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The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s5: The Gods as Constituents of the 'Body' of the Vāstupuruṣa

The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s5

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The Gods as Constituents of the 'Body' of the Vāstupuruṣa

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The Vāstupuruṣa, once laid on the ground, is measured out in squares, from east to west, with the course of the sun, from light to darkness. He is one and omniform; all the possibilities of existence are displayed in the tranquillity of his recumbent state. Each is divine by nature, an essence established at its proper place and has the name of a god. Their sum total is the Asura; their multiplicity is held by their place of reference which is the Vāstupuruṣa, resurrected and transformed. He is the deity 'ab intra', the Asura with his face down, sunk into the ground, and one with it; and resurrected, facing upward with all his powers laid open in their proper place, his hands joined in 'añjalimudrā',⁷⁵ in eviternal worship of the Supreme and undivided principle where lies his origin and which he now reflects, its 'image' on the earth. Space and time are its measure and form its body. It is square, similarly, each power or divinity is laid out in squares (pada); their total is the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, of 64 or 81 squares, according to its fitness for Brāhmaṇas and Kṣatriyas. Forty-five Devatās occupy the body of the Vāstupuruṣa; they cover his extent, they are his limbs and vital parts and their sum total is the Vāstupuruṣa with whom it is co-extensive. Their number necessarily is the same in the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala of 64 or 81 or any of the other numbers of squares; only the extent allotted to each, differs, but not their relative position in the plan.⁷⁶ This allows certain variations also within each of the two leading types. Some of these, found in several texts, are shown on pp. 86-88.⁷⁷

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⁷⁵ In Śaiva tradition, Vāstoṣpati is Īśāna ('Paurāṇikavāstusāntiprayoga', fol. 24) sunk into the ground, he is Vāstudeva who dwells at Pātāla (the nether worlds), the upholder of the earth (fol. 25). The Vāstu-deva is the Vāstu-nāga, the support of all architecture ('Nāgara'; see Part VII); he is worshipped as a golden serpent. His double nature, one with the Godhead, unmanifest, is ophidian; manifest he is the God of gods, Īśāna, Śiva, whose image is the bull (vṛṣa). The 'Vāstumuktāvalī', pp. 146-47, therefore prescribes the installation of the golden serpent; and north of it the Vṛṣa-Vāstu, made of gold, (also: 'Vāstu-śāntiprayoga', fol. 10). The golden images of bull and serpent represent the twofold nature of the golden image of the Puruṣa. (Re. the bull and the serpent, cf. the Greek god Zeus). As an 'anthropomorphic' image, the Vāstupuruṣa shines like gold, has 4 faces and 4 hands, holds rosary and water vessel, is Vāstubrahmā (cf. the 'dhyāna' of Brahmā, 'Mānasāra', VII. 155-162); in his 'rājasika' aspect he is beheld as ferocious, holding a mace, trident, axe and skull-staff; he is red as the rising sun, and like the god of death to his enemies ('Mahānirvāṇatantra', XIII, 63-66). Other images of the Vāstupuruṣa (for inst. 'Prayoga-Pārijāta', pp. 94-96, śl. 35) are two armed.

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⁷⁶ Full squares are meted out in the maṇḍala of 81 squares to each Devatā, whereas in the plan of 64 squares, half squares or isosceles right angled triangles accommodate the entities placed at the corners, along the diagonals, from the corners of the maṇḍala, to the corners of the Brahmasthāna in the centre.

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⁷⁷ The names of the divinities are given in the Paramāśayiu plan on p. 32; see also Part II, note 30. Paramāśayin, the 'Supreme Recumbent', denotes the deity 'ab intra'.

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The centre is the place of Brahmā and 44 Devatās are grouped around it. The Brahmasthāna, the nucleus of the maṇḍala, invariably extends over four squares in the Maṇḍūka and over nine squares in the Paramāśayika plan. It is the root of each Vāstu while the other Devatās hold the ground around it and face it in two borders, of which the sum is three squares or units wide. Surrounding the immutable centre, the rule applicable to the triple rows around it is that 12 Devatās form its inner rim, the border of the Brahmasthāna, and 32 Devatās are stationed along the perimeter of the Vāstumandala and form its outer rim. The whole of the outermost row is invariably occupied by the 32 Devatās, who are therefore called Prākāra Devatās or Pada Devatās; enclosing the Vāstumandala, or occupying all the squares along its outline. 1 + 12 + 32 entities are thus stationed in the centre and around it. Their number and position give their meaning and form the body of the Vāstupuruṣa (Figs. 1-7).

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The plots which are assigned to the various divinities are not of equal size, in the various plans. 45 entities are accommodated variously in 64 or 81 units. The immutable relation is the proportion between the centre, the Brahmasthāna, and the total square. Fixed also is the number of the 32 marginal gods. It allows one square to each of the marginal gods in the plan of 81 units, whereas a division by the main diagonals, of the squares situated in the corners meets the contingency of distributing 32 in 28, by halving the squares along the diagonals, in the corners.

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The number of squares assigned to the various divinities varies in the different plans. It makes the demarcation between the two borders a shifting one, now

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TYPES OF THE VĀSTUPURUṢAMAṆḌALA⁷³

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⁷³ The Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala on p. 32 is the Paramaśāyin plan "A".

