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The Hindu Temple v1.c7: Part IV. The Substances of Which the Temple Is Built

The Hindu Temple v1.c7

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Part IV. The Substances of Which the Temple Is Built

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अथाषाढामुपदधाति । इयं वाऽषाढा । इमामेवैतदुपदधाति । “He then lays down the Invincible Brick. The invincible one being the earth, it is this earth that he thus lays down.” ‘Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa’, VII. 4. 2. 32.

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अव्यङ्गं चाक्षते पूर्णे मुनेरङ्गिरसः सुते । इष्टके त्वं प्रयच्छेष्टं प्रतिष्ठां कारयाम्यहम् ।। “O daughter of the sage Aṅgiras. Thou unbroken, unhurt and full in size, O Brick, grant thou the desired object.—I now instal thee.” ‘Agnipurāṇa’, XLI. 17. ‘Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra’, XII. 257-8.

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IV

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THE SUBSTANCES OF WHICH THE

Brick

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A large number of stone temples are preserved¹ though few brick temples². In some the substances are combined, wood or stone for example being used for the door frames of brick structures³, or stone being employed for the walls and

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³ Among the earliest of preserved brick temples are : the temple at Bhitargaon, in the United Provinces, of the Gupta age (5th century) ; the Uttareśvara and Kāleśvara temples at

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¹ They are built of the stones which are quarried in the various parts of India ; sandstone prevails in central Indian temples ; limestone or marble is frequent in western India ; trap in the Deccan ; a fine grained, black chloritic schist in the later Cālukya temples of the Kanarese districts in the Deccan ; a similar stone, quarried in the Rajmahal hills is also used in Bengal for door frames, etc., of brick temples ; granite in south India ; laterite and sandstone, etc., in Orissa. The earliest stone temples are preserved from about 400 A.D. In Gujerat and Rajputana the stones were carved, pieced together and placed in position. In the Kanarese districts and the Deccan the details, in some cases were carved in situ. In Orissa, the carvings were finished in situ. On the walls of the hall of the Rājarāni temple in Bhuvaneśvar, the design is blocked out and has not been completed.

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² The ‘Matsyapurāṇa’, Ch. CCLXIX, describes the possible forms of the Hindu temple (see Part VII) and says that they may be built either of wood or brick or stone.

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Utpala, commenting in the tenth century on the ‘Bṛhat Samhitā’ (LII. 39-41), quotes Hiraṇyagarbha ; according to him the range of substances used in definite types of buildings was large. The building Mandira, was made of stone, Vāstubhavana of baked bricks, Sumanta of unbaked bricks, Sudhāra of mud, Mānasya of wood, Nandana of bamboo, Vijaya and Śilpivikalpita of [tent] cloth, Kaṭima of wattle and others of gold, silver, copper, iron, lac and tin. According to Maya there are only five kinds of buildings of different substances.

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In the early eleventh century, the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, XLIX. 6-7, speaks of the Prasādas which should be built in towns (nagara). They are to be built of stone and baked bricks. In chapter LIX. 217-239, details are given of the wooden temple Harmya, the rock-cut temple Layana, the cloth made temple Paṭṭisa, etc.

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In the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, Part V. Ch. XXXII. 86-89, about the same time, the South Indian type of temples is said to be ‘saṃcita’, ‘asaṃcita’ and ‘upasaṃcita’ according to its ‘density’, and is considered male, female or neuter, respectively. In the first instance it is built of stone or brick, in the second of brick or wood, and lastly of brick and wood combined. These terms however have a much wider meaning in other southern texts, such as ‘Mayamata’, XX.. 31 f. and the ‘Mānasāra’.

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brick for the superstructure⁴. Brick and wood, singly or combined, were it seems frequently used but being easily perishable have vanished to a much greater extent than the contemporary buildings in stone. Wooden temples are however even now preserved and in worship in two distant parts of India, namely in Malabar, the ancient Kerala, and the Himālayas⁵.

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⁴ In South India, the walls of the temple are generally of stone ; the flat stone ceiling of the Garbhagṛha is supported on teak wood joists; the superstructure is of brick. See also note 76. In another combination the structure is of brick and its life-size sculptures are of sandstone as in the ruined brick temple of Rajapadar, Sonpur ; (ASI., vol. XIII. p. 120).

