The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s5.1

v1.c6.s5.1

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