Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Hindu Temple v1.c6: Part III. Plan and Supernal Man

The Hindu Temple v1.c6

Language
English

Contents

Part III. Plan and Supernal Man

v1.c6.1

ॐ नमो भगवते वास्तुपुरुषाय महाबलपराक्रमाय सर्वाधिवासाश्रितशरीराय ब्रह्मपुत्राय सकलब्रह्माण्डधारिणे भूभारार्पितमस्तकाय पुरपत्तनप्रासादगृहवापिसरःकूपादेः सन्निवेश सान्निध्यकराय सर्वसिद्धिप्रदाय प्रसन्नवदनाय विश्वंभराय परमपुरुषाय शक्रवरदाय वास्तोष्पते नमस्ते ॥

v1.c6.2

“Om, I bow to the holy Vāstupuruṣa of great strength and valour Whose body rests under all dwellings, Son of Brahmā, Upholder of the entire Universe, Whose head is placed to carry the burden of the earth, Who makes all sites [receptacles of] his presence, The towns and cities, temples [and palaces], houses, tanks and wells, Who assures all kinds of fulfilment, Of gracious appearance, Support of the Cosmos, Supreme Puruṣa, Granter of boons to Indra, Lord of dwellings, Obeisance.” ‘Paurāṇikavāstuśāntiprayoga’, Fol. 25.

v1.c6.3

III

v1.c6.5

The Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala is the magic diagram (yantra) and the form (rūpa) of the Vāstupuruṣa (‘Vāstuvidhāna’ of Nārada, VIII. 26-32). It is his body (śarīra) and a bodily device (śarīra yantra) by which those who have the requisite knowledge attain the best results in temple building. It is laid out in tabular notation as man and site (naraprastara, vāstuprastara; ib., 29).

v1.c6.6

In the Puruṣa, Supernal man, the Supreme Principle is beheld. Beyond form and non-contingent, it is beyond description. It is known by intellectual intuition as residing in man, the microcosm, and in the universe, the macrocosm. Either is its place of manifestation. Man and Universe are equivalent in this their indwelling centre. Of this equivalence the Puruṣa is an image. In the Puruṣa, the relation of the Supreme Principle (Brahman) and of manifestation is seen as coterminous. The Supreme Principle in this aspect is called Puruṣa because it reposes or dwells in Integral or Supernal man as if in a city (Puruṣaḥ = puri-śayaḥ or puri-ṣādaḥ; Yāska, ‘Nirukta’, I. 13; II. 3). The city is drawn as a yantra, a device in which is bound and situated the Supreme Principle. It is a plan of its manifestation and as such it is also the body of the Puruṣa, itself without substance. It is the site indwelt, and pervaded by the Puruṣa. Any place where this body lies down, where this plan is laid out by those who know it, exemplifies the presence of the Puruṣa and is its ‘bhūmi’, the ground on which it rests.¹ By its impress that piece of land, freed of all associations acts as primordial, undifferentiated substance (Prakṛti).

v1.c6.7

¹ Bhūmi is the support on which are established all beings and things (Sāyaṇa, on ‘Taitt. Ār.’ III. 7. 1).

v1.c6.8

“He is praised as Vāstubrahmā who is made first by Virāj” (‘Vāstuvidhāna’, VIII. 14). “Puruṣa alone is this entire world, both past and future. From him was born Virāj, and from Virāj was born Puruṣa” (RV. X. 90. 5).² Virāj is cosmic Intelligence ruling over universal manifestation in its integrity under which is seen the activity of the Puruṣa, who himself is actionless; Virāj is the conditioned Principle, issued or born from the Puruṣa, the original impulse towards universal manifestation and refers back to Him; the knowledge of His presence is derived from His appearance as participator and director of the performance; the ‘bhūmi’

v1.c6.9

² Trans. W. Norman Brown; ‘The sources and nature of Puruṣa in the Puruṣasūkta’, JAOS, vol. 51, p. 116.

v1.c6.10

is the stage. On it the directing, universal intelligence, has the form of Vāstu-Brahmā; it enters and fills the Vāstu, the site or stage of the building activity of man.³

v1.c6.11

³ Vairāja Puruṣa or Pradhāna Puruṣa is the non-conditioned, Supreme Principle in its contingent aspect, in the macrocosm and microcosm; Vāstu-Brahmā stands here in analogical relation to Virāj as Virāj to Puruṣa. In the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, II. 4, Viśvakarmā says, “Brahmā created first Vāstubrahmā and then all the worlds.” The principle which regulates extension is prior to extension. The world is laid out in conformity with the principle. This is shown in the ritual diagram of architecture and in the building of the temple, which is a likeness, on a proportionate scale, of the world and leads beyond it.

v1.c6.12

The play of manifestation is not a passion play; the sacrifice in which the Puruṣa is the offering is performed on the ‘bhūmi’. “With the sacrifice the gods sacrificed to the sacrifice” (RV. X. 90. 16). Part by part the Puruṣa sacrifices himself into existence, the gods are born from him, from his mind the moon, from his eye the sun, from his mouth the fire, from his breath the air and from his feet the earth. His being is given up to them and spent in them as far as he enters into manifestation; in as far as he is an active part of this all offered sacrifice of himself he is called Prajāpati, lord of progeny (prajā), totality of existence. He spends himself in an ever renewed, ever proceeding sacrifice by which the universe subsists. It takes place in time; time fathers it; is one with Prajāpati (the year; Ś.B. VII. 1. 2. 11) and by his own sacrifice outlasts death, the principle of all form, of all that has definition and thus is finite.⁴

v1.c6.13

⁴ Ś.B. X. 4. 2. 2. “Prajāpati, the year has created all living beings and things, gods and men; having created all he felt like one emptied out and was afraid of death”;—Ś.B. X. 2. 6. 4 (end): “Beyond the year lies the immortal.” Ś.B. X. 3. 3. “The gods were afraid of this Prajāpati, the year, Death, the ender.” Ś.B. X. 3. 8. “Prajāpati then spoke: Lay ye down 360 enclosing stones and world filling (lokampṛṇṇā) [bricks], lay ye down 10.800 and ye will be laying down all my forms and will become immortal.” 10.800 = 360 × 30 (muhūrtas in the year; one muhūrta is 48 minutes) = 135 × 80 (the amount of 80 of which the 3 Vedas consist, the sum total of knowledge and existence). “The self-offerer knows: This my body is formed by those parts (aṅga) of the sacrifice (Ś.B. XI. 2. 6. 13); this my new body is procured thereby.”