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(1) MAṆḌŪKA : A Viśvakarmaprakāśa, V. 8-10. Matsyapurāṇa, CCLIII, 47-48. Bṛhat Saṃhitā, LII. 55-56. Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati, Pt. III, ch. XXVII. 4-12. Kāmikāgama, XVII. 45-47. Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra, XI. 21-25. Śilparatna, VI. 35-44. Viśvakarmanvidyāprakāśa, I. 75-76.

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(2) MAṆḌŪKA : B Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra, VIII. 150-164. Agnipurāṇa, XL. 2-13. Śāradātilaka, III. 8-9. Vāstuvidyā, IV. 45.

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anding the outer border (Fig. 4) and then again contracted within its limits one unit's length (Figs. 3, 7) or else, some only of the more centrally situated

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[Figure: (3) MAṆḌŪKA: C Vāsturājavallabha, II. 13. Śāradātilaka, III. 8-9.]

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[Figure: (4) MAṆḌŪKA: D Mayamata, VII. 43-57. Vāstuvidyā, IV. 36. Mānasāra, VII. 83-110.]

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[Figure: (5) PARAMAŚĀYIN: A Viśvakarmaprakāśa, V. 54-65. Bṛhat Saṃhitā, LII. 42-54. Matsyapurāṇa, CCLIII. 25-35. Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati, III. ch. XXVII. 35. Mānasollāsa, II. ch. III. 1. 73-87. Viśvakarmavidyāprakāśa, I. 66-70. Paurāṇikavāstuśāntiprayoga.]

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[Figure: (6) PARAMAŚĀYIN: B Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra, XI. 1-14. Tantrasamuccaya, I. 1. 60-67.]

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The sources for the drawing of each maṇḍala are noted against it. The black field is the Brahmasthāna. Closely set parallel lines show the plots of 4 of inner divinities whereas the broken oblique lines mark the 8 plots assigned to the eight devatās”⁷⁹ encroach upon the inner border (Figs. 2, 6). The simplest solution is shown in the Paramaśāyika plan (Fig. 7) and similarly, in the Maṇḍūka plan (Fig. 3); its opposite, though analogous application is in the Maṇḍūka plan (Fig. 1). The other plans are more intricate.

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⁷⁹ The divinities who are meant to occupy one Pada (square) only of the outer border.

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The total width of both the borders is three units, in either of the two plans. The variations affect the inner border of two units width and introduce, proceeding from the centre, in the main directions the following rhythms in the plan of 81 squares:

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1:1:2; 1:2:1, and in that of 81 squares: 1½:1:2; 1½:2:1; whereas an exchange of rhythms takes place and an addition of further ones towards the corners in plans like Figs. 2, 5. The Brahmasthāna is wreathed by different rhythmical movements. They clasp its square and leave it unaffected.

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(7) PARAMAŚĀYIN: C⁸⁰ Mayamata, VII. 58. Agnipurāṇa, XCIII. 31. Viṣṇusaṃhitā, XII. 52-60. Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati, Pt. I. ch. XI. 40. Kāmikāgama, XVII. 48-50. Kāśyapaśilpa, II. 2-10. Vāsturājavallabha, II. 13. Śilparatna, VI. 45-46. Mānasāra, VII. 110-125. Prayogapārijāta, Vāstuhomavidhi, 3-14.

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⁸⁰ A further variety of the Paramaśāyin plan is prescribed in the ‘Tantrarāja-Tantra’, ch. II-14. The 4 main inner divinities occupy 3 squares each, and the remaining 8 inner divinities, 2 squares each.

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Brahmā in the centre is one; he occupies the position from the heart to the belly of the Vāstupuruṣa; the Brahmasthāna in the Vāstu is the vital centre, in and around which are the Mahāmarmas; it is the equivalent to the Brahmapura, the ātman, the microcosm. (‘Chānd. Up.’ VIII. 1. 1.)⁸¹ The place of realisation of

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⁸¹ The ‘Mahānirvāṇatantra’, XIII, 49, prescribes as maṇḍala for the worship of the Vāstupuruṣa, a square of one cubit side length, with a lotus in the 4 central squares and the 12 followers of the Vāstudaitya around it. This square of 16 units is similar to a Rāśicakra. The images here are similar though not identical; cf. the lotus in the ‘city of Brahman’. The lotus, symbol of manifestation, is also drawn in the centre of the Vāstumaṇḍala.

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her “inner divinities”. The areas occupied by the 32 outer divinities, the Padadevatās, are left blank.

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The ‘Śāradātilaka’, III. 8. comm. gives the meaning of Maṇḍūka, the Yogapīṭha; its description however is not given in detail, Maṇḍūka B or C would answer it.

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The same names are given of the East-West and of the South-North lines (śirā=sirā) in the Viśvakarmaprakāśa’, V. 22 f. and the Br. S. Comm.; cf. p. 54.

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the Supreme Brahman, the centre of the Vāstupuruṣa, is assigned to Brahmā who is the effected (kārya) Brahman; this is the subtle state of manifestation which in ontological hierarchy is prior to manifestation. The place of Brahman (Brahmasthāna) corresponding to Brahmapura in the universe is the Hiranyagarbha, the Embryo of Splendour, the primordial germ of cosmic light⁸². Similarly, from the Brahmasthāna proceeds the light of all times and in every direction; this makes the first belt, the inner border of 12 entities. In the outer rim of 32 entities it is marked at each place at its definite time and encompasses the extent of corporeal manifestation.

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⁸² In relation to Brahman, the Supreme Principle, the diagram of the Vāstupuruṣa as ontological symbol, is equivalent to Virāj, the central squares corresponding to the Hiranyagarbha.