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⁵ The wooden temple at Brahmor, Chamba, (J. Ph. Vogel, ‘Antiquities of Chamba State’, p. 96) of the early eighth century is the most ancient in the Himālayan group. On the Malabar coast, wooden temples represent the indigenous types of architecture ; preserved temples date from the 14th century (R. V. Poduval, ‘Administration Report of the Archæological Department’, Travancore, 1941, p. 4 ; the temple at Sāttankulaṅgara, Central Travancore).

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Bricks had formed the "body of the sacrifice" (yajñatanu)⁶. Detailed prescriptions are given how to make good baked bricks⁷ and this practical knowledge gained by experience accompanies a sacred memory (smṛti), a tradition by which the acquired technical skill became perfected.

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⁶ ‘Taitt. Saṃh.’, IV. 4. 9. Thirty three rhythmic formulæ accompany the bricks called Yajñatanu, 8 in each quarter and one in the middle. In their position they correspond to the 32 Padadevatās and the Brahmasthāna of the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala.

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⁷ The ‘Mayamata’, XV. 114-120 for instance, instructs that soil free from gravel, stones, roots, bones and clods should be selected, having fine sand, of uniform colour and pleasant to touch. First one should throw a lump of earth into knee-deep water, and then stir and knead it repeatedly forty times with one’s feet. One should wet it with waters of Kṣīra (pine), Kadamba, Āmra (Mango) and Abhayākṣa tree bark and the water of the 3 fruits (Āmalaka = emblic myrobalan, Bahela and Haritaka) and go on kneading it for a month. Then the bricks of 4, 5, 6 and 8 mātras (aṅgulas) in (width) and twice as long respectively and half, or one third, or equal to the given width in thickness, should be thoroughly dried and then evenly baked ; after an interval of one, two, three or four months they should be thrown into water, by the expert ; thereafter they should be taken out of the water and dried completely, and then used in the desired undertaking.

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The act itself of offering had gone into the making of the brick. It is a rite of identification. The substance of the brick is its carrier, earth and fire are the

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(Tagara) Ter in Hyderabad, Deccan ; their doors, beams and ceilings, are of wood (about 7th century) ; the Lakṣmaṇa Temple in Sirpur, Central Provinces, 7th century, the door frame being of stone (Coomaraswamy, ‘History of Indian and Indonesian Art’, Pl. LI). Among Buddhist temples, the outer circular brick wall and the inner circle of wooden pillars of the temple at Bairat, Jaipur State, Rajputana, date from the 3rd century B.C. (D. R. Sahni, ‘Archæological Remains and Excavations at Bairat’, Jaipur 1937 ; Stuart Piggott, ‘The Earliest Buddhist Shrines’, ‘Antiquity’, 1943, pp. 1-10). The temple at Paharpur, North Bengal (Memoir, ASI. No. 55, by K. N. Dikshit) rising with 3 terraces on a cross shaped plan with recessed sides, of the 8th century (and a similar Stūpa structure unearthed at Lauriya Nandangarh, Bihar, ‘Annual Bibliography of Indian Archæology’, 1936, p. 4).

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The bricks must be freshly made and all the other building materials too must be hewn or quarried in due time, and used exclusively for the building for which they are destined. The ‘Mayamata’ XV, 61f., 121, enjoins that wood, bricks, and stone should be collected in the approved manner as the ancients have condemned building materials left over from other buildings and those taken from ruined buildings cause distress.

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The prescription of the ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ about the making of bricks is given in Pt. III. Ch. XCI. 3-11.

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elements which take part in it and help the sacrificer to build his sacrificial body. It is made of bricks. It can neither be seen nor known by those who see but a brick in a brick and ignore its number, measure and position make visible its function in the sacrificial altar; for it is made and put into its position in execution of a sacramental will to which it gives a body. This is piled up physically, while it is imbued with an invisible Essence. The fabric of the altar is of a special kind and with it also are moulded the thick, piled up walls of the Hindu temple.

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In the building of the temple, the bricks—it will be shown that also the building stones are thought of in this connection as bricks—are as if pressed from the centre towards the perimeter by the small hollow of the Garbhagṛha, the innermost sanctuary of the temple; massively piled, they are its walls. These now are replete with the special substance of the bricks and they widen the perimeter of the temple with mouldings and fillets in the horizontal and by buttresses and various kinds of projections, in the vertical direction. The body of the temple substantially steps across its own limits, enlarges its perimeter with compact pilasters and turrets, and makes its rhythm proceed from the centre in the oscillations of its elastic boundary. There are many possibilities of the articulation of the perimeter of the temple; each has a name and definite proportions.