Agni-Prajāpati and Vāstupuruṣa

v1.c6.s1.1

Prajāpati is offered up anew in every sacrifice; and inasmuch as the very dismemberment of the Lord of creatures which took place at that archetypal sacrifice, was in itself the creation of the universe, so every sacrifice is also a repetition of that first creative act.⁵ The Yajamāna, the sacrificer, who is the performer or patron of the sacrifice, by performing it becomes identified with Prajāpati by building up his body,—the altar,—just as the gods had done in the beginning when they restored Prajāpati, exhausted in creation.

v1.c6.s1.2

⁵ SBE. vol. XLIII. Introduction.

v1.c6.s1.3

As they had done in the beginning, so is required a new and ever renewed sacrifice to build up the body of the Lord of creatures exhausted and dismembered by his sacrifice, and by the sacrifice renew the body, restore the Lord of creatures and keep up the unbroken sequence of an ever renewed universe in the analogy of the year that spends itself in its productiveness and out of its death arises anew. In building up the sacrificial body, the altar, the sacrificer in so doing becomes the very altar itself; he builds for himself a sacrificial body and by doing so he is beyond time and death.⁶

v1.c6.s1.4

⁶ Ś.B. VIII. 5. 2.

v1.c6.s1.5

He builds up the altar in the likeness of the Universe and in accordance with his measure (vyāma). By this link it is his, a transformed, sacrificial body (Ś.B. I. 2. 5. 14; Āp. Ś.S. XVI. 17. 8).⁷ Built into it at the same time is another measure, that of time. Measure is expressed by number. As many seasons as there are in the year, so many layers has the altar; and further, the total number of the surrounding bricks of the requisite altars is 360. By number the year is built into the altar and is its substance. This is reinforced with grosser identities; the sacrificial victim, man and his successive substitutes (Ś.B. I. 2. 3. 6-7), horse, bull, ram, and the goat, mingled in the mortar, their heads originally having been placed in the first layer of the altar⁸; built into, and one with the substance of the altar, the sacrificer, as victim is his transformed self in the symbol of the golden man immured in the altar. In gold, purest of all substances, man (puruṣa) the sacrificer, is one with the Puruṣa; their conjoint effigy, the golden figure, is sacrificial man; symbolical, without arms; the arms are the sacrificial spoons laid down on either side of the golden man. Were arms made, this would be redundant.⁹

v1.c6.s1.6

The sacrificer puts down the golden man, laying him on his back (uttāna). He lays him down with his head towards the East, for (with the head) towards the East this Agni (the Fire altar) is built up (Ś.B. VII. 4. 1, 15; 18).¹⁰

v1.c6.s1.7

¹⁰ The sacrificer is to lie down so as to cover the gold man; this rite of identification is allusive by its performance as the gold man is by its form. ¹¹ They are five in number; the 4 regions and the upward (Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 19). ¹² With reference to man, the microcosm, and his body, the several classes of bricks laid down in the layers of the Agni, are explained in Ś.B. VII. 5. 1.

v1.c6.s1.8

The Fire altar is oriented towards the East, the direction of the sunrise, the ever new beginning. It is piled up, a square to start with, facing the four regions and the one above. They are bodily parts of Prajāpati, the year.¹¹ The altar is built of bricks. They are Agni's limbs, his joints (Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 31). Similarly, the area between the Āhavanīya and Gārhapatya altar has two 'spines' (Ś.B. VII. 1. 2. 14), the middle lines from East to West (the prācī which is the 'pṛṣthyā', Ś.B. III. 5. 1. 9) and the other from South to North. When Agni is laid down as the Gārhapatya hearth, the four bricks in the middle, are the body. Two at the back are added: these are the thighs and two in front, the arms; where the body is that (includes) the head (Ś.B. VII. 1. 1. 18).¹²

v1.c6.s1.9

Agni, the sacrificial fire and the place where it is lighted are one. The altar with its structure, with its fire, is called Agni. Its function is to carry up the sacrifice, so that it reaches its destination beyond time and death. The Fire is the actual performer of the sacrifice in which it is assisted by the sacrificer; his sacrificial self is one in nature with the burning flame; it consumes the lower self of the sacrificial victim; Agni is the sacrifice of the Yajamāna, and of Prajāpati, the year, of the contingent aspect of the Supreme Principle. Agni, whose emblem is the flame consumes itself, as sacrificial victim. He ‘enters’ the five animals, or sacrificial victims, man, bull, horse, ram, he-goat. He becomes those five animals (Ś.B. VI. 2. 1. 2-3). The conversion of their natures imbues the bricks which form Agni’s limbs and joints.

v1.c6.s1.10

¹⁶ "This then, is, as it were, an ascent away from here; but this earth is the foundation." ⁷ "Let the altar measure a fathom (vyāma) across on the western side. That namely is the size of man and the altar should be of man's size." 'Tait. Saṃh', V. 2. 5.

v1.c6.s1.11

¹ "With man's measure he metes out; man is commensurates with the sacrifice." ⁸ Ś.B. VII. 5. 2. 1. ⁹ Ś.B. VII. 4. 1. 45; 'Taitt. Saṃh.' V. 2. 8. ¹⁰ 'Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra', XVII. 4.

v1.c6.s1.12

³⁵ The Svayamātṛṇā, the lower immanent breaths; the Dviyajus, the hip; the Retaḥsic bricks, the ribs; the Viśvajyotis

v1.c6.s1.13

The goat is the last of the sacrificial animals. Into it has passed the sacrificial essence of man from whom it went to the horse; and then to the bull, and finally to the he-goat. The goat remains the sacrificial animal, the victim for all others, the animal consumed by and transformed into Agni. It is Agni, who is sacrificed as animal victim (Ś.B. XIII. 2. 7. 13; ‘Vāj. S.’ XXIII. 17). “Agni was an animal. They sacrificed him and he gained that world wherein Agni (ruleth); That shall be thy world, that thou shalt gain”. The goat is the animal-form of Agni; it is produced from Agni’s heat (Ś.B. VII. 5. 2. 36). This is Agni’s heat and also that of Prajāpati. The he-goat means Prajāpati. Prajāpati, the finite form of the Puruṣa, is one with Agni and the Fire Altar (Ś.B. VI. 1. 1. 5), and as all-offered, self-offered victim he is one with the goat, which as accepted offering, burnt up in its animal nature and transmuted substance, is un-born’ (aja), uncreate.¹³ It is from there that the gods went to the Godhead, to the summit (Ś.B. VII. 5. 2. 36).

v1.c6.s1.14

¹³ Speech is Aja, “uncreate”. Speech, the Word is the Veda, Primordial Knowledge, which is ‘unborn’ and eternal. The letters of the alphabet are articulate sound and are the body of the word. The 51 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet are known to be distributed over India, as Pīṭhas of Śakti. As signs which stand for articulate manifestation in its several degrees and parts, the letters (of the rhythmic formulae, mantra) are inscribed in ritual diagrams (yantra). Re. the letters inscribed in the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, see ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’ XIV. 32-35. ‘Tantrarāja-tantra’, ‘Manoramā’, comm. XXV. 8-10.