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The centre, the place of the unconditioned Brahman, is represented by Brahmā, the Regent of that place. Radiating from the centre is its effulgence, the light of all suns that ever shone and which in repeated cycles illuminate this universe. This light of all suns is carried by the Regents of 12 Suns, the Ādityas. Their names are given. In name, it will be seen, they reduce themselves to 8, their Vedic number; four of them, in the corners, appearing in ‘pairs’⁸³. The other four occupy one full side each of the Brahmasthāna, or surround it altogether. The light is carried across this inner border and to the outer rim with its four orients in the middle of each side. In the centre is the dark source of all light, the superluminous darkness, the central point beyond all time, located in the square (2² or 3²) of the Brahmasthāna; it radiates from there and its radiance proceeds through all the stations of the Regents of sun and stars, placed on the body of the Vāstupuruṣa which is the square Vāstumaṇḍala. From the centre beyond time, and around it, is displayed cyclical time in its sections, in its units of days, months and years and in the cycles in which the different courses of sun and moon are adjusted. Laid out around the Brahmasthāna, collateral with the centre, all these times are simultaneous, in one duration, supernal time. But in the outer border, proceeding to the right (pradakṣiṇa) the succession of time is parcelled out in the stations of the Regents of the Nakṣatras, etc.; their houses are in the squares of the outer rim.

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⁸³ Proceeding to the right, with the sun, the sequence of the orients is from East to South, etc. See also note 86.

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Of the 12 inner divinities, Aryaman, Vivasvān, Mitra and Mahīdhara are assigned large plots, on the four sides of the Brahmasthāna, beginning from the East⁸⁴; whereas pairs of divinities, Savitṛ and Sāvitra, Indra and Indrajaya, Rudra and Rudrajaya⁸⁵, Apa and Āpavatsa reside at the corner squares, or their halves

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⁸⁴ The ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, 1. c., puts Marīci in place of Aryaman. Marīci is Light, Ray of Light, Radiation, cause of all activity. Marīci is a mind-born son of Brahmā, his son is Kāśyapa, whose son is Mārtāṇḍa.

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⁸⁵ The ‘Bṛhatsaṃhitā’ places Rājayakṣman for Rudrajaya; similarly the ‘Garuḍapurāṇa’, I. XLVI. 9-11. see Part II. note 30.

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(‘Mahānirvāṇatantra’, XIII. 54); Brahmā issues on a lotus from the navel of the Puruṣa. This is the place of ‘Brahmaṇātmasambhava’ (‘Tantra-Samuccaya’, I. 1. 62). The Brahmasthāna lies between the heart and the belly of the Vāstupuruṣa, this is the ‘daśāṅgula’ (Śaṅkarācārya on ‘Śvetāśvataropaniṣad’, III.) from the navel, the seat of ‘manas’ (mind), to the heart, the seat of ‘buddhi’ (intellect) in man, the microcosm.

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from the south-east corner onward. The four corner divinities, but for those in the north-west are procreatively related and conduct from the inner to the outer rim the light which comes from the centre⁸⁸.

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⁸⁸ 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', III. ch. V. 9.

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Aryaman is yonder sun ('Taitt. Samh.', II. 3. 4. 1); Vivasvān is Mārtāṇḍa, the mortal form of Brahman, whom "Aditi bore hitherward into repeated birth and death" (RV. X. 72. 9), Mitra, the Sun, is an Aditya⁸⁷ and Mahīdhara or Pṛthivīdhara, "the upholder of the earth", is Ananta ('Samarāṅgaṇas.', XIV. 11-31) who is Viṣṇu⁸⁹, the Sun, and all it brings to light. Viṣṇu as Ananta, the Serpent, supports the universe on his head ('Viṣṇupurāṇa', II. V); from below he upholds the earth, the level from which the temple rises. It is here then that the Vāstupuruṣa, the existential Puruṣa, has his identity most fully established by the likeness of the Yajña-puruṣa, who is Viṣṇu (yajñamūrti; Ś.B. I. 2. 5. 1-6). Vāstu is also Dhara, the upholder of the earth, and in this function he is one of the 8 Vasus ('Bhāgavatapurāṇa') who cause the world to abide (vas), so that in Mahīdhara, north of the Brahmasthāna, the Vāstupuruṣa is most firmly fixed in his nature⁹⁰. It is here that he is most firmly set and presided over by Viṣṇu who, according to Tantra, is the Regent of the 'below' just as Brahmā whose place is in the centre is the Regent of the 'above'⁹⁰. In the Vāstu, the diagram of the hierarchy of manifestation and of its ordered existence, the vertical direction is symbolised in the centre, where the 'above' is projected from Mahīdhara to Brahmā. Along this vertical axis, Śiva stood when the goat-Asura fell down at his feet.

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⁸⁷ The two Ādityas, Mitra and Varuṇa, are located in the Vāstu close to each other. As Mitra means life which the sun gives, so is Varuṇa here its dark side, with its potentialities of decay and disease.

