The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s7.14

v1.c5.s7.14

⁹³ With reference on the other hand to the Vāstumaṇḍala, as the plan of the entire site (of a village, or a town, or the king’s palace, etc.), the position in it of a temple dedicated to a special divinity remains the same in Śaiva as well as in Vaiṣṇava tradition. Comparing the situation of the temples in a Śaiva text, the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, Part III. ch. XXV. 64-66, and a Vaiṣṇava text, the ‘Vaikhānasāgama’, Ch. II., it is seen that a temple of Śiva (Śaṅkara) is assigned to Īśāna, the north-east, a temple of Viṣṇu or Varuṇa to the west. Other forms of divinity are allocated to their, equally corresponding plots. Buddha temples for inst. are assigned to Sugriva, south of Varuṇa, on the western side. The place of Brahmā is always in the centre, and various forms of Viṣṇu for instance, are found in various places; they may also occupy the centre (‘Vaikhānasāgama’, 1. c.) which is the place for temples of all the gods (‘Tantrasamuccaya’. See Part VII). The position of the forms of divinity, in a Vaiṣṇava temple is given most explicitly in the ‘Kāmikāgama’ and ‘Vaikhānasāgama’. See plan, Gopinatha Rao, ‘Elements of Hindu Iconography’, Pt. II. Vol. I, Appendix A.