v1.c6.s1.15

The identification of the sacrificer and of the act and material of the sacrifice with Agni-Prajāpati or Puruṣa manifested, rests on a middle term¹⁴ which comprises the structural altar and the sacrificial victim. The building of the one and the transmutation of the other are the means by which is cancelled the initial disintegration which is the beginning of the universe. Prajāpati having spent himself and fallen down exhausted, is re-built. The work of architecture is one of restoration of his body. The body of Agni-Prajāpati is a universal symbol. Its images are those of the first and last of sacrificial victims, man and goat; while bricks, and parts of the victims are embedded in its gross substance, number and measure constitute the subtle substance of its plan and structure. By its number it is a monument to time which is regulated, bounded and overcome. In the extent of the Fire altar, time going round is caught, embodied and mastered in the identity of the sacrificer and Agni-Prajāpati laid out from East to West.

v1.c6.s1.16

¹⁴ P. Mus, BEFEO. XXXIV. p. 234.

v1.c6.s1.17

bricks, the breast-bone; the Ṛtavya bricks between the shoulders, the Āṣāḍha, the neck, and the Kūrma, the head.

The Subtle Body of the Puruṣa and Its Pictures

v1.c6.s2.1

The symbolism of the Vedic altar, Agni, is continued in the Hindu temple, in its plan. The Vāstupuruṣa of this maṇḍala is indeed Agni-Prajāpati. It is drawn on the ground and not piled up. No fire burns on it; the temple is set up on it. The image of the Vāstupuruṣa coterminous and one with the maṇḍala is drawn in the likeness of man. His head lies in the East, in the maṇḍala of 64 squares, the legs opposite; body and limbs fill the square. No bricks are laid down which had been identified with the several parts of his body. The bricks were square; now squares are drawn, lines separate and connect those parts and limbs and are their joints and vital parts. These must not be hurt. The lines too (nāḍī), belong to the anatomy of the subtle body of the Vāstupuruṣa, they are channels of energy as the nerves are and the arteries in the gross body. Their prototypes are Prāṇa and Vāyu. The spine (vamśa) of this Puruṣa of 64 squares, is the middle line of the plan of the temple, as it is of the altar.

v1.c6.s2.3

In the net of this plan the figure of Man is caught, not by its likeness, but by its proportion and symmetry in its parts, the "head" confronting directly the aim of his being (the East, where the sun, light of consciousness, arises), the feet at the opposite end, a schematism in which the figure of Man is seen fitted into the square plan of the extended universe. It consists of name and measure. Such a picture or image (pratimā) is a workable and not necessarily visible, analogy, not of the human being but of the order by which it is upheld. Its diagrammatic field of co-ordinates, intersections and diagonals is sensitive to any interference with its order and in this respect it functions like the subtle body of the human being.

v1.c6.s2.4

Such constructions have wide currency in Indian thought where they signify the universal law as a working entity. For the sake of identification and reference, the whole of it and its parts are placed and named according to the parts and limbs of the human body. Puruṣa in these 'images' is a term of reference. It affords a means of location of the several parts within the whole; and an identification by transfer of one's own bodily frame into the special design as well as an introduction of that image into the corresponding disposition of one's own body. The body here means nothing but a place of co-ordinated activity, each part being the seat of a special function.

v1.c6.s2.5

The reference to the 'figure of man' as a place of co-ordinated function, is made factually and repeatedly in Brāhmaṇism and Buddhism, in sacred texts and works of art. The 'Āpastamba Śrauta Sūtra', XV. 15. 1. for example prescribes that a figure of man be laid out composed of the ritual implements of the Pravargya sacrifice. Three cauldrons form the head, the milk buckets the ears, and other sacrificial instruments and objects are the various parts of the body.

v1.c6.s2.6

Similarly, the presence of Buddha is referred to in reliefs in Sāñcī (North gate, left pillar) and Amarāvatī by the following allocation: footprints, at the place of the feet¹⁵, life-tree or pillar as trunk and axis of the body, wheel (cakra), etc., as head and sun-shade (chatra) above it.

v1.c6.s2.7

¹⁵ In Amarāvatī, the throne is added, above the footprints, to this symbol of "total manifestation". See Coomaraswamy, 'Elements of Buddhist Iconography', Pl. I. 2, etc.

v1.c6.s2.8

The Puruṣa of the ‘Puruṣa Sūkta’ is the archetypal, all embracing term; in its analogy are drawn the specified Puruṣas and the corresponding diagrams of universal time and situation such as the Ātmapuruṣa who is Duration,¹⁶ the Kāla-puruṣa¹⁷ who is Time and whose surface is outlined as that of man and marked in its extent by the signs of the Zodiac. The Nakṣatrapuruṣa¹⁸ correspondingly contains the signs of the lunar asterisms, and other star pictures, such as the Śiśumāracakra;¹⁹ this Puruṣa is related to the Vāstupuruṣa. With the star pictures, the description of the Vāstupuruṣa as support of the building has one trait in common: he is described as lying with his face turned down, to the ground, whereas Agni Prajāpati of the Vedic altar lies facing upwards. Dhruva, the Pole star, is described as moving with his head downward round the summit of Sumeru, as if looking at it.²⁰ If the reconstructed Agni Prajāpati faces upward, this connotes “an ascent from here” (Ś.B. VIII. 5. 2. 16), an aspiration towards and attainment of the higher region. From there Dhruva looks down, his face turned to the earth.

v1.c6.s2.9

¹⁶ ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, as quoted by Alberuni, ‘India’, vol. I. ch. 32, p. 321.

v1.c6.s2.10

¹⁷ ‘Bṛhajjātaka’, I. 4.

v1.c6.s2.11

¹⁸ ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, CIV. 1-5; ‘Matsya Purāṇa’, LIV. 7. The Nakṣatra Puruṣa Vrata is worship of Nārāyaṇa. In the rites of the ‘moon-vow’, the Candra-vrata, the Moon, Lord of the Nakṣatras, is beheld as Puruṣa. The rite is performed when Candra is joined with the asterism Mūlā: when his feet are joined with Mūlā, his legs in Rohiṇī, knees in Aśvinī, thighs in the 2 Āṣāḍhās, etc. ‘Mahābhārata’, XIII. 172. 3-10.

v1.c6.s2.12

¹⁹ ‘Matsya Purāṇa’, CXXVII. 19-29.

v1.c6.s2.13

²⁰ ib., 28-29. cf. note 43.

