The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s5.81

v1.c6.s5.81

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.