The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s2.15

v1.c5.s2.15

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.