The Descent of the Vāstupuruṣa

v1.c6.s3.1

A descent, a down going, further and further remote from perfection is the process of this world-age. The initial disintegration from which the world has its beginning is known not only as a dismemberment but also as a descent, or falling off, from the Supreme Principle and a coming to earth. This is told in the many versions of the story of the coming to earth of the Vāstupuruṣa.²¹

v1.c6.s3.2

²¹ The story of the origin of Vāstupuruṣa is not unanimously told, see p. 77.

v1.c6.s3.3

In principle, it has its parallel in the falling to earth of the severed limbs of the dead Satī. All over India, wherever a part of her dismembered body fell, Pīṭhas come into existence. All of them together represent the wholeness of India as a sacred land. In a map of the sacred geography of India each Pīṭha would have to be marked by one of the letters of the alphabet, of which there are 51 in the Sanskrit alphabet, symbols of lettered sound and of the Word. The Vāstupuruṣa in his fall, defeated, yet whole, on coming to earth, acquires the shape of his yantra to which are assigned 16 letters of the alphabet.

v1.c6.s3.4

The ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ (LII. 2-3) narrates: Once there was some existing thing (sattva)²² not defined by name, unknown in its proper form²³ it blocked heaven and earth; seeing that, the Devas (gods) seized it of a sudden and laid it on the earth face downwards. In the same position as they were when they seized it, the Devas stayed on it where it lay. Brahmā made it full of gods and called it Vāstupuruṣa. The commentary adds: Bṛhaspati says: In the Kṛta Yuga there was a Bhūta “Existence”; it spread through the 14 worlds.²⁴

v1.c6.s3.5

²² Sattva; Bhūta; these are the two words which designate the Vāstupuruṣa before he received this name. They are translated as “Existence”, (thingness), Sattva becomes Vāstu; and Vāstu, existence, substance, becomes Vāstu, a residence and building site.

v1.c6.s3.6

²³ Comm. of Utpala: “Kimapityanirdiṣṭanāmā aparijñātasvarūpa”. Kern, JRAS. 1873, translated ch. LIII. 3 (for LII. 3) “being of immortal substance”, and Vāstupuruṣa as “dwelling house personified”. This is not according to the text, or the commentary: the being (sattva) is nameless and unknown in its very self or proper form.

v1.c6.s3.7

²⁴ The 14 worlds are the seven lower, and the seven upper regions; The 7 Pātālas beneath the earth rest on Śeṣa (Viṣṇu); above these are the seven spheres of the earth, the air world, the Heaven world, and the Higher spheres (Bhūrloka, Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka (‘Viṣṇupurāṇa’, II, V and VII).

v1.c6.s3.8

The gods assaulted the Thing, put it down, and settled on it.²⁵ They came to live on it for ever, and this twofold Thing, Brahmā called Vāstupuruṣa, the Puruṣa of Vāstu.

v1.c6.s3.9

²⁵ The fall from being into existence (sattva; bhūta) was a struggle of long duration, one of many in the war of Devas and Asuras, Titans and Angels, gods and demons. The ‘Manuṣyālayavidhi’ (printed in Malayālam) tells of the Bhūta filling the extent of the universe with his body during the Tretā Yuga. According to the other texts however the descent took place already at the end of the Kṛta Yuga, the Golden age.

v1.c6.s3.10

Cosmogonically, this is a story of the first appearance of Existence; once it is, it is unprincipled yet all filling for to it nothing save itself seems to exist—whereas the very fact of its existence is possible only in that there is something outside it.

v1.c6.s3.11

As Existence goes down, this ‘outside’ is above it, it is the gods; and its own place is down below them, and its area is as large as they can stand on. They give it definition. Brahmā finally settles it and gives it its name in the acquired shape from the conflict and its solution.

v1.c6.s3.12

The gods had raised Prajāpati who had fallen exhausted, having discharged from himself the entire universe. (Ś.B. I. 6. 3. 35-37; ‘Pañcavimśa Brāhmaṇa’, IV. 10. 1; VI. 5. 1). But the nameless thing of undefined shape, altogether unknown in its nature is not procreative; it looms large, swollen by its power, which in the end is converted into a base on which the gods have their perennial stand. This is their work.

v1.c6.s3.13

It is prescribed that they have to be strengthened and confirmed in their task by repeated sacrifices and offerings before a temple is built and even after. Vāstupuruṣa too must be appeased at every new undertaking in connection with the building which he will have to carry. The peace obtained by Vāstu on earth, with the concurrence of the gods, is a settlement in the beginning. This ordinance however retains its validity only by an ever renewed rite of Vāstuśānti.²⁶ In it the Yajamāna, the builder or patron, (kāraka), in its ultimate aim is brought into communion with the Vāstupuruṣa. The Kāraka has been made aware that he is one with the Vāstu, by different magic signs and warnings felt in his body, prior to the drawing of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala. Now, by the repeated rite of Vāstuśānti he gives peace to the Puruṣa “Existence”, which this Puruṣa needs in order to endure. It is communicated to him through the gods on his body who are his surface and outer covering and through the builder, by the performance of the prescribed rites.

v1.c6.s3.14

²⁶ Vāstuśānti and Vāstuhoma, the rites of appeasement and offering to the Vāstupuruṣa are described in detail, in ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. XXVII; JISOA, Vol. IX. pp. 162 f.

v1.c6.s3.15

The ritual restoration of peace to the Vāstupuruṣa is to be performed recurrently, from the beginnings of any architectural work. The firmness which is so essential a requisite of the building ground, is now produced on the subtle level of the Vāstupuruṣa. It is the stability of Existence being at peace with itself. The rite of Vāstuśānti and the ensuing building activity itself are acts of liberation. They are performed by the priest (sthāpaka), the architect (sthapati, kartṛ) and the builder (kāraka) in collaboration.

v1.c6.s3.16

Neither through the sacrifice nor as the play (līlā) of the Supreme Principle is the Vāstupuruṣa come into existence and laid down. Descent and dichotomy, fight, defeat and purpose in being defeated so as to sink to the bottom whence every building activity is to arise, is the function of the Vāstupuruṣa. For he came to earth in the Kṛta, the perfect age, when there were neither buildings nor temples, nor images; then the gods could be seen eye to eye, directly (pratyakṣa).²⁷

v1.c6.s3.17

²⁷ ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, Part III. ch. XCIII. 1.