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⁸⁹ In a peripheral sense, Ananta or Śeṣa, is the Vāstunāga, the "serpent of the site", who moves around every building site. In this concept, the movement of the Vāstunāga is associated with that of the Vāstupuruṣa, as Caravāstu or movable Vāstu; underlying buildings, etc., which are used for temporary purposes, such as serve in the performance of a definite rite, or for the houses of men. For such purposes, time as movement encompasses the extent of the Vāstupuruṣa and makes him revolve along with it. ('Vāstuvidyā', VII. 2-6; and 'Bhubana-pradīpa', IV-XII, transl. by N. K. Basu, in 'Canons of Orissan Architecture'). In the latter work it is enjoined that the body of the snake being divided into 8 (or 9) equal parts, head, heart, stomach, navel, knee, chin, ankle and tail, the foundation stone should be placed at the heart or stomach; the door also is to be placed at the heart or stomach of the serpent.

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⁹⁰ I. P. Part III. ch. XXVII, 71 f.

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The sun in the intermediate directions carries the light from the centre to the corners. Savitṛ stationed in the south-east, is the sun (Ś.B. VI. 3. 1. 19), the Impeller. Sāvitra—"inasmuch as Savitṛ saw them they are called Sāvitra" (Ś.B. VI. 3. 1. 1)—is the body of libation-mantras, or the mother of the Vedas, according to the 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra'. In this text, Savitṛ is equated with Gaṅgā. Gaṅgā is the celestial current (pravāha) of all the Śaktis, and from this sum total of all Power the 8 Vasus originated ('Mahānirvāṇa-Tantra', XIII. 154). In the 'Rāmāyaṇa' 7. 27. 34, Savitṛ is the eighth Vasu.

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⁸⁶ The couples of Ādityas here are not to be taken as being born in pairs. The second name of each pair has no place among the Ādityas, nor independence. It is a hypostasis of its leading name. This is made clear by the identifications of the names of the Devatās, in the 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', XIV. 11-31. The Vedic number of the Ādityas is 7 or 8 (RV. X. 72. 8). Two and two sons were born of Aditi; in addition to the 8 sons of Aditi, the Rudras, Vasus, Maruts, etc., are also designated as Ādityas. In the Ś.B. XI. 6. 3. 8; 'Br. Ār. Up.', IV. 9. 5, and in general later acceptance the number of the Ādityas is 12. They are known generally as presiding over the 12 months of the year; Dr. Shamasastri, 'The Ādityas', 'Indian Antiquary', Vol. XLI. p. 290, and in 'The World Cycle', JISOA, vol. XI. p. 117, considers them as lords of the intercalary months in a cycle of eclipses.

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Filiation, or hypostasis of the female principle, associates Āpa, the Āditya of the north-east, with Āpavatsa. Āpa, in the 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra' is identified with the Himālaya and Āpavatsa with his daughter Umā. Indra figures as Āditya of the south-west. Indra is also the Lokapāla of the East; placed in the outer border he is there generally called Mahendra, the great Indra; this name however is given to him also as Āditya ('Vāsturājavallabha'). Rudra and Rājayakṣman hold the position of Ādityas in the north-west.

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The Padadevatās, the divinities stationed all round the perimeter (viṣkambha; 'Silparatna', VI. 36)⁹¹, are regents of the Nakṣatras and are led by the warders of the four regions of space, the Lokapālas⁹²: Mahendra in the east, Yama in the south, Varuṇa in the west and Soma in the north (Sāyaṇa on AV. I. 31. 1). They are stationed in the middle of each side whereas the corners are occupied by the regents of the intermediate directions⁹³. The Aṣṭadikpālas, the Warders of the 8 regions are according to the 'Amarakoṣa', etc., beginning from the east: Indra, Agni, Yama, Nirṛti, Varuṇa, Marut, Kuvera and Īśāna. In the Vāstu, Kuvera figures under Soma's name as Lokapāla of the North⁹⁴. Īśāna however does not appear in all the treatises as the regent of the north-east. Agni holds this position in most of the earlier texts⁹⁵.

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⁹¹ Viṣkambha is used here in its two-fold sense, as the central mass of light and the perimeter of the square place.

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⁹² The Lokapālas are called Vāstudevatās by the Jainas.

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⁹³ Ādityas and Lokapālas, Vasus, Rudras and Maruts have all sent their representatives to settle in the Vāstu. Their specific function there, as Āditya and Lokapāla, etc., is shown by their position. Ādityas moreover are also regents of stars (nakṣatra), the houses of the moon; the star of Aryaman is Pūrva Phālgunī and that of Mitra, Anurādhā. Mitra at the same time presides over the winter solstice.—The names of the Ādityas are variously given in the later texts.

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⁹⁴ This is according to the list of identifications in the 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', where the necessary substitution of Soma is made in the adjacent field, for Bhallāṭa, the holder of the crescent, Śiva.—'Manu Saṃhitā', V. 96, enumerates both, Kuvera and Soma. In Vāstu-Śāstra, Soma, Kuvera and Bhallāṭa-Soma, are neighbours in the middle of the northern side; they are adjacent aspects of one entity. Bhallāṭa-Śiva corresponds to Īśāna-Śiva in the north-east corner.

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⁹⁵ Īśāna is not included in the enumeration of Lokapālas in the 'Manu-Smṛti': Indra, Agni, Yama, Sūrya, Varuṇa, Vāyu, Kuvera, Soma. Vāstu-śāstra adds Īśāna-Śiva in the north-east and assigns the middle of the north to Soma-Kuvera and to Bhallāṭa-Soma Śiva. Īśāna is one of Agni's nine forms. Vahni (Agni) is Hara (Śiva) according to 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', 1. c.

