The Hindu Temple v1.c6.s5.87

v1.c6.s5.87

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).