The Hindu Temple v1.c5.s9.1

v1.c5.s9.1

From the piling of the circular Gārhapatya (śālādvārya) hearth equal in area to the square of a fathom whose centre the Āhavanīya altar had occupied, the construction of a circle equal in area to a square had been carried out in ever renewed practice. The earlier texts on Vāstuśāstra do not record circular Vāstus; Utpala, the tenth century commentator of the ‘Brhat Samhitā’ describes in detail the construction of circular sites and also of polygonal shapes of 6, 8 and 16 sides, as well as of three sided Vāstus; and of buildings, villages and towns laid out according to these plans.¹⁰⁴ This appears a development around the principal Vāstu, which is and must remain square, a sacred precinct in any of the varied types of plans. This view is held by the ‘Agnipurāna’ (ch. XCIII. 40). “In the middle of the six sided, three sided, and circular plan, should be the square”. In the transfer and application of the division of the square, to that of other closed polygons and to the circle, the activity of the principle is seen at work, whereas in the ‘Agnipurāna’ its immutability is symbolised by the preservation of the shape itself of the square in the very centre of each of the closed polygons.¹⁰⁵