v1.c6.s3.18

The story of the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ is amplified in the ‘Matsya Purāṇa’.²⁸ The Bhūta, Existence, is said to be born of the sweat of Śiva who causes (kāraṇātmā) the dual creation (dvaitasṛṣṭi) when he fought the demon Andhaka (Blindness). The cause itself (kāraṇarūpa) is Tamas, Darkness in which lives the demon Andhaka; it is the quality inherent in the fall from the Principle which Manifestation or the world of duality, implies.²⁹ The fall from the principle is embodied here in the demon Andhaka; in order to fight it a corresponding tendency is expelled as sweat from the body of Śiva. This is the birth of Undefined and Nameless, the Asura.

v1.c6.s3.19

²⁸ ‘Matsya Purāṇa’, CCLII, 5-19. Versions of this account are also given in the ‘Vāsturājavallabha’, II. 1; ‘Manuṣyālayacandrikā’, II. 27-28; ‘Mahāmanuṣyālayacandrikā’, Comm. ‘Sārārthadarpaṇa’, p. 31. In the last named version, Śiva-Rudra fights Kāla. The sweat of Śiva or of Bhārgava is produced by fiery heat (tejas) or wrath. In this sense it is also said that Sāvitrī, the mother of the Veda was born of the sweat of Kālī’s body.

v1.c6.s3.20

²⁹ "Asūryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ": Those worlds are called 'asūrya' (where the sun does not shine and which) are covered with blind darkness. 'Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad', 3.

v1.c6.s3.21

In some of the later variants of this version, Undefined and Nameless is described as Asura, full of power and pride.³⁰ Asura, however, is the Supreme Being, in the Ṛgveda³¹ and is transferred, like the name of Puruṣa itself to the Vairāja Puruṣa and other aspects of the Puruṣa, and to the manifested Deity, under the name of Indra, Agni, or Varuṇa. In a continued descent from the Principle, Asura becomes the name of those fallen from the Principle and who are demons.³² So 'Existence' is an Asura fallen by his pride.³³

v1.c6.s3.22

³⁰ 'Manuṣyālayacandrikā', l. c.

v1.c6.s3.23

³¹ RV. VIII. 42. 1; the 'māyā' of the Asura, X. 177. 1; V. 63. 3; 7.

v1.c6.s3.24

³² Coomaraswamy, 'Angel and Titan; An Essay in Vedic Ontology', JAOS, vol. 55. p. 384, with reference to Indra, says that he "remains an angel even in his pride, being like Satan fallen not in nature, but in grace."

v1.c6.s3.25

³³ Pride is the innate disposition of the Asura, the Titan or demon (asura-bhāva). By it they fall or were driven from heaven.

v1.c6.s3.26

The story of the fall of the Asura is told with a further variation and in detail in the 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati'.³⁴

v1.c6.s3.27

³⁴ 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', III. ch. XXVI. 93 f. JISOA, l. c. This version is repeated in the 'Śilparatna', VII. 4-29; 'Vāstuvidyā', IV. 47, comm. and appears known to the different account in the 'Skandapurāṇa', Nāgarakhaṇḍa, CXXXII. 9.

v1.c6.s3.28

"In former times, in the war between the gods and the Asuras the Asuras were destroyed; they were crushed by the gods with Puramdara at their head, through the greatness of the power of Viṣṇu. Their Guru, the son of Bhṛgu,³⁵ who was of an impetuous disposition, became highly incensed and sacrificed a goat with auspicious marks as an oblation in the fire. That goat became a goat-headed Asura through the sweat which fell into the fire as he was offering the oblation. It rose (from the fire) covering earth and sky with its body of horrifying dimensions and asked the great sage "what shall I do?" The son of Bhṛgu replied to it, as it loomed terrifically: "Expel from heaven the gods whose minds are dull". Thus spoken to, it rushed at the gods intimidating them with roars, and scorching, as it were, the three worlds with the flames that issued from its mouth. In fear, the gods' with their troops expelled (from heaven) approached Śambhu, the all pervading and fearless one, who is decorated with ashes. They were completely routed by their defeat by the son of Bhṛgu; Śiva, their protector, ordered the Fire which issued from his third eye in the shape of a spirit (bhūta), to save them. "Thou should burn the cruel and over-grown goat-Asura after having crushed the son of Bhṛgu."

v1.c6.s3.29

³⁵ Bhṛgu is the son of Varuṇa (Ś.B. XI. 6. 1. 1.); born of Varuṇa's sacrificial fire (Mbh. Ādi. V. 7-8; 'Manu', V. 1.). He studies sacred science, believes himself above his father, above everything. His son becomes the Planet Śukra; his story is interpolated in the 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', see infra. He is the priest of the Asuras.

v1.c6.s3.30

Thus spoken to, the fire chased the son of Bhṛgu, without rest, and he fled pursued through the three worlds. He found no refuge but in Śiva who is 'decorated with ashes'.

v1.c6.s3.31

Then by the power of Yoga he made his body small and for protection entered the body of Śiva through the ear. When he reached the belly of Śiva, he saw the whole universe rested there confidently, and took heart. The three-eyed god, in his divine sight, saw him take shelter and without surprise he said to the sage with a smile: "Fear not, O Bhārgava, I am pleased with thy diplomacy. Having stayed within me you are my son; now come out at your pleasure. I have bestowed on you the great sovereignty and supremacy among the planets. In these three worlds, you shall ever regulate justice and injustice, rain and draught". . . . Saying so, the three-eyed (god) discharged him through the semen-passage. Thence he got the name Śukra (Semen). Then Śukra, knowing his own desire, bowed to the Lord and submitted. "Contented am I; favoured am I; who is more fortunate than I; I have thus been graced with favour by the God of the gods".

v1.c6.s3.32

To the Brāhmaṇa Śukra, lying prostrate in salutation after saying so, the Lord, the all pervading, with the crescent moon upon his brow, being pleased, said: "Ask another boon". Śukra (now) also made the frightened goat-demon prostrate himself before Śiva and ask for protection. To the fallen demon lying like a stick, dejected, with his face to the ground, he said pleased: "I grant you protection, and also the boon which is desired by you, O goat". Thus addressed by Śambhu the Asura said respectfully: "May you pardon me the evil deeds perpetrated by me through ignorance so that I may through your favour dwell on earth with the concurrence of the gods. Grant me this boon. The gods, Brahmā, and the rest should be worshipped while residing in me." Hearing this, the carrier of the trident (Śiva) said: "As you have asked me for a residence (vāstu), as a boon, your name will be Vāstupa (protector of 'vāstu'). So be it. (Derived) from the root 'vas' (meaning 'to reside'), reside now on earth (Vasundharā); and the gods Śatānanda (Brahmā), and the rest will be pleased to reside in you; henceforth, whosoever builds a divine or human residence, to dwell on this earth, should first worship you with flowers, incense, lights and special tribute (bali). You and the deities residing in your body should be worshipped in proper order. Prosperity comes to those who perform the worship of Vāstu laid down by myself and who reside in those buildings and houses. May the temples (and palaces; prāsāda) and the houses (bhavana), etc., which are built without performing the worship of Vāstu, and all that is done there, be demon's work. Thus the god (Śiva) granted boons separately to Śukra and to Vāstupa, and engaged gods to reside in him; and vanished thence.

