The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s2: The Square Maṇḍala of the Earth and of the Ecliptic
The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s2
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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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³⁹ R. Guénon, ‘L’Ésotérisme de Dante’, 2nd ed., p. 81. 25920 is the number of solar years in the Pythagorean Great year. R. Guénon, ‘Some remarks on the Doctrine of Cosmic Cycles’, JISOA, Vol. V, p. 21 f. “The principal base of cyclical periods in the cosmical order is the astronomical period of the precession of the equinoxes, the duration of which is 25920.” The period of the precession of the equinoxes × 1000 is the number of years which must be added to 71 times the number of years contained in the 4 yugas × 14. (‘Viṣṇupurāṇa’, I, ch. III). 4,320,000,000 years is a day of Brahmā (see Part II, note 38). But a day of Brahmā is also 71 times a Mahāyuga multiplied by 14 : 4,320,000 × 71 × 14 = 4,294,080,000, or less than the preceding by 25,920,000. (Wilson, ‘Viṣṇupurāṇa’, l.c. Vol. I, p. 51, note 2).
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The form of the square is the stage on which is drawn, while it is being acted, the movement of sun and moon and that of their years in their unequal course, their meeting, reconciliation and the fresh beginning towards one more coincidence. Such inequality, such imperfection are the cause of existence; the seasons similarly are brought about by the axis of the earth being inclined to the plane of its orbit. The obliquity of the axis of the earth, the inequality of the motions of sun and moon, produce the cycles in which we live. Were it not so, were all coincidence, life would be reabsorbed into perfection, into the infinite which is beyond manifestation.
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On this Vāstu dial of cosmic movement where obliquity and discrepancies appear straight and square, care must be taken not to interfere with the movements and the ways in which they are laid out, for on their courses depend the order in the universe and the destinies of human lives. The science of architecture is part of the science of the luminaries; the time for setting up a building, its place and the direction it has to face are ascertained on the magic diagram of the Vāstumaṇḍala.⁴⁰
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⁴⁰ See Part I, p. 15. The Vāstumaṇḍala is the metaphysical plan of the temple, primarily its cosmological and magical implications are derived from it.
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The very imperfection which is the cause of the existence of the world serves as the basis of all astrological forecasts and astronomical calculations. There is always a remainder. For nothing could continue if nothing were to remain. The place occupied by anything in the present, is in the residue of the past. The name of Vāstu, derived from Vastu, ‘a really existing thing’, signifies residence as well as residue (Ś.B. I. 7. 3. 18-19).
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The position and orientation of a temple and of any building are determined analogous to the method according to which the place of sun or moon or one of the planets is found in the circle of Nakṣatras. According to the ‘Sūryaprajñapti’ the longitude of the heavenly body expressed in minutes is to be divided by 800,⁴¹ the quotient shows the number of Nakṣatras through which the planet has already passed and the remainder the traversed part of the Nakṣatra in which it is at the time. In a similar way is ascertained the position of a building in the cosmos; that is the direction which it is to face : the measurement of the building is to be divided by 8. The remainder indicates the particular direction which will be its own out of the 8 directions. This particular direction is the Yoni, its birthplace in the cosmos, where it is marked by its Vāstupuruṣas. The Vāstupuruṣas, and the respective remainders are given by Utpala commenting on the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, Ch. LII., 73, according to the teaching of other Ācāryas, and not of Varāhamihira.⁴²
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⁴¹ The Ecliptic is divided into 27 or 28 Nakṣatras of 13°20′ or 800′ each.
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⁴² See also ‘Vāsturājavallabha’. The spatial symbolism of the Vāstupuruṣas is based on the daily movement of the sun; it is substituted by 12 Vāstupuruṣas, elsewhere.
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THE EIGHT VĀSTUPURUṢAS
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| | NE | E | SE | S | SW | W | NW | N |
| The 8 Vāstupuruṣas .. | Rikta (Vāyasa) | Dhvaja | Dhvāṅkṣa (Dhūma) | Siṃha | Śvā (Kukura) | Vṛṣabha | Vānara (Kapi) | Bhadra (Gaja) |
| Remainder .. | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Planets .. | Sun (Sūrya) | Moon (Soma) | Rāhu | Mars (Maṅgala) | Mercury (Budha) | Jupiter (Guru) | Venus (Śukra) | Saturn (Śani) |
| Nakṣatras (stars) assigned to the Vāstupuruṣas | Āśleṣā (9) | Kṛttikā (3) | Bharaṇī (2) | Maghā (10) | Dhaniṣ-ṭhā (23) | Rohiṇī (4) | Phal-guṇī (11-12) | Śravaṇa (22) |
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If the remainder is 1, then the Yoni is Dhvaja, and the building faces East, if the remainder is 2, the Yoni is the SE, and so forth. If there is no remainder the building would have to face North-East. This is to be avoided by all means; it would be of evil portent were the building to face any of the corners of the square⁴³; similarly also the remainder should not be 2, 4, or 6, it must be uneven, so that the entrance of the building faces the East, preferably, or also the West, and less readily the North and still permissibly, the South. The remainder is found in different texts by taking account of various measures of the building to be set up. The perimeter for instance is multiplied by 3 and divided by 8. The remainder is that of the Yoni; should there be no remainder, the perimeter and proportions of the intended structure have to be altered.⁴⁴ Death, destruction and varied ills result from a wrong orientation. If the building were to obstruct the course and order of the cosmos it would provoke disorder in the kingdom, and in the body of the builder. Yoni is an architectural formula; the remainder, gained through it, assures the fitness of the structure in the order of things and the well-being of the builder and his surroundings.⁴⁵ The remainder, particularly, is however, the Vāstu itself.
