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The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s4: Nature and Name of the Vāstupuruṣa

The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s4

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Nature and Name of the Vāstupuruṣa

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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

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⁴⁸ ‘Manuṣyālayacandrikā’, II. 27-28.

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⁴⁹ ‘Tantrarāja-tantra’, ch. XXX. 4 f.

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

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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

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

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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.

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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

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

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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

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⁵⁴ ‘Mahānirvāṇa Tantra’, XIII. 63-66.

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⁵⁵ Āp. Śr. S. XX. 22. 6.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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In the microcosm, in man (jīva), Existence, the demon, correspondingly is known by the name of Pāpapuruṣa (the Puruṣa of Evil, the Evil person). He is thought of as an ugly black man, angry, with red beard and red eyes, holding a sword and shield, with his head always held low ('Mahānirvāṇa Tantra', V. 99) residing in the left cavity of one's abdomen. Thus he is known to be after the Sādhaka has dissolved and integrated all the forms of existence (tattva) one after the other, the lower always in the higher and finally in the origin whence they have arisen and his self has become free of them.⁵⁸

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⁵⁸ 'Mahānirvāṇa Tantra', XIII, 42-46 describes the Vāstupuruṣa and his (12) followers. Some of their names are: Bhiṣaṇa (ferocious), Raktalocana (red eyed), Koṭarākṣa (with deep sunk eyes); Vāstu-pati himself should be meditated upon as of ferocious aspect, with big belly, long ears, hairy body. His followers carry sword and shield.

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Existence, un-principled, fallen from the Principle, unknown to itself in its form, unnamed, this calamitous Asura at last allows himself to be caught in form and name. In the story told in the 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', it has come to earth as goat-headed Asura and lying prostrate at Śiva's feet, it begs of him the boon which Śiva grants him, existence and residence (vāstu) on earth; so his name henceforward is Vāstupa, protector of site and building (vāstu). Derived from the radical "vas" which means to "exist" and to "reside", the Asura will reside on earth (vasundharā)⁵⁹ and Brahmā and the other gods will reside in him.⁶⁰

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⁵⁹ Vasundharā, the holding or carrying substance, or wealth (vasu), is a name of the earth; 'vasu', 'vastu' and 'vāstu' are from the radical 'vas', to exist, reside; vasu: substance, thing, wealth; vastu: existence, substance; vāstu: residence dwelling, site, house. See notes 65, 72.

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⁶⁰ 'Skandapurāṇa', Nāgarakhaṇḍa, CXXXII. 29-30, after relating that the place finally remained quiet, makes Hari ask Brahmā, to name the Bhūta: "since he reacted to the word and you also addressed him "Vāstu" (Vā-astu) "be auspicious" (exist as residence, be a dwelling) let his name be Vāstu."

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Vāstu, whose body is Vāstu, existence⁶¹, Vāstupa, protector of Vāstu, Vāstoṣpati (Ī.P. III. ch. XXVI), lord of Vāstu, and Vāstupuruṣa (Bṛ. S. LII. 2) are variations of the name given to Existence made secure, steady⁶² and laid out in order⁶³. Vāstoṣpati is an ancient divinity. Rudra Prajāpati married the Dawn and begot four sons. The fourth is called Vāstoṣpati or Gṛhapati—Agni.⁶⁴ "When the father embraced his daughter (sky or the dawn), then he came also in contact with the earth and poured his seed there; then the gods reflected and fashioned out of it Brahmā called Vāstoṣpati, the protector of sacrificial rites and the Lord of the site at the sacrifice" ('yajñavāstusvāmī'; Sāyaṇa on RV. X. 61. 7). In 'Manu Smṛti', the later Śaiva tradition and in Vāstuśāstra, the Asuratva, the Asura nature of Vāstoṣpati is all there, and while he is the lord of the Vāstu, he lies with his face down, the fallen Asura. His overlord (vāstvadhipati) is Brahmā (Ī.P., III. ch. XII. 22). The duplication of Brahmā-Vāstoṣpati, his two-fold nature as god and Asura is a record of his fall from the Principle into manifestation with its dichotomy. While the Asura figuratively remains the larger, all filling, spread everywhere, in his inmost part, in the middle, in his heart there is Brahmā. "In the centre of the building let him place an offering (bali) for Brahmā and Vāstoṣpati conjointly" ('Manu Smṛti', III. 89).

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⁶¹ Ī.P., III. ch. XXVI, 93 f.

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⁶² 'Āśv. Gṛ. Sūtra', II. 8. 15 and 'Pāraskara Gṛ S.', III. 4. 3. invoke Vāstoṣpati, the "steady one". See Part I.

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⁶³ Also Vāstudeva ('Matsyapurāṇa') or its opposite: Vāsturākṣasa; his followers are Vāstu daityas ('Mahānirvāṇa Tantra', XIII, 42 ; 59-66). The Vāstupuruṣa is and remains an Asura and therefore both the roles of Deva and Daitya are his by nature. He is and remains Vāstu-brahmā, created first by Virāj ('Vāstuvidhāna', op. cit., VIII. 14); or else by Brahmā by whom the worlds where created only afterwards ('Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', II. 4). cf. Coomaraswamy, 'Angel and Titan', l.c., p. 374: "The designations Asura and Deva may be applied to one and the same 'Person' according to the mode of operation."