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The East is the quarter of the gods and they are led by Agni⁹⁶ (Ś.B. III. 1. 1. 7; 'Tait Saṃh.' I. 8. 7. 1) and are "Agni eyed" (Ś.B. V. 2. 4. 6).

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⁹⁶ Agni (Śikhin) is the regent of the north-east according to Bṛhat Saṃhitā, LII. 43; 'Matsyapurāṇa', 'Kāmikāgama', 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', 'Tantrasamuccaya', 'Viśvakarmavidyāprakāśa', etc.

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Where Īśāna is stationed in the north-east, Agni is stationed in the south-east. The one or the other corner of the east, is assigned to him in the Vāstu, but the cardinal point is held by Mahendra and by Āditya (Sūrya). Īśāna is a form and name of Agni (Ś.B. VI. 1. 3. 17), Īśāna is the sun with its rays. Therefore Īśāna is lord of all the quarters (AV. XV. 1. 5), and is stationed particularly in the north-east, the most auspicious of the intermediate regions. Īśāna is an Āditya as is Parjanya, adjacent to him in the east, Jayanta and Mahendra, the Lokapāla of the east, and next to him Āditya, who is Sūrya, the Sungod, Lord of Planets.⁹⁷ They constitute the potency of Agni as the Celestial Fire in the quarter of the gods; it radiates forth in the names and the presence of many suns.

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⁹⁷ Parjanya is also one of the nine forms of Agni (Ś.B. VI. 1. 3. 15). He is the youngest of the Ādityas (‘Harivaṃśa’). Jayanta, according to the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, 1. c., is Kāśyapa, father of the Ādityas.

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The remaining divinities in the east are some of the ‘sparkling gods’, the Vasus; they are the activity of the light on earth; they cause the world to abide; others are the forms, under which it abides; cosmic order and Righteousness, Dharma, and Desire, Kāma. The functioning of celestial light (Āditya) and its activity on earth (Vasu) coincide in some of the Padadevatās. Indra, the Āditya, is chief of the Vasus, he is the Vasu of the gods (Ś.B. I. 6. 4. 2); and is the Kṣatra (Ś.B. V. 1. 1. 11), the Regnum on earth. Āditya, Lord of Planets, is necessarily also one of the 8 Vasus (Ś.B. XI. 6. 3. 6). Satya, who is stationed next to him, is Dharma (‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, XIV. 1. c.) the Order of things; his son is Kāma, Desire, likened to the burning flame of fire (Kāma is Agni; A.V. VI. 36. 3), placed under the name of Bhṛśa (S.S. XIV. 16-17) to the right of Dharma. Antarikṣa, the mid-region, one more of the 8 Vasus (Ś.B. XI. 6. 3. 6), occupies the next position.

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The south-east corner is held by Agni where Īśāna occupies the north-east. Where Agni is stationed in the north-east, the south-east corner is the place of Vāyu; Agni and Vāyu are interchanged, each of them being a Vasu: Agni (Anala) moreover is the son of Vāyu (Anila). Movement (Vāyu from ‘va’, to go, to move) gives birth to fire, the terrestrial fire, Agni as Vasu, and it is in this capacity, as world protector, that Agni is assigned to the south-east (Mbh. Ādi. 67. 18-25)⁹⁸.

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⁹⁸ The Vasus are: Fire, Earth, Wind, Air, Sun, Heaven, Moon, Stars (Ś.B. XI. 6. 3. 6) and under corresponding names in the ‘Mahābhārata, Purāṇas’ and ‘Amarakoṣa’: Agni, Anala, Dhara, Vāstu, Apa, Anila, Prāṇa, Pravāsa, Vibhāvasu, Arka, Savitṛ, Viṣṇu, Doṣa, Pratyuṣa, Soma, Droṇa, Dhruva.

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The South is the region of the ancestors. The door to their world is in the south-east (Ś.B. III. 1. 1. 7; III. 6. 4. 12, etc.). The gods in the south are led by Yama (‘Taitt. Samh.’ I. 8. 7.)⁹⁹ Yama, the Lokapāla, the fatal aspect of Agni (Ś.B. VII. 2. 1. 10), is Death, the son of Vivasvān Mārtāṇḍa. His filiation is shown in the Vāstu; he is placed by the side of Vivasvān. He is flanked by divinities associated with the Ancestors (pitṛ) and by divinities of evil portent.

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⁹⁹ Ś.B. VIII. 6. 1. 17. connects the south with Vāyu. Here as elsewhere, the cosmology of the Vāstu is a condensed ‘residue’ from the several descriptions.

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Īśa (Īśāna) is the regent of the N.E. according to ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, II. ch. XXIX, v. 20-23; the ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ gives the list of the Pada-Devatās twice; the second time, v. 24, they are referred to as Stars.

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Nearest to the south-east corner, is Pūṣan, the Asura (RV. V. 51. 11) and Āditya (RV. I. 42. 1); he is the lord and guardian of roads (RV. VI. 49. 8), the shepherd of the universe who never loses an animal (AV. XVIII. 2. 54) and who gives prosperity (Ś.B. III. 1. 4. 19). So Death is introduced by Pūṣan, the Psychopompos.