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The impact of the outward movement is caused from the small internal cavity, the innermost sanctuary. The Vedic Agni was a massive pile with no other cavity than those of the Svayamātṛṇṇās, the naturally perforated stones. Through these perforations the altar ‘breathed’; the Prāsāda, the main and integral part of the Hindu temple, is nearly a solid monument but for the small space of its sanctuary and such technical devices which lessen the weight of the mass piled above it. It is closed on top. With the inclusion of the small space in the innermost core of the mass, a pressure as it were is exerted on it from within; it impresses itself on the bricks. Acted upon from within horizontally, they appear to discharge it in the outward direction. The pressure acts figuratively and not dynamically or mechanically, for the Hindu temple is more a solid monument than a work of ‘architecture’. As in the piled altar, each weight rests on its support, and there is no lateral thrust. The buttresses are not technically indispensable.

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A monument stands in space, it does not face it. The Hindu temple too, has strictly speaking no façade; the four orients and the intermediate directions of space step forth in buttresses and images from the body of the temple in a continuous integrity of the mass analogous to the variable pattern in which the divinities are laid out on the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala. In the structure of the temple they refer to and have their position, from the central square of the innermost sanctuary, the Garbhāgāra; it corresponds to the Brahmasthāna, in the plan. In this way the bricks partake in the form of the temple which is more a monument than an edifice. With reference to the Vedic Altar it is thus known: “In the fire the gods bathed him (Prajāpati) by means of oblations; and whatever oblation they offered that became a baked brick and passed into him and because they were produced from the offering (iṣṭa) therefore they are bricks (iṣṭakā); and hence they make the bricks by means of the fire, for it is oblations they thus make” (Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 22. f). The baked brick here is the middle term of the oblation and of Prajāpati, it is the place of its transubstantiation. Similarly, the following are invoked and beheld in the bricks, when a temple of Śiva is built⁸: the subtle body of eight components apportioned to man (puryaṣṭaka)⁹; the eightfold manifestation of Śiva (aṣṭamūrti)¹⁰; the Pure Principles, and all the other principles and forms of manifestation (tattva) including the ‘impure principles’ of the world of duality.¹¹ The oblation here is man himself in his subtle body, and its eightfold correspondence in the manifested universe. One by one, the lower Tattva is offered to and absorbed in the next higher until the Pure Principles are reached and then merged and re-integrated in Niṣkala Paramaśiva, the Supreme Principle,¹² in whose presence the temple has its ultimate destination.

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⁸ The exact analogy in the case of a temple built of stone (śilā) is given in the ‘Agnipurāṇa’, XCII. 32-65.

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⁹ The Puryaṣṭaka comprises: ‘Buddhi, ahaṃkāra, manas’ and the ‘tanmātras: Śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, gandha’; this is: intellect, the sense or notion of ‘I’ ness or individuation, mind and the 5 elementary essences or sense principles, hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell. The latter are ‘essences’ in their relation to the 5 corresponding substances, ether, air, fire, etc.

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¹⁰ The eight manifestations of Śiva are: earth, fire, man as sacrificer (priest), sun, water, air, moon and sky.

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¹¹ The Tattvas, the principles and forms of manifestation, are the ontological stages of manifestation of and by Consciousness, of the Supreme Śiva, who is the Supreme Principle, non-manifest, without attributes and qualities (niṣkala).

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¹² ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. Ch. XXVII. 71. f.; ‘JISOA’, vol. IX. pp. 151-193, trans. St. Kramrisch.

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Through the fire in which it is baked, the sacrificial essence remains burnt into the brick, in its substance, which is earth. This is feminine in its nature; it is the original substance to be shaped, and to be laid down in the piled up monument on sacred ground. It retains its full Vedic meaning in the structure of the Hindu temple for one of the most widely used names for the temple proper, the main and integral building, is ‘Prāsāda’. This name derives from ‘sādanam’ the settling of the bricks in the Fire altar (Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 28).¹³

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¹³ Sādanam, from ‘sad’, to seat or settle, means seat, house, etc.

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They are settled with the Sādanam mantra which makes them lie steady and firmly established (‘Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā’; XII. 53). Each brick made of earth shares in the nature of the earth, is earth. What is required of her, the steadiness, the firmness, is equally necessary to each layer of the monument as it is raised up.

