The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s8.3

v1.c5.s8.3

⁹⁶ Of all the texts, the account of the ‘Mayamata’, VII. 1-32, is the fullest and most lucid. It is followed here. The complete series of 32 types is not acknowledged everywhere. The 32 mandalas are ‘āsanas’ or seats of different types, of divinity. They correspond in number to the 32 ‘āsanas’ of Yoga practice. The ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, III. 52, considers the maṇḍala of nine squares as the first; or the one of 16 squares (XII. 1) as the least and that of 1,000 squares as the last (XII. 12 and III. 52). The ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ does not treat of any other plan besides those of 64 and 81 squares. The ‘Vaikhānāśāgama’ gives special importance to the 7 × 7 plan, etc. The plan of 16 squares is made to accommodate 25 divinities, Brahmā in the centre in 4 squares, surrounded by 8 internal and 16 external divinities, a condensation of the layout of the plan of 64 squares. In the series of plans, the 4th, the one of 16 squares, is the first to show separately the central position of Brahmā. The ‘Agnipurāṇa’, ch. XCIII. 35-38. prescribes the Vāstu of a country (deśavāstu) as of 3,400 squares (pada) ; there the Brahmasthāna has 64 squares. The highest number of squares in a Vāstu is given as 20,000.