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At the end of the southern quarter, in the south-west reside the Pitṛs, the Fathers ('Br. Samh.', etc.) or Nirṛti, who is destruction, decomposition, the exit from life (AV. I. 31. 2; XIV. 2. 19; Ś.B. V. 2. 3. 3). Between Pūṣan and Nirṛti, Yama is flanked by Vitathā who is Adharma, the negation of Dharma, necessary as its opposite, an attendant therefore of the Sun who shines on good and evil. Nirṛti's husband is Adharma; her son is Bhṛngarāja. Gṛhakṣata who is Budha (Mercury), and Gandharva who is Nārada¹⁰⁰, messenger between gods and men, and who promotes discord between them, are the lesser gods in the south, the region of the Fathers and of Death. Mṛga (Capricornus), the solstitial door of winter corresponds to the north in the year, but to the south with regard to the course of the sun in the sky¹⁰¹; Mṛga here has the aspect of Ananta, the Serpent; adjacent to Nirṛti in the south-west corner, he points, 'pradakṣiṇā', towards the west, the quarter of Serpents (Ś.B. III. 1. 1. 7). The ophidian character, in the west, of the deity 'ab intra' is cast off in the region of Soma, the sphere of formation until the station of Īśāna is reached in the north-east.

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¹⁰⁰ The identifications of these, and the other gods, are given in the 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra,' XIV. 11-31.

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¹⁰¹ R. Guénon, 'Le Symbolisme du Zodiaque chez les Pythagoriciens', 'É. T.' 1938, pp. 224-230.

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Varuṇa, the son of Aditi (RV. X. 72. 8), is the protector of the West. When contrasted with Mitra, the non-proceeding Varuṇa is the power of darkness¹⁰². He is identical to the dread form of Agni. This Agni becomes Varuṇa in the evening; in the morning, rising he becomes Mitra (A.V. XIII. 3. 13). In the Vāstu, Varuṇa rules in the West, over the outer border, whereas Mitra's place is next to the centre, contiguous with the Brahmasthāna. The road leads, in the outer rim, along the dark west, to the north, the quarter over which rules the Moon, which is the quarter of men (Ś.B. III. 1. 1. 7; III. 6. 4. 12).

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¹⁰² Coomaraswamy, 'Angel and Titan', 1. c., pp. 379, 409.

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Among the acolytes of Varuṇa, Śoṣaṇa, 'Drying up', and Pāpayakṣman, Consumption, are constant evils. The afflictions that proceed from his inauspicious aspect go as far as the north-west corner, where Roga is stationed; he is Disease, the Shortener of life (anāyus, 'Viṣṇudharmottara, 1. c.) according to that branch of the tradition to which belong the 'Bṛhatsaṃhitā', and other texts. Śoṣaṇa, Emaciation and Withering up, is Saturn (Śanaiścara) and his saturnine agent is Pāpayakṣman, Consumption.¹⁰³

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¹⁰³ Pāpayakṣman, the curse of consumption, had been brought on Soma, the Moon, by Dakṣa. Its position, in the Vāstu, borders in the west on the realm of Soma. Śoṣaṇa and Rājayakṣman as aspects of Varuṇa, 'Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa', IV. 1. 7-8.

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Dauvārika, the Gate-keeper is Nandin, and Puṣpadanta, the flower-tusked, is here Garuḍa¹⁰⁴ and they are the Vāhanas, the former of Śiva, the latter of Viṣṇu.

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¹⁰⁴ According to 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra', Puṣpadanta is also one of the Diggajas, the 8 elephants on which rest the eight regions ('Amarakoṣa').

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In the Vāstu they are stationed on either side of Sugrīva, who is Manu, son of Vivasvān Mārtāṇḍa and brother of Yama. Manu is the primordial and universal law-giver, the prototype of 'man' (Manu, Mānava). His place is midway between Nirṛti and Varuṇa, whereas next to Varuṇa, Asura is stationed, whom the Viṣṇudharmottara (l. c.) designates as Yakṣa. This great and principal power is Rāhu. The 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra' (VIII. 156) names it Ardha-Vāstu; it is the other half, where Existence, Vāstu, is the one half. Its station in the Vāstu-maṇḍala however is but one amongst the 45 Vedic divinities. Vāstu is extension; Rāhu is duration. The two are brothers. "The wife of Kāśyapa gave birth to two sons: Rāhu and Vāstu; the head of the former was cut off by Viṣṇu and the latter was laid low on the earth by the gods" ('Śāradātilaka', III. 2. Comm.).

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The North of the Vāstu is protected by Soma, who is the Lord of Nakṣatras and Vasu, Lokapāla and Āditya in one. This is the region of the birth of form; here the serpents emerge, Nāga who is Vāsuki, and Argala who is Bhujaga having cast their skin; Soma-Kuvera is the Lord of wealth, Soma, the Moon with the lance of his rays is Bhallāṭa; they are flanked by Mukhya on the one side and Aditi and Diti on the other. Mukhya is Viśvakarman, the maker of all form, who is Vidhātā; Aditi, the boundless, and Diti, the bounded, are both wives of Kāśyapa, who is called Jayanta in the Vāstu; the one is the mother of the Ādityas, the other of the Daityas; production 'per artem'—Viśvakarman—and by nature—Aditi and Diti—occupy the north, the region of Soma, pradakṣiṇa-wise between the regions of death and life, west and east. They are all connected, follow one upon the other, as stages of realisation, and they remain present in the plan.