v1.c6.s3.33

Through the boon of the Lord, the all pervading, the place thus oriented by the fall of the Asura, at Śukra's command, before Śambhu, became immediately the abode of the deities.

v1.c6.s3.34

In the same way even to-day, Vāstu lies on the earth with the head towards the north-east and the face turned to the ground. Thus, as the desired boon was obtained by Vāstoṣpati from Śiva, so his worship is desirable while building Vimānas of both gods and men.”³⁶

v1.c6.s3.35

³⁶ Vimāna means to ‘measure asunder’; a building proportionate in its parts. ³⁷ Ābhicārika or ‘black magic’ rites are performed with the purpose of injuring one’s enemy. ³⁸ “Encompassing” growing from the fire, at another occasion, assumes the shape of Vṛtra, the concealer, who is ophidian in appearance. ‘Tait. Saṃh’, II. 5. 2.

v1.c6.s3.36

In this version, narrated in the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, the ‘fall’ is the sequel of an Ābhicārika³⁷ sacrifice. The Chāgāsura, risen from Bhārgava’s fire, pervades the worlds.³⁸ He is produced from the heated energy (tejas) and intentness (tapas) of the Bhārgava. Bhārgava is the son of Bhṛgu, who was born of Varuṇa’s sacrificial fire. Out of this fiery conjunction, the sacrificial animal, the goat arises, invested with Asura-power.

v1.c6.s3.37

The goat replaces man as ‘sacrificial animal’. The sacrificer offers his own (lower) self in the sacrificial animal consumed by the fire. The goat is the contribution, of the heat of intentness (AV. XVIII. 2. 8). As a sacrifice it reaches its fulfilment and true state, in the fire and is ‘produced’ from the heat of the sacrifice (Ś.B. VII. 5. 2. 36). It is Prajāpati (Ś.B. V. 2. 1. 24) and is Agni³⁹ and also ‘born from Agni’ (‘Tait. Saṃh’. V. 2. 9. 4). Agni was generated by Atharvan (RV. X. 21. 5), the ancient priest, the first to obtain fire.

v1.c6.s3.38

The ‘Skanda Purāṇa’, ib., CXXXII, 15, says: “the Bhūta is born from the hymn (sūkta) of Atharvan and the drop of nectar.”⁴⁰ The reference of the ‘Skanda Purāṇa’ is to Atharva Veda IV. 14. 1-3. “Since the goat has been born from the heat of Agni, it saw (its) generator in the beginning; by it the gods in the beginning attained (their) Godhead; by it the sacrificial ones ascended the ascents”. “Stride ye with the fire to mid-air, having got to the back of the firmament, to heaven, sit ye mingled with the gods”. “From the back of the earth I have ascended to the atmosphere; from the atmosphere I have ascended to heaven; from the back of heaven I have gone to light.”

v1.c6.s3.39

The sacrificial goat born from Agni’s heat carries the gods and the sacrificer upwards, to heaven and to light, in the Sūkta of Atharvan; the goat-Asura born from the Sūkta, swelled by pride sinks down and on him the gods take their stand and the temple is built up; with its plan it leads to the centre, and in its elevation to the upper worlds, and beyond them. The Asura-bhāva (pride) of the Chāgāsura lays him low, “at the feet of Śiva” on the surface of the earth. Yet even so he carries the gods.

v1.c6.s3.40

Further on the Sūkta of Atharvan continues: “In the eastern quarter set thou the head of the goat; in the southern quarter his right side” (AV. IV. 14. 7). The goat is laid in the position of Agni, which it is; and also of the Vāstupuruṣa which name is given to the goat-Asura on his having settled down in that position.

v1.c6.s3.41

⁸ Ophidian, or goat-headed, the Asura arisen from a magic sacrifice, pervades the universe and must be defeated and assigned its place. Śukra (Bhārgava) the priest of the Asuras himself is descended from fire-born Vṛtra, for Bhṛgu, his father is born from Varuṇa’s sacrificial fire, and Varuṇa and Vṛtra are equivalent (see Coomaraswamy, ‘Angel and Titan’, l. c. ; p. 409). ³⁹ Agni is presented as a goat. He is Chāgavaktra, goat-faced, as Naigameya Agni. (‘Mahābhārata’ Vanaparva, 228. 27). ⁴⁰ Amṛtabindu here means sweat.

v1.c6.s3.42

Puruṣa and Agni are one, their middle term here is the sacrificial animal, the goat.

v1.c6.s3.43

In the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, the body which is laid out is that of Man. Not in every version of the descent of the nameless Asura is he known as goat-headed. When he is thus laid to rest, the sacrament of cremation, as it were, is performed for him as of a person who had died on a journey⁴¹.

v1.c6.s3.44

⁴¹ In that case a human figure is made of Palāśa sticks on the skin of a black goat; W. Caland, 'Die altindischen Todten und Bestattungsgebräuche', p. 88.

v1.c6.s3.45

The fallen Asura lies with his face down⁴², it must be thought of as buried in the soil and part of it. This is the destination which he has reached so that the buildings set up on him are firmly established. His Asura power is held by the gods; it stays where he has come to rest.

v1.c6.s3.46

⁴² 'Bṛhat Saṃhitā', LII. 2-3; 'Matsya Purāṇa', CCLII; 'Īśāna-paddhati', III. ch. XXVI. 125; 'Kāśyapaśilpa', II. 13; 'Mānasāra' VII. 253 f. etc.

v1.c6.s3.47

The Puruṣa built into the Altar faces upwards (uttāna), towards heaven, towards light, his destination. The Asura, fallen, face downwards, carries and protects the building and receives his name: Vāstupuruṣa, the Puruṣa of the site. This is how he should be meditated upon at the rites of installation of a house of God and man. To the devotee who worships the Vāstupuruṣa a miracle happens. He beholds him in his true state, facing upwards, whence he had fallen. The Vāstupuruṣa thus lies in the same position as Agni Prajāpati reconstituted as the Vedic Altar. He carries the gods on his face and chest, they are stationed on his supine body (Br. S. LII. 51-54)⁴³. Somaśambhu says: "With folded hands the Asura lies, facing upwards, (uttāna) during the performance of pūjās⁴⁴; with his face bent down he should be meditated upon at the rites of installation, etc., of a house of God or men". ('Śaradātilaka', III. 2, com. 9). United with the gods he is the firm basis for an ascent to the high region by means of the temple, built on his recumbent body. By looking (darśana) at the temple, which he carries, its builder and whosoever knows its meaning, is led to the highest point.