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The brick is this earth and the first brick to be laid down anticipates and represents each subsequent one. The first brick is called Aṣāḍhā, the invincible (Ś.B. VI. 5. 3. 1). “The invincible one being the earth, it is this earth that is laid down with the first brick” (Ś.B. VII. 4. 2. 32). “Now this earth is four cornered . . . : hence the bricks are four-cornered; for all the bricks are after the manner of this earth” (Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 29). “The first brick of clay is this earth—whatever made of clay he places on that (altar) that is that one brick” (ib. 30).

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When the bricks are laid rhythmic formulae (mantra) are recited to ensure that they lie steady and firm; thus with speech and breath they are laid; their substance is now imbued with Vāk (speech) and with Breath (Aṅgiras; Ś.B. ib. 28). In this way the bricks are Agni’s limbs (ib. 31). The brick is Earth and Vāk, for this earth was made first (Ś.B. VII. 4. 2. 32-34) and Vāk is the Word which was in the beginning and is activated into utterance again and again with every brick laid down in the sacred structure. Being Earth and the Word, the brick is a goddess: "To thee, O Goddess, O Brick, let us sacrifice with oblation" ('Taitt. Saṃh'. IV. 2. 9. 4). The goddess is incorporated in the densest elementary substance, earth, for she is the Word as the body of the universe.

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She is invoked in the bricks of which the Vedic altar is piled and the Hindu temple is built. "O daughter of the sage Aṅgiras, thou unbroken, unhurt and full (in size), O Brick, grant thou the desired object." With these words the brick is laid down and established (its 'pratiṣṭhā' is performed. 'Agnipurāṇa', ch. XLI. 17; 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra', ch. XII. 257-58)¹⁴. As the daughter of Aṅgiras¹⁵ (Breath) she is immortal, a goddess, and many are her names. It has been breathed into her and so she is a sister to the Vedic hymns, whose father too is Aṅgiras. Having gone through the fire and having been given form, Earth as Brick is equivalent to the Word, Earth, all the same, herself retains her own significance in the same rite when in the base of the temple the Garbhādhāna¹⁶ is performed, when the Germ of the temple to be built is implanted and steadied in the womb of mother Earth.

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¹⁴ Both these texts ('Agnipurāṇa', incorporating 'Hayaśīrṣa-pañcarātra', for the respective chapters in the 'Agnipurāṇa' begin with "Hayagrīva said") specify: "The Śakti Vimalā, etc., are the deities of the bricks. They should be installed, as is proper" (A.P. Ch. XLI. 16., H.P.R. Ch. XII. 256).

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¹⁵ Aṅgiras (cf. Agni). His daughters are the Vedic Hymns. His daughters too are the bricks of the Vedic altar and of the Hindu temple. Aṅgiras is also one of the 10 Prajāpatis, (see note 60).

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¹⁶ RV., X. 184. 1. 'Agnipurāṇa', Ch. CLII.

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'Iṣṭakā-nyāsa', the installation of the bricks, is performed as part of the main foundation rite of the temple. It takes place after the foundation pit has been dug; in extent the foundation pit is coterminous with the boundaries of the Prāsāda¹⁷; in depth it is equal to the height of man standing with raised arms¹⁸, or it is dug to the rock-bottom or until gravel is reached or the water level¹⁹ according to the geographical conditions of the site. After the pit is dug, it should be filled with pure earth, eight finger widths (aṅgula) high; on this layer another one is placed, one cubit in height and composed of layers of strong stones each embedded in wet earth and separated one from the other by sand and earth; when the foundation has been laid so far, it is moistened with water, trodden by elephants, and levelled with heavy wooden stampers. On top of this, it is firmly packed²⁰ and when one fourth of the pit remains²¹ the first bricks are laid. They are deposited below the place where the right door jamb of the main entrance to the temple will be set up.²²

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¹⁷ 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', III. Ch. XXVII. 40-41. 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra', VIII. 136, prescribes: "make a square, equal to the perimeter of the building after the ground has been made level as water or a mirror."

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¹⁸ 'Īśāna-paddhati' ibid., 'man' is the yajamāna, the patron (kāraka); the depth of the foundation pit here is one 'puruṣa', as deep as the patron's own maximum measure.

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¹⁹ ib., and 'Tantrasamuccaya', Pt. I. I. 59; further positions of the depth of the foundation pit are mentioned in the 'Pratiṣṭhāpaddhati' (see next note).