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Outside the Vāstu, in the eight directions, having position but no plots, are stationed homeless presences¹⁰⁵: Śarva-Skanda in the east, Aryaman in the south, Jṛmbhaka in the west, and in the north, Pilipiñjā. Śarva-Skanda are aspects of Agni; Śarva is the fiery essence in the Waters, Skanda is the ninth form of Agni (Kumāra)¹⁰⁶ or, also he is said to be the son of Adbhuta Agni (Mbh. Vana. 225. 2). Aryaman guards the south and in this position he is the chief of the Pitṛs. The story of Jṛmbhaka (Jṛmbhika) is told in the 'Mahābhārata' (Udyoga Parva 9. 60-63). He was created by the gods as a great being to destroy Vṛtra; for Vṛtra had fought with Indra whom he whirled into his mouth. Jṛmbhika is the Yawn; Vṛtra yawned and out leapt Indra. From this time on, Jṛmbhika is part of breathing. The identity of Varuṇa 'ab intra' with Ahi-Vṛtra is confirmed by Jṛmbhaka, being stationed in front of the side of the Vāstu which is ruled over by Varuṇa, and outside it, like his yawn itself and carried there by breath (asu), the breath of the Asura who is Varuṇa: and also Rāhu; placed outside, a sign of fatigue and relaxation in which is release "from the jaws of the monster". Pilipiñjā in the north, incites the Moon (pil-piñja), the Protector of the north, to the continual shaping of living forms.

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¹⁰⁵ For the worship of Hari (Viṣṇu) and Durgā, the 45 Devatās have to be worshipped. For the temple of other divinities, the eight outside divinities have to be added. ('Tantrasamuccaya', I. 1. 68-69), the four on the sides and the four in the corners (see p. 32).

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¹⁰⁶ Ś.B. VI. 1. 3. 11. Śiva as Śarva presides over the east, (AV. XV. 5. 2); Śarva is one of the eight manifestations of Śiva. Skanda is Śiva's fire-born son, 'Kumāra', the boy, 'Guha', the mysterious.

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This continuing procedure holds the corner position in the north-east under the name of Carakī (from 'car', to move). The powers stationed in the corners are all female; the driving force that is in each two adjacent sides, is stationed outside, let loose so as to avert such evil as might befall the place by the weaknesses corresponding to its own propensities. Vidārī, the Rending one, is stationed in the south-east, Pūtanā, the 'corpse' of a demoness, guards the south-west corner and Pāparākṣasī, the evil fiend, is active in the north-west. The corner positions are defensive ones. The energy (śakti) which is active there is born of the meeting of two different directions, each with its own impulse. This is discharged at the corners to combat an assault from evils akin to itself in nature.

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The outside entities on each side, on the other hand, are exponents of the nature of each of the sides; it would be dangerous to leave the Vāstu so exposed. It is defended at the corners, at the turning points, by the demonesses who have come out of it and who, by remaining outside, defend the order of existence against disruption and decay.

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Viewed from the centre, where Brahmā is stationed, the twelve inner and thirty two outer gods have their place in due order; it is assigned to them by a two-fold movement, from the centre, in expanding rhythms, and around it, peripherally. Their number, forty-five, is not a square one; their plots are allotted to them according to various patterns consistent with their importance and position. Only the Brahmasthāna remains unchanged as square power of two, and square power of three respectively, in the Vāstu of 64 or 81 squares. It is there that the Supreme Brahman is worshipped, in the centre of the Vāstu's body. The size of the fields occupied by the 12 Ādityas¹⁰⁷, who are actually only eight—their Vedic number—is variable. Their presence all around the Brahmasthāna is equal to the total effulgence, the light that proceeds from the Hiraṇyagarbha, the golden Germ. Of the 32 marginal divinities, eight preside over the regions of space (aṣṭadikpāla), while all of them are at the same time the regents of time, measured by the stars, over which they preside. The number 32, or four times eight, is derived from the original 4, which again is a repeated application of the balance of the primary binom of polarity, as seen in sunrise and sunset, east and west. In these 4 x 8 units or fields, the 4 x 7 regents of the 28 lunar stations are accommodated. Their number, 32, is incomplete however without the central one of Brahmā, from whose immovable position proceeds all display and number. Added to it, their number is thirty three, which is the number of the gods, their sum total in the unity from which they proceed and have their play in heaven, on earth, and in mid-air¹⁰⁸. By these 33 the sacrificial body (yajñatanu) of the Vāstupuruṣa is occupied in its centre and periphery.

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¹⁰⁷ See Figures pp. 32 and 86 f. ; and note 86.

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¹⁰⁸ The 33 gods of the Āpri hymns of the Ṛgveda are three times eleven, on earth, in the air and in the sky: Residing on earth their number is equal to 4 x 8 + 1.

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The Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala, sacrificial body of the fallen Asura, is analogous to the ritual body which the sacrificer builds for himself when piling up the Vedic altar. It is one in kind and function with the 32 bricks, 8 in each quarter and one in the middle, called Yajñatanu (Taitt. Saṃh. IV. 4. 9). The sacrificial body of the Vāstupuruṣa as the dwelling of the 33 gods is one with the town Śrīkṣetra, with its 32 doors¹⁰⁹.

