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The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s5: A. The Maṇḍala of 64 Squares

The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s5

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A. The Maṇḍala of 64 Squares

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The ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ speaks of two types of diagrams, one consisting of 64 equal squares (pada) and the other of 81 squares. In chapter LV. 10, it is enjoined that the area of the temple should always be divided into 64 squares.⁶⁹ Similarly, the ‘Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra’ (VIII. 150) lays down that the diagram of 64 squares is for the construction of shrines, and a diagram of 81 squares for the construction of houses. The ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’ (Pt. I. XI. 7 and Pt. III. XXVII. 2) makes it clear that a Vāstu of 64 squares is for worship by Brāhmaṇas, and one of 81 squares for worship by kings.⁷⁰ These views are not quite the same; but it is obvious that the Vāstu of 64 squares is meant for the construction of shrines and for worship by Brāhmaṇas and the Vāstu of 81 squares is for the construction of other buildings and for worship on behalf of kings (Kṣatriyas); or that the diagram of 64 squares and also of 81 squares are fit for temples, but the first is for worship by Brāhmaṇas, the sacerdotal power, and the second for worship on behalf of the temporal power (Kṣatra).⁷¹

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⁶⁹ The ‘Bṛhat-Saṃhitā’, LII. 73, commentary, points out an exception to the rules of ancient Ācāryas: Viśvakarman has not explicitly spoken of the maṇḍala of 64 squares (he includes it in that of 81 squares; in the opinion of Utpala). ⁷⁰ Also ‘Matsya Purāṇa’, ch. CCLIII, 47: “Brahmā has enjoined the maṇḍala of 64 squares for Prāsādas”; ‘Bhaviṣya Purāṇa’, ch. CXXX. 17: “The place of the temple should be divided into 64 squares”. ‘Agnipurāṇa’, ch. XCIII. 1: “After having laid down the cords for the Prāsāda make the Vāstumaṇḍala (the text has ‘Vāstumaṇḍapa’) of 64 squares. In house and city (nagara) one should worship in 81 squares”. ‘Śāradātilaka’, III. 7, comm.: (a) 64 squares for the Prāsāda ; (b) 81 for a house, quoting (a) Somaśambhu, (b) ‘Mahākapila-pañcarātra’; nevertheless the ‘Matsya Purāṇa’ describes in the first place the Vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala of 81 squares (ch. CCLIII. 19; ch. CCLXVIII); also the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, LII. 42-55. ⁷¹ Four factors: (1) temple, (2) non-temple, and (3) Brāhmaṇas and (4) Kings-Kṣatriyas are referred to in this passage, crosswise; its meaning is unmistakable.

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The special sacredness of the maṇḍala of 64 squares is stressed in other texts: the ‘Vāstuvidhāna’ (IX. 2.) enjoins that the pedestal (pīṭha) or hearth (dhiṣṇya) for the worship of Vāstu (vāstupūjā) should have 64 squares, while in ch. X. 1-6 (ibid.) it is stated that the Vāstumaṇḍala in which is situated the body of the Vāstu-puruṣa should consist of 81 squares. This is corroborated, for instance, in the ‘Prayogapārijāta’ (chapter : Vāstu-homa, 1-3; p. 94). There the Vāstu of 64 squares is prescribed for the rites of initiation (dīkṣā), the installation of images, (pratiṣṭhā) and for sacrificial offerings (yāga) whereas it is said that the maṇḍala of Vāstu has 81 squares.

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There is a difference in meaning and purpose, on one basis in common between the two main types of the Vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala. The prototype is the one of 64 squares. The maṇḍala of 81 squares is drawn in closer conformity with the 'body' of the Vāstupuruṣa, and appears to have been used by Kṣatriyas in contradistinction to the cosmic plan of 64 squares. At the time of the construction of the temples which yet stand and of the treatises about them, this distinction, though still known, was not necessarily also made. Varāhamihira, in the sixth century, speaks of either type, specifies the use of the maṇḍala of 64 squares and gives major importance by describing it in detail, to the maṇḍala of 81 squares. At the climax of the temple building activity (about 900-1100 A.D.), the ‘Īśānaśivagurudeva-paddhati’, after having clearly distinguished between the two plans decides: If of 81 squares, it is fit for Prāsādas, and kings too (III. ch. XXVII. 3), and concludes by prescribing that 81 squares are drawn on the square floor of the Prāsāda to be built (ib. 58-60). The ‘Kāmikāgama’ (XVII. 107), after discerning the types sums up its position. "In this text-book (śāstra) it is said that everything is fit for all". While this was held at the time when the temples were actually built, the implied difference of meaning on its common basis requires to be investigated in the two main types of maṇḍalas which are relevant to the temple.

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Altogether 32 types of maṇḍalas are given according to which all works of architecture are planned or regulated. These maṇḍalas form an arithmetic progressive series from 1 to 32; the respective numbers indicate the units into which the side of the square maṇḍala is divided in each case. The series of maṇḍalas corresponds to the geometrical method of gnomonic extension. In the Sārārathacakracit (p. 27), a square of 4 bricks is made in the centre of the sacrificial site (agnikṣetra). By gnomonic extension, the square is increased to one of nine bricks by adding five; this is increased to one of 16, etc. The bricks themselves are square, each measuring one foot (pada) generally (Ś.B. VIII. 7. 2. 17). So there are 8 bricks or squares facing each direction, in a square of 64 equal parts.

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The numbers 8 and 16 which form part of and produce the square of 64 Padas, refer to the Sun and Moon. During the 8 Praharas of the day, from sunrise to sunrise the sun enters one by one the 8 quarters (‘Viśvakarmavidyāprakāśa’, 126).⁷² Thus it can be said there are 8 suns. The 16 digits (kalā) of the moon represent the sum total of its phases. 16, the square of 4, is the perfect number and is embedded in the maṇḍala of 64 squares. But the square of 8 units has the wider significance.