v1.c6.s3.48

⁴³ "Uttāna" spread out, looking upwards, is the Vāstupuruṣa according to 'Viṣṇusamhitā', XII. 51; 'Agni Purāṇa', XCIII. 3; 'Vāstuvidyā', IV. 48; 'Manuṣyālayacandrikā', II. 28; 'Śaradātilaka', III, 2. comm. 3. The latter says "prottāna"; and adds, III. 2. Comm. 6: "elsewhere it is said that the face of the Vāstu is bent down." cf. the golden Puruṣa. Ś.B. VII. 4. 1. 45; 'Kātyāyana', XVII. 4. 10.

v1.c6.s3.49

⁴⁴ Of the Vāstupuruṣa, after his fall to earth, the texts say: The Vāstupuruṣa lies on the ground, placed there by the gods (Bṛ. S. LII. 2-3; 'Matsya Purāṇa', CCLII); prostrate at the feet of Śiva; he remains in that position 'residing' on earth ('Īśāna-paddhati', Part III. ch. XXVI. 101-10, 117-9); he has been put down by the gods and placed on earth ('Śaradātilaka', III. 2. comm. quoting Mahākapiñjala); he has been so placed to prevent his arising; ('Merutantra', quoted in 'Puraścaryārṇava', pp. 105-6). The Vāstupuruṣa sleeps, rises from his sleep, sleeps again ('Śaivabhūṣaṇam', p. 140; cf. Jyotiṣa Śāstra). It is impossible to kill the Vāstupuruṣa; he is put or puts himself into a pit, and the gods prevent him from coming out; 'Tantrarājatantra', ch. XXX. 4-11; 'Puraścaryārṇava', i. c. Such are the degrees of his recumbent state according to various texts. Prostrate and defeated, he is resurrected and transformed in the gods who reside in him; in them he survives his fall.

Nature and Name of the Vāstupuruṣa

v1.c6.s4.1

The head of the Vāstupuruṣa lies in the East⁴⁵; such is the ancient tradition conforming with the symbolism of Agni. "The head of the Vāstupuruṣa lies in the East, in the site of 64 squares" ('Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', XIV. 11). But "the head of the Vāstupuruṣa should be placed in the North-East, in a site of 81 squares" (ib.)⁴⁶. "The north-eastern direction is invincible" (aparājita; 'Ait. Br.' I. 3. 14)⁴⁷. The site of 81 squares was specially assigned for worship by Kṣatriyas, and for their buildings. The sanctity of the north-easterly direction is that of work (karmamārga). That is their path of liberation.

v1.c6.s4.2

⁴⁵ 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', XIV. 11; XLV. 18; 'Mayaṃnata', VII. 49; 'Vāsturājavallabha', II. 18; 'Śilparatna', VII. 34; cf. 'Āpastamba Śrauta Sūtra', XVI. 28. I. 2. "He should pile a human figure of bricks, from East to West, its head formed by the head of the golden Puruṣa."

v1.c6.s4.3

⁴⁶ 'Bṛhat Saṃhitā', LII. 51; 'Īśāna-paddhati', III. ch. XXVI. 125; 'Vāsturājavallabha', II. 2; 'Manuṣyālayacandrikā', II. 28; 'Śilparatna', VII. 28½. The texts are not always explicit about the relation of the position of the head of the Vāstupuruṣa and the number of squares; the two varieties intermingle, the one of 64 squares and the head in the East, the other of 81 squares and the head in the north-east. A not always consistent terminology (vaṃśa; nāḍi, etc.) results; see p. 54. Priesthood and kingship have their distinct versions of one and the same Puruṣa who underlies their building activities.

v1.c6.s4.4

⁴⁷ The north-east is the direction facing which Prajāpati created creatures, and towards which the sacrificer offers oblations; it is the quarter of gods and men, and the gate of heaven. Ś.B. VI. 6. 2. 2-4.

v1.c6.s4.5

The symbolism of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala has its origin in and retains its connection with the Vedic altar and the rites of the sacerdotal part of the Veda, the Brāhmaṇas. It is adapted to the 'dharma', the rules of life of the Kṣatriyas. At the age when the Vāstuśāstras known to-day were compiled and at the same period when the many existing temples of stone and brick were built the two types of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, the one for Brahmans, the other for Kṣatriyas co-exist and also commingle.

v1.c6.s4.6

They were a residue of traditions still known and practised though no longer realized in all their import. On them, their 'tonic', the building of the temple rests; the disposition of the site-plan of the entire precinct is in consideration of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala. The ground plan itself of the temple is laid out in its analogy and with all the indefinite variations of its theme. The ground floor (adhaśchanda) of the temple is planned with the Garbhagṛha in the centre; this as rule is square and corresponds to the Brahmasthāna. It is surrounded by thick walls on which rests the high superstructure; these conform with the border of squares occupied by the divinities who surround the Brahmasthāna. The buttresses and various kinds of projections of this wall are from the outer border of the square, the zone of the 32 Padadevatās; they form the perimeter of the temple. The rhythmic structure of the Vimāna proceeding from its centre towards its perimeter is laid out according to the proportions within the network of squares in the ground plan. (Part VII).

v1.c6.s4.7

The ground plan of the temple, whatever may be its variations, is analogous to the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala and retains in its rhythmic order proceeding from the centre and in the modulations of its perimeter, the knowledge of the Vāstupuruṣa in all his parts. The rhythm (chandas) of the ground plan is derived from the order in the Vāstumaṇḍala. The relation of sacred architecture to the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala is reflected moreover in the sculptures on its walls; their iconography is essentially an iconometry (tālamāna). The distinctiveness of the sculptures rests upon their proportion and positions; their merit is in their form and results from a supererogation in the correct execution of the rules. It exceeds the rules by intensifying their raison d’être. To this excess of application is granted an immediate realisation, possible only where the knowledge is perfect. Its possession shows a freedom through which the grace of the Lord (anugraha) becomes impressed on the work. It is in the ‘readiness’ (pratyutpanna) which distinguishes the inspired craftsmen whose competence has become effortless. On the firm basis of iconometrical structure, itself correlated to and in continuation of the proportion of the temple, the many images have their place assigned to them as parts of the body of the building; their movements too and the relatedness of form in the single figures are similarly assigned.