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¹⁰⁹ Cf. also the lotus of Ākāśa with its thirty-two petals. Mus, 'Barabuḍur', op. cit., p. 701 f. The symbols of Śrīkṣetra, Ayodhyā, and the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala are plans in which inanifestation is laid out, with reference to the Principle beyond it, and in its centre. ¹¹⁰ 'Mayamata', VII. 49; 'Bṛhatsaṃhitā', LII. 51. ¹¹¹ The majority of texts place the Vāstupuruṣa with the head in the north-east; 'Bṛhatsaṃhitā', LII. 51; 'Matsyapurāṇa'; 'Vaikhānāsāgama'; 'Kāmikāgama'; 'Mayamata'; 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra'; 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra'; 'Kāśyapaśilpa', 'Manuṣyālayacandrikā', II. 28; etc. (see notes 45, 46). In some of them, the alternative position, with the head in the east is described in detail ('Mayamata', 'Śilparatna') and quoted as the opinion "held by others". In other texts, the two possibilities are not kept apart; they are combined in the 'Vāsturājavallabha', II. 1-2, where the Vāstupuruṣa is described as placed by the gods on the ground with his face east. The feet should be worshipped in the south-west; the head in the north-east; cf. also 'Mānasāra', VII. 255.

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Brahma is always stationed in the middle of the body of the Vāstupuruṣa¹¹⁰, whether the latter lies with his head in the east ('Mayamata', 1. c., 'Śilparatna', VII. 34. etc.) or as is more general with his head in the north-east¹¹¹. If he lies with his head in the east, this is its original place, towards the rising sun. It is then said that Aryaman is stationed there, Vivasvān and Mahidhara occupy the right and left side of the body and Mitra is placed on the sex organ; on his arms and legs are stationed the pairs of Ādityas in the intermediate directions. In this position, Vāstupuruṣa is said to lie huddled up (nikubja) underneath the gods; the Padadevatās appear closely stationed around him; he is hedged in by them. He underlies the Brahmasthāna and the zone of the Ādityas; he is surrounded by the Aṣṭadikpālas and the orbits of the sun and the moon. But, if his head is in the north-east, at the feet of Śiva and where Īśāna is stationed, all the 45 gods dwell on his body; Īśāna or Śikhin on his head; his eyes and mouth are held by Parjanya and Āpa; on the chest, to the right and left, are Aryaman and Mahīdhara, whereas Mitra and Vivasvān occupy his belly; his feet are in Nirṛti; he lies from the north-east to the south-west, his arms are stretched south-east and north-west and bent in the elbows, his knees too are bent so that they touch the middle of each side of the square; the knees, where Gandharva and Kusumadanta are stationed, are in the south and west; the sun and moon are on his arms (Ī.P.); they are folded back, so that the hands (palms) come to lie in Rājayakṣmā, the left, in the north-west, and in Savitā, in the south-east, the right one (Bṛ. S.) or alternatively the palms are folded on his chest ('Agni Purāṇa').

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Right and left refer to the body of the Vāstupuruṣa fallen, with the head down. The divinities of the east and south are on the right, those of the west and north on the left. Their positions remain unaffected by the orientation of the Vāstupuruṣa; and they are distributed on his intrinsic form, which is the square (caturākṛti) and not on the allusion to the figure of man, which latter acts as a place of reference. The divinities are stationed at definite places of the square form; this has the result that the same divinity is placed once on the head and then again on his chest, to the left, according to the position of the Vāstupuruṣa who faces east or north-east: The Devatās reside on the square form of the Vāstupuruṣa and by implication only on his fallen shape. It is the form of the Vāstupuruṣa which has a given number of spines; veins and vital points are held together by these lines of which the prototypes are measurable in terms of breath, ‘Prāṇa’ and ‘Vāyu’ (p. 51). As in man whose “inner self, which consists of breath, has also the shape of man”, so conversely this form, which consists of breath is named Puruṣa. The form has been laid out on earth at the end of the Perfect age, the Kṛta-yuga, when the ‘Gale of the Spirit’ still blows, as Prāṇa and Vāyu which are the threads (sūtra) that hold it together. “The stronghold (pur) doubtless is these worlds, and the Puruṣa (Spirit) is he that blows here (the wind); he bides (ṣī) in this stronghold (pur); hence he is the Puruṣa” (Ś.B. XIII. 6. 2. 1).

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The gods are settled on the Vāstupuruṣa. The fight between the demons and the gods is over for it is won conjointly. Every building activity means a renewed conquest of disintegration, and at the same time a restitution of integrity so that the gods once more are the limbs of a single ‘being’, of Existence, at peace with itself.

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The first of these, the *Gospel of the Hebrews*, was used by the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and was probably a version of the Gospel of Matthew, though it contained some traditions not found in our canonical books. The *Gospel of the Egyptians* was used by the ascetic sects of Egypt, and was marked by a strong tendency towards mysticism and asceticism. The *Gospel of Peter* was used by the Docetists, and taught that Christ did not really suffer, but only appeared to do so.

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These gospels, and others like them, were not accepted by the Church as a whole, and were gradually lost or suppressed. The Church, however, felt the need for a standard collection of writings that would serve as a guide for faith and practice. This led to the formation of the New Testament canon, a process that took several centuries to complete.

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The first step in this process was the collection of the letters of Paul, which were widely circulated among the churches. Then came the four Gospels, which were accepted as the authoritative accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles were gradually added, and finally the Book of Revelation.

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By the end of the second century, the core of the New Testament was generally accepted by the Church. The process of canonization was not a formal act of a council, but rather a gradual recognition by the churches of the writings that were most valuable for their life and worship. It was only in the fourth century that the canon was formally closed by the councils of the Church.

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The formation of the New Testament canon was a crucial event in the history of the Church. It provided a standard of faith and practice that helped to unify the Church and to protect it from the influence of heretical sects. It also ensured that the teachings of Jesus and the apostles would be preserved for future generations.

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IV

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