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²⁰ 'Pratiṣṭhāpaddhati', quoted in 'Īśānaśivagurudeva-paddhati', ib. f. The solid foundation described in the texts is not the only kind. Another type has been preserved in Sirpur (near Raipur) C. P. below brick temples of the 7th—8th century. They are built on hollow oblong cell foundations with slate stone walls. Near the level of the intended basement or floor of the temple, the cells are made to diminish by corbelling till the space is so small as to be covered by thick, strong slabs. The walls of the temple rise from a level terrace of strong

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²¹ ‘Mayamata’, XII. 110-111. Some say that the first bricks should be laid when two-fifths of the pit remain.

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²² ‘Kāśyapaśilpa’, IV. 46, the first brick should be placed to the right of the door in Prāsāda and Maṇḍapa. ‘Īśāna-paddhati’, 1. c. śl. 63.

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Five or nine ‘bricks’ are thus laid down, one in the centre of a square, the others²³ in the cardinal and intermediate directions following the course of the sun (pradakṣiṇā) beginning from the east.²⁴ They must not be laid on the vulnerable vital spots (marma).²⁵ The shape of these first bricks is given variously, as square²⁶ or rectangular that is a double square the thickness being one third or one fourth of the width²⁷; the latter type prevails. Their size varies with the size of the temple²⁸. These bricks then are laid evenly and on one level, into the pit.²⁹ Then the pit should be filled up³⁰ and above it, in course of constructing the base of the temple, the rite of Garbhādhāna is to be performed and the vessel which holds the Seed and Germ of the Prāsāda is to be deposited on the ground, on the lowermost moulding (upāna) or on the topmost moulding (prati) of the base,³¹ according to the status of the patron, whether he be a Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, or belongs to a lower caste. With the status of the donor thus embedded in

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²³ The rite is described in detail, in the ‘Īśāna-paddhati’, 1. c. and in the ‘Bṛhatsaṃhitā’, LII. 112; ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, PT. II. ch. XXIX. 78 f. (the “laying of the stones”: ‘śilānyāsa’).

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²⁴ According to the ‘Vaikhānāsaāgama’, ch. v., called ‘Prathamāśileṣṭakā-vidhi’, (see however ‘Bṛ. Saṃh.’; ‘Viṣṇudharmottara,’ etc. 1. c., see note 42. According to ‘Śilparatna’, XII. 26).

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²⁵ ‘Śilparatna’, XII. 13.

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²⁶ ‘Agnipurāṇa’, XLI. 3, with 12 aṅg. width (this is the same as the width of the brick of the Vedic altar, p. 47). The stone bricks measure 1 cubit (hasta). Aṅgula is the width of the upper digit of the thumb, ‘Piṅgalāmata’, ch. IV. JISOA, vol. XI. pp. 9-31, text and translation by P. C. Bagchi.

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²⁷ For the very best, *i.e.* the very largest, temples the proportion of the ‘first bricks’ is: one cubit (24 aṅg.) long, 12 aṅg. wide and 8 high. ‘Īśāna-paddhati’, 1. c., 64-65; ‘Śilparatna’, XII, 17-18. For the three other classes, the large, middle and least shrines, the height is one-fourth of the length; ‘Śilparatna’, XII, 17-21; cf. ‘Mayamata’, XII, 104; ‘Īśāna-paddhati’, 1. c. 67-70.

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²⁸ ‘Mayamata’, XII. 104, gives the width in a relative measure, *i.e.* equal to the receptacle of the Garbha. The ‘Kāmikāgama’, LI. 6, states that the width (vistāra) varies from 3 aṅgulas to 30 aṅgulas increasing by 1 aṅgula. ‘Śilparatna’, XII. 17-23, indicates sizes ranging from 8 to 38 aṅgulas or from 9 to 39 aṅgulas according to the proposed number of stories of the building and the ‘Mānasāra’, XII, 189-193, a size from 7-30 aṅgulas, with an increment of 2 aṅgulas. The latter text also admits rectangular shapes of smaller proportions than the double square. The standard proportion is the one indicated in note 27, and considerable latitude was given in the actual measures, according to the exigencies of particular buildings.

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²⁹ Each is placed on the mouth of a ‘treasure jar’ of copper; ‘I.P.’, 1. c. 71 f.