v1.c6.s4.8

Unknown in its intrinsic form and nameless the Asura had come to earth. Defined and named thenceforth he dwells on it. In his extension he holds duration and within duration time runs its course. Wherever his image is laid out, he fills the place to which it is applied, whether it is large or small, in its entire extent, like the ether which is even in a pot.⁴⁸ The symbol of its ordered extensiveness is the square so that it is even said of him: long ago there was a demon in the shape of a square (caturaśrākṛti).⁴⁹ This is his own, intrinsic form on earth; man or goat are but names and places of reference. The rule of the square, the final and perfect form is established as long as the earth itself survives and will dissolve along with the stars at the time of universal dissolution (pralaya).⁵⁰

v1.c6.s4.9

⁴⁸ ‘Manuṣyālayacandrikā’, II. 27-28.

v1.c6.s4.10

⁴⁹ ‘Tantrarāja-tantra’, ch. XXX. 4 f.

v1.c6.s4.11

⁵⁰ ‘Śaradātilaka’, III. 2. comm. quoting Mahākapiñjala.

v1.c6.s4.12

In some accounts of his fall⁵¹, the Asura is described as having been dug into the earth by the gods, or else himself to have dug a pit and entered it of his own will. There he subsists, his substance commingling with the soil, the sacrificial victim self-offered, the prototype of all foundation sacrifices⁵² similar to ‘man’ the first of the sacrificial victims in the construction of the Vedic altar. No human sacrifice takes place during the established rites of Vāstu-śānti, Vāstu-homa, and

v1.c6.s4.13

⁵¹ ‘Tantrarājatantra’; ‘Merutantra’, quoted in ‘Puraścaryārṇava’, l. c., etc.

v1.c6.s4.14

⁵² Foundation sacrifices are offered in the belief that the condition of permanence of a great building depends on the sacrifice of a human being. W. Crooke, ‘Religion and Folklore in Northern India’, p. 109; also ‘Indian Antiquary’, vol. LVI, p. 135; and Abbot, ‘The Keys to Power’ p. 209. H. Shastri, ‘The Ruins of Dhaboi’ p. 2-3 tells of the architect Dabhane who was immersed for 6 years under the temple of Kālikā-mātā which he had built. For further reference to sacrifice and burial below a building to be set up “so that by this act the pre-existing divinity of the place is reinforced” see P. Mus, op. cit. p. 674.

v1.c6.s4.16

Vāstu-bali. It might have preceded them as it preceded the Vedic rites laid down in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa; essentially however, each sacrifice is an eternal ‘puruṣa-medha’.⁵³

v1.c6.s4.17

⁵³ A. K. Coomaraswamy, ‘Angel and Titan’, op. cit. p. 401.

v1.c6.s4.18

Vāstupuruṣa, if worshipped as an image (mūrti)⁵⁴ is a fearful looking male figure. He is as repulsive as Jumbaka, who is sacrificed by drowning, to Varuṇa⁵⁵; Jumbaka therefore becomes Varuṇa⁵⁶. Man, the sacrificial victim, figures here as an embodiment of the sacrifice of the lower self; the drowning of Jumbaka is alike to the sinking of the Bhūta to the ground and into the soil; this is the Asura’s part down below the gods, yet simultaneously present with them, and their support.⁵⁷

v1.c6.s4.19

⁵⁴ ‘Mahānirvāṇa Tantra’, XIII. 63-66.

v1.c6.s4.20

⁵⁵ Āp. Śr. S. XX. 22. 6.

v1.c6.s4.21

⁵⁶ Vāstupuruṣa as a form of Varuṇa (Vṛtra), see ‘Kāśyapaśilpa’, II. 12-24, where he is beheld as Viṣṇunārāyaṇa and Mahājala (jalādhipa). “The recumbent is originally Varuṇa; supported on the back of the waters (AV. X. 7. 38), finally Nārāyaṇa Viṣṇu.” Coomaraswamy, ‘A New Approach to the Vedas’, p. 61; Varuṇa (manifested deity) is sacrificed and re-surrected. Johannson, ‘Die altindische Göttin Dhiṣaṇā’, p. 128. Varuṇa is Asura and King, Lord over life and death, finally Nārāyaṇa-Viṣṇu. He is self sacrificed deity. This is exactly how, following the ‘Merutantra’, the Vāstupuruṣa-Asura-Prajāpati is shown as a righteous and wise king, who in order to keep his word, destroys his body (‘Puraścaryārṇava’, op. cit., pp. 105-6).

v1.c6.s4.22

⁵⁷ The ‘Skandapurāṇa’, Nāgarakhaṇḍa, CXXXII. 7 speaks of the Bhūta as arisen from the earth. Here, indeed, has the divinity of the soil come to commingle with the Bhūta “born from the sūkta of Atharvan and the drop of nectar” (śl. 15, ib.). He had been made invincible by the rhythmical magic formula (mantra) of Śukra.

v1.c6.s4.23

As yet without name and form is the Asura at the beginning of his fall, for he has only then fallen from the state beyond name and form. In his descent he becomes a Bhūta, an existing thing, and acquires name and form (chāgāsura). Estranged from the Principle, Existence desires to exist alone; it suffers defeat and is assigned its place on earth, one with the Devas who brought about the ultimate fall; appeased and at one with itself and in its proper place, its name is Vāstupuruṣa. When, in one version of his story he sinks into the earth submerged in its darkness, his integrity is restored ‘ab intra’; self-sacrificed he does not die, “for he (the Puruṣa) is Death himself in the splendour of the immortal” (Ś.B. X. 5. 2. 3) or Varuṇa.

v1.c6.s4.24

When he sinks down dark, hideous, impotent, submerged, and inactive, he has reached the ground where his identity is lost. He lies wrapt in the darkness of his nature, the nature which pulled him down; now no longer distinct from it. He has reached the other pole, where existence ceases, reintegrated into the darkness of the deity ‘ab intra’. There he lies submerged as Asura, at the same time converted into the gods, who have taken their stand on him and are his ‘body’ on earth.

v1.c6.s4.25

The story is here adjusted to a particular Tīrtha, called Vāstupada and installed by Kātyāyana, the Brāhmaṇa. The potency of this Tīrtha is represented in its being the place of the arising of the Bhūta (it had been sent there by Muṇḍa, śl. 15). Born from the Sūkta of Atharvan it is sent to do its work at this particular spot. Battle, defeat, etc., are then described and the Bhūta is finally laid to rest. Hari (Viṣṇu) asks Brahmā to name the Bhūta.—This is a Vaiṣṇava version referring to a special Tīrtha, of the Vāstupuruṣa story which is told in Vāstuśāstras and Śaivāgamas (I.P., III. ch. XXVI. 93, f. quoting Brahmaśambhu).

First 114 of 232 passages. Read on

Linked texts (54)