The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s2.18

v1.c5.s2.18

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.