. Along with Brahmā, their number is 33, the number of the gods in the Āpri hymns of the Ṛg Veda. In addition to these 33 gods, 12 more gods are stationed in the square, magic diagram of the Vāstumaṇḍala; they correspond to the 12 Ādityas, the sons of Aditi. Either of these series of gods are the Lords of a completed cycle of eclipses; at the end of an eclipse cycle the motions of the sun and moon are adjusted.³² Dhātar, the Creator, sets sun and moon in the same position as before (RV. X. 190. 1-3), and the time world goes on.³³

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³² R. Shamasastry, ‘The World-cycle’, JISOA, vol. XI, p. 117.

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³³ ib. p. 118; The number of the Ādityas is 8 in the Ṛg Veda.

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The Vāstumaṇḍala with its border is the place in which the motions of Sun and Moon are reconciled and where their union takes place. It is the Vāstu in which the decrepit, old Cyavana asked his sons, to put him down so that he would become young again. Cyavana, the aged decrepit (RV. I. 116. 10) whose story has several versions in the Brāhmaṇas and Purāṇas, though always of the same meaning, is the Moon and Sukanyā, ‘the lovely maiden’ whom he desires, is the Sun. The ‘Jaiminīya’ or ‘Talavakāra Brāhmaṇa’ says³⁴: “Cyavana, the Bhārgava knew the Brāhmaṇa of Vāstupa. He said to his sons: I know the Brāhmaṇa of Vāstupa, put me down then in the Vāstu and go forth . . . They went forth . . . He, left in the Vāstu, wished ‘may I be young again . . . May I win a girl for wife. May I sacrifice with a thousand cows'; he saw this Sāman;³⁵ he praised with it; when he had praised, Śaryāta, the Mānava³⁶ with his clan, settled down (adhyavāsyat) by him. The young cowherds smeared him with dirt . . . . he wrought discord for the Śaryātas; then neither did mother know son, nor son mother.' Śaryāta, the Mānava, said: Have ye seen anything here which could have brought this about? They said to him: surely there lies below here this worn out old man; him the young cowherds and shepherds to-day have been smearing with dirt—hence this has become thus. He said: That verily was Cyavana, the Bhārgava; he knows the Brāhmaṇa of Vāstupa, him now his sons have left in the Vāstu and have gone forth. Running up to him, he said: Sage, homage to thee: have mercy Sir, on the Śaryātas. Now there was a beautiful daughter of Śaryāta, Sukanyā. He said: Do you give me Sukanyā! . . . . Sure I know the Brāhmaṇa of Vāstupa; put her down here by me and then go with your clan this very day at evening." They gave her to him. Then Cyavana, the Bhārgava having praised with this chant and become young again, his youth restored by the union with the Sun, grows from crescent to full moon.

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³⁴ Extracts, translation revised from the original, III. 120-128; W. Caland, ‘Das Jaiminiya Brāhmaṇa in Auswahl’; p. 251. Vāstupa or Vāstoṣpati is Rudra (‘Taittirīya Saṃhitā’, III. 4. 10. 4).

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³⁵ The Sāman or chant of Cyavana causes generation; 'Tāṇḍya Mahābrāhmaṇa', XIII. 5. 12-13; it procures nourishment, etc.; as it was first "seen" by Cyavana it is called the Chant of Cyavana (J. B., III. 128).

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³⁶ Śaryāta is the night. Mānava is a patronymic from Manu: Manu Vaivasvata is the son of Vivasvān. Vivasvān is Mārtāṇḍa, the Sun, the mortal form of Brahman.

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The union of Sun and Moon on the new moon day is known as the cause of creation (ṛtu) of every form of life in the world. On a new moon day, the moon enters the sun ('Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa', I. 13. 6.). The Vāstu is the site where this union takes place, and goes on taking place so long as existence (vastu) continues. It is moreover not only the place of this particular union of the Sun and Moon but also of the larger cyclical celebrations which occur at recurrent eclipses.

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The lesser cycles of days, months and years, run their course within the Adhisamvatsara, the Great Year. It is made up of 33 eclipses. The same eclipse that marks the beginning of the cycle reappears at its end, when the Sun and the Moon are set together aright as before and begin their races and the Moon will gain one year over the Sun and come in conjunction with the latter at the close of the cycle. Then the creation of the time world begins again and goes on in ever renewed cycles.³⁷

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³⁷ R. Shamasastry, 'Eclipse cult in the Vedas', pp. 31, 39; Mysore, 1940.

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The eclipse is imaged as Rāhu. His name is added to those of the seven planets, as one who ruled over a former aeon (kalpa). He is also said to be the brother of Vāstu³⁸ and it is his figure which is carved on the threshold of the Garbhagṛha, in the Śukanāsā on the Śikhara, the superstructure, and elsewhere on the temple (Pt. VIII).

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³⁸ 'Śaradātilaka', III. Comm. on śl. 2. An aeon or kalpa is one day of Brahmā. It is the period of the creation, evolution and destruction of a universe. Then, in the night of Brahmā this universe is completely reabsorbed; a new universe arises at the dawn of another day of Brahmā. A night or day of Brahmā has 1000 Yugas of the gods (cf. note 25, Part I).

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All the cyclical numbers in Hindu cosmology are essentially based on the period of the precession of the equinoxes. They are exact fractions of the number 25920.³⁹ It is for this reason that the Vāstumaṇḍala of the temple, the square diagram of Existence, of time measurable in space, has two main alternative dispositions as far as it is the metaphysical and cosmological plan of the temple. It is laid out in 64 or else in 81 squares; either number is a sub-multiple of 25920 which is 64 × 81 × 5. 5 is the number of a Saṃvatsara, a cycle of 5 lunar-solar years.

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