The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s5.65

v1.c6.s5.65

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.