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⁷² See Part II, note 48, quoting ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ (the 8 yāmas of the day).

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Ayodhyā, the impregnable city of the gods, has eight Cakras (cycles; AV. X. 2. 31. ‘Taittirīya Āraṇyaka’, I. 27. 2-3). “The city of Ayodhyā” is of two kinds; with reference to man, the microcosm, and with reference to the universe, the macrocosm. In man, the Cakras lead from the Mūlādhāra, the seat of consciousness (cit), to the Bindu-Trikoṇa or Śiva-Śakti, the Supreme Principle in the Sahasrāra.⁷³ In the universe the eight cycles are those of the eight suns, presided over by the eight Ādityas.⁷⁴ Within Ayodhyā, is the golden compartment, ever illuminated by light. The centre is Brahmapura, the stronghold (pur) of Brahman (AV. X. 2. 32). It corresponds to the Brahmasthāna, in the centre of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala (p. 32). In the ‘Rāmāyaṇa’, the city of Ayodhyā is beheld as a square of 8 compartments on each side (aṣṭapada).⁷⁵

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⁷³ The Cakras of the microcosm are: Mūlādhāra, the support of all the Cakras; Maṇipūra, the seat of mind (manas); Svādhiṣṭhāna, the seat of intellect (buddhi); Anāhata, the seat of the principle of articulate sound (Śabda brahman); Viśuddhi, the seat of Ether (ākāśa) which is the substratum of the quality (guṇa) sound; Ājñā, the seat of knowledge (bodhana); and Sahasrāra or Śiva-Śakti or Bindu, the point limit between the unmanifest and the manifest. ‘Vācaspatya’, s.v. The eight Cakras are also given as the eight means necessary to control the inclinations of the inner faculties. They are: Yama, restriction, Niyama, observances, Āsana, sitting posture, Prāṇāyāma, breath control, Pratyāhāra, emptying the mind from external objects, Dhāraṇa, its subsequent concentration, Dhyāna, keeping it concentrated and Samādhi, merging and dissolving in the object of its concentration (‘Tantrarāja-Tantra’, XXVII. 54-55).

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⁷⁴ R. Shamasastry, ‘Eclipse Cult’, etc., op. cit. pp. 82-93.

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⁷⁵ ‘Rāmāyaṇa’, I. 5. 16. The universe, as a board of 8 × 8 squares (aṣṭapada) fastened with golden cords, is described also in Buddhist texts (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka), Burnouf, ‘Lotus de la bonne Loi’, p. 148. The game of chess ‘aṣṭapada’, the board of 8 × 8 squares was known in Vedic India. The board was called Koṣṭhika or Koṣṭhāgāra ; Kaye, ‘Hindu Astronomy’, ASI, Mem. 18, p. 151.

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The 8 Ādityas preside over the suns, the celestial luminaries. It is from there that this universe is brought into appearance or existence, ordered in its total extent and consistent in its order. Its consistency expresses itself in the numbers and their relation which is the rhythm of the universe and its structure. This is laid out in the plan of sixty-four squares.

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Among metres,⁷⁶ the Anuṣṭubh with its 4 × 8 syllables is the symbol of the celestial sphere. The ‘Aitareya Brāhmaṇa’ (I. 1. 5. 8) pictures the hierarchy of the universe evoked by the metre Anuṣṭubh,—64 syllables being in two Anuṣṭubhs : Each of the three worlds (earth, air, sky) contains 21 or 3 × 7 places, one rising above the other. "By 21 steps he (the sacrificer) ascends to each of these severally, by taking the 64th step he stands firm in the celestial world". Numerically, it lies within the precincts of the square of 64 parts into which it appears precipitated.⁷⁷

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⁷⁶ The science of metres or rhythms (chandas) extends to the rhythmical disposition of the ground-plan of the temples (talacchanda ; Part VII) and their vertical section (ūrdhvac chanda).

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⁷⁷ The number 21, the comprehensive number of the manifested universe has no part in the symbolism of numbers of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala. 64 is also the number of the arts practised by man. Śiva imparts the 64 divisions of Kalājñāna to Garga; here the Moon aspect prevails (see Part I, p. 15). There are also 64 Manu Smṛtis ; 64 Āgamas.

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The ‘plan’ of 64 squares is called Maṇḍūka or Bhekapada or Ajira.⁷⁸ The plan of 81 squares is known by the name of Paramaśāyika in all the texts. In it is expressed that the Vāstupuruṣa is laid to rest.⁷⁹

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⁷⁸ Maṇḍūka is the generally accepted name. The ‘Mayamata’ (VII. 57) says: The Sthaṇḍila (a piece of ground, levelled, squared and prepared for a sacrifice ; sacrificial ground), called Maṇḍūka, has 64 squares (pada). The ‘Śaivabhūṣaṇam’, p. 140 employs the term Bhekapada for the diagram of 64 squares. Bheka means ‘frog’; so does Maṇḍūka. The association is that of sitting motionless like a frog, a posture adopted in Maṇḍūka-yoga. The Primeval Frog, Mahā-maṇḍūka is the Great Energy which ultimately supports Śeṣa, the Remainder, the world serpent on whom rests the universe. ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, II. ch. XXIX. 35; Ajira means enclosed space; another meaning of the word is frog; cf. ‘Śāradātilaka’, III. 8. Comm.

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⁷⁹ ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, JISOA, vol. IX. p. 192 (trans. and notes by St. Kramrisch).

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