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⁶⁴ R. Shamasastry, 'Vedic Iconography', JISOA, vol. X. p. 80.

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In his benign aspect, Vāstoṣpati is the protector of the home ('Nirukta', X. 16)⁶⁵. He assumes all shapes⁶⁶; he is Rudra⁶⁷; such is his Asura-power, spread out on earth, where his realm coincides with that of Agni with whom he is identical in essence.

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⁶⁵ "Vāstoṣpati (Lord of the vāstu)—Vāstu is derived from the radical 'vas' meaning to 'dwell'—is the lord or protector of the house." 'Bṛhad Devatā', II. 44 (Macdonell, p. 42). "But because being in the middle (sphere) he granting an abode (vāstu) to the world, protects it, therefore the son of Urvaśī (Vasiṣṭha) proclaims him to be Vāstoṣpati". Vāstoṣpati as protector of the house: RV. VII. 54. 1; 55. 1; AV. VI. 73. 3; 'Taitt. Samh.' III. 4. 10. 1; Āp. Ś. S. VI. 28. 8; Pār. Gṛ. S. III. 4. 7; Hiraṇyakeśin (SBE. XXX) I. 8. 28. ⁶⁶ RV. VII. 55.

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Agni's sphere is the earth⁶⁸. He is the giver and protector of dwellings (gṛhapati, vāsaka, etc.)⁶⁹ the radiant (vasu) among the gods⁷⁰. The Vasus, the sparkling ones, are the eight gods causing the mortals to abide (vas); the terrestrial region is their sphere of action (Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 6). Agni and also Indra⁷¹, Prajāpati, Soma and other gods are invoked as givers of dwellings, all the Vasus⁷², all these divinities have their station in the Vāstumaṇḍala. Under whatever name the Vāstupuruṣa is known, his form on earth is square. This form is his, as far as he is Yama, Death, the Dharmarāja whose city is square. Its squareness was made use of by Viśvakarmā, the archetypal architect, as the shape of the first ornament he gave to manifestation.

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Vāstoṣpati is the lord of the building and the Earth is the mistress of the house⁷³. She is the soil; on her he leaves his impress and she receives his seed. This is the meaning enacted in the rites of sowing the seeds, etc. (aṅkurārpaṇa) and of depositing the germ (garbhādhāna). From the inception to the completion of the building, the indwelling divinity is worshipped by the rites of architecture. "The wise man, who has taken a vow to consecrate a building, should perform the rites, beginning with the worship of Vāstu and ending with that of the Vasus".

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¹ Pār. Gṛ. S. III. 4. 7. ⁶⁷ 'Taitt. Samh.', III. 4. 10. 4. ⁶⁸ 'Nirukta', VII. 5. ⁶⁹ RV. I. 60. 4; VI. 16. 24; V. 6. 1-2; V. 7. 6; V. 8. 1; VI. 48. 8-9. ⁷⁰ 'Ait. Br.', I. 5. 28. ⁷¹ RV. VI. 46.

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⁶ Prajāpati, Soma, Agni, Dhātṛ, are invoked as Gṛhapati, Āp. Ś. S. XXI. II. 2. and 8. ⁷² RV. I. 10.

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⁴ Vasu is the giver or cause of dwelling (nivāsakāraṇa bhūta). ⁷³ Vāstoṣpati=Agni—Prajāpati; 'Jaiminīya Br.', II.

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⁴ "The year is the houselord, the earth is the house mistress".

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('Mahānirvānatantra', XIII. 178-179). The temple is dedicated as the residence (vāsāya) of divinity (ib. 245)⁷⁴.

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⁷⁴ In the final rite of Vāstuhoma, the Ācārya circumambulates the fire in honour of Vāsudeva. 'Kāśyapaśilpa', III. 17.

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Unknown in its own form, its name as yet not defined prior to resting there, Existence has come to earth; fallen from the Principle, swelled with pride, it had become all filling; unprincipled as it is, it creates disorder and defeats its aim; accepts defeat on coming to earth, its valour proved and spent, it sinks down and receives name and definition. Sunk to the bottom, it reclines there, rests and sleeps securely in its reintegrated identity; lost to the world, sunk to the ground, absorbed and one with it; and from then onward at the same time, for all time, till the dissolution of the very ground on which it rests it is one with the gods who have defeated the un-principled Bhūta Existence and settled on it, so that while it carries them, they carry it on, each in its proper place and time. Existence, rid of itself, of its assertiveness (ahaṃkāra, the principle of individuation, which grows into the all-filling, destructive Asura-bhāva) becomes the support and covers the extent of the Vāstu, an image of ordered manifestation. Vāstu now is its name. Its image is that of the Puruṣa, the place of reference in which man beholds the identity of macrocosm and microcosm. On its appeased being and form spread out on the ground he sets up the temple, the monument of his own transformation. Its superstructure points to the origin of the primeval descent; it is undone by the ascent step by step, shape by shape, along the body of the temple. This body once more, in the concrete form (mūrti), made by art, is that of the Puruṣa, arisen.

Cites (24)