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The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s3: The Descent of the Vāstupuruṣa

The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s3

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The Descent of the Vāstupuruṣa

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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

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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³⁰ 'Manuṣyālayacandrikā', l. c.

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

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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."

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

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

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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.

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"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."

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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.

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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'.

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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".

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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