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⁴³ The corners must be strong; no door should be there for it would admit evil influences of the spirits and ghosts which are outside the precincts of the maṇḍala or vāstu. The corners are exposed and vulnerable; they must be consolidated so that the bad influences stationed outside, cannot attack the building there and enter it.
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⁴⁴ Utpala’s commentary, ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, ch. LII, 73 multiplies the interior length and breadth of the building and divides it by 8. The remainder is the Yoni. Similarly, ‘Vāsturājavallabha’, ch. III. 8. In other texts, the height of the temple is taken into account (‘Vaikhānāsāgama’, ch. VI) while the ‘Tantra-Samuccaya’, Part I, ch. 3, considers the perimeter, and the ‘Mānasāra’, ch. IX. 68-74, the breadth of the building. Perimeter or breadth are multiplied by 3; this indicates an area equalling that of a circle with the breadth or the perimeter of the building as its diameter. 3 (instead of √10) is employed in the ‘Mahābhārata’, Bhūmiparva and Bhīṣmaparva, where the circumferences of the planets are stated in numbers which are the 3 fold of the numbers expressing the diameters.
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⁴⁵ The Yoni formula is but one of six formulæ, the Āyādi-Ṣaḍvarga, in which the remainder determines the gain or loss which will accrue to the builder, the Nakṣatra (ṛkṣa), the lunar day (tithi) and the solar day (vāra) on which it is good to build that particular building. These formulæ belong to astrology in general; they are applied to the building as though it is a living entity whose destiny is to be determined. It is however only their cumulative bad effect which makes any perimeter inauspicious once the Yoni formula is satisfied. (V. K. R. Menon, ‘6 Canons of Indian Architecture’, ‘Bulletin of the Sri Rama Varma Research Institute’, 1934, pp. 67-77). The formulæ are not ‘canons’. See ‘Mānasāra’, XXX. 168-194, etc. and P. K. Acharya, ‘A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture’, pp. 600-611. The Yoni and the other five formulæ are considered when no other, definite injunction is given where the temple of a specified divinity has to face, etc. (see Part VII). The power of the specific divinity and its appropriate orientation outweigh the Āyādiṣaḍvarga.
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The drawing of the square plan, of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, is imperative prior to building a temple. The knowledge of its meaning and execution is the first discipline which the architect must master: there is no text on Indian architecture which does not deal with it or takes its knowledge for granted. At the height of temple building activity, when some of the noblest and largest Prāsādas were set up about the year 1000 A.D., the actual drawing of the diagram on the ground which the temple (prāsāda) was to occupy seems to have been the rule. From the stretching of the cord, or the drawing of the lines of the maṇḍala, every one of the movements is a rite and sustains, in its own sphere of effectiveness, the sacred building, to the same extent as the actual foundation supports its weight. These movements, rites and meanings are not accessory nor are they a mere accompaniment to the building itself. They go into the making of the Hindu temple, its shape and proportion and that of every carved detail and every figure, each at its proper place, with the rhythms and gestures, appropriate to it.
Linked texts (19)
- Bṛhatsaṃhitā — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
- Taittirīyasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
- Jaiminīyopaniṣadbrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
- Śatapathabrāhmaṇa — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit
- Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati — Īśānaśivagurudeva, Sanskrit
- Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra — Bhoja, Sanskrit
- Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
- Mānasāra — Sanskrit
- Bṛhatparāśarahorāśāstra — Parāśara, Sanskrit
- Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa — Sanskrit
- Sūryasiddhānta — Maya, Sanskrit
- Pañcaviṃśabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Sūriyapannatti — Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Tantrasamuccaya — Chennasu Nārāyaṇa, Sanskrit
- Śāradātilaka — Lakṣmaṇadeśika, Sanskrit