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³⁰ After once more having been filled with water; then the foundation should be packed with stones or bricks (‘I.P.’, 1. c., 71 f.). This is one method of laying the foundation.

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³¹ ‘I.P.’, 1. c., 73-74; ‘Tantrasamuccaya’, II. XII. 6, slightly different and with more detail; ‘Mayamata’, XII. 107-110.

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slabs which cover the cell foundation. The depth of the wall of the foundation cells is described as 25 feet; its thickness being about 4 feet. (Cunningham, A. S. I. vol. VII. p. 172 f.).

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the temple, the intellectual level is indicated from which he begins his ascent. Above this base and this inbuilt distinction of ‘level’, the ascent is one and the same for all the castes. Those who are of no caste, the outcastes and the foreigners, the Mlecchas, they have no ground and footing within the body of the temple and their ascent is from the outside, performed by sight, a ‘darśana’ to which the highest point is visible from afar. The four castes in their hierarchy deposit the seed of the temple at a level which is appropriate to them. This distinction is made and remains within the base of the temple only, it does not proceed further. Another reference to the status of the donor is given in the designation of the bricks. They are distinguished as male and female conforming with the sex of the donor,³² so that the approach to the identification is more closely adjusted between patron or donor (kāraka; yajamāna) and his gift.

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³² ‘I.P.’, 1. c., 67-70; ‘Mayamata’, XII. 105-107; ‘Mānasāra’, XII. 194-195, moreover, distinguish neuter bricks. These distinctions are made according to the thickness of the bricks; if bigger at the base, for instance, the brick is declared as female. Such slight variations in the standard shape of the bricks are welcomed as indicative of affinities. ‘Śilparatna’, XII. 16-17, advises male bricks for men, and female bricks for women donors, or also male bricks for either. ‘Mayamata’, XII. 105 f. distinguishes the sex of the bricks according to their even (m.) or odd (f.) number of aṅgulas, etc.

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“Iṣṭakā”, produced from what was offered (iṣṭa, Ś.B. VI. 1. 2. 22), is used as the name not only for the brick but also for the stone or wood of which a temple is built. “For temples built of stone, the first “bricks” are of stone; for shrines built of wood, they are of wood, or else earthen bricks are employed for all kinds of temples (Vimāna)³³”. By its symbolic significance the brick has precedence over stone and wood.³⁴ Stone is used as its substitute. The installation however of the first stone (ādhāraśilā) has its own rite, too.

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³³ ‘Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra’, XI. 234; ‘Śilparatna’, XII. 14-15; ‘Kāśyapaśilpa’, IV. 19 advise stone for the foundation of mixed brick and stone buildings.

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³⁴ In domestic architecture, wood and light wood (bamboo), etc., were at least made as much use of as clay and bricks.

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Stone temples have no place in Vedic rites. Their altars were brick piles and embodied metaphysical knowledge. The Svayamātṛṇṇā, the naturally perforated “bricks” in the centre of the Agni (Ś.B. VIII. 7. 3. 13; VIII. 7. 4. 1), were most probably a special kind of stone. Sheds (śālā) connected with the sacrifice and built of wooden or bamboo posts, beams, a roof ridge (vaṃśa) and mats, had accessory importance.³⁵ Wood and tree are symbols in their own right. Their form has retained its integrity in the Hindu temple even where their substance has been substituted by other more lasting materials, such as brick and stone.

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³⁵ ‘Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa’, III. 1. 1. 6; Sāyaṇa, on ‘Taitt. Saṃh.’ I. 2. 1.

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The rites of laying the first stone are largely in imitation of those of the laying of the first bricks; the rites connected with the quarrying and the carriage of the stone are akin to the rites of felling the tree and transferring it to its destination. Stone, employed in India, as elsewhere from the stone age for sacred purposes,³⁶ has taken the place of brick and wood in the building of many temples. Where it has not retained the logic of its own form, it has also taken over the meaning of their substance. To judge from preserved monuments, stone,—the prism, the rectangle and the square—remained in its own pristine architectural form, for several centuries after the temple of aboriginal prototype, the stone dolmen, in worship to this day amongst the Gonds³⁷ in central India, in the south of India,³⁸ and elsewhere, had been given relatively large size and careful workmanship. The earliest preserved temples of this type date from about 400 A.D., especially in central India. Their unadorned walls consist of a few courses of relatively large stones dressed to level beds and joined without mortar; their roof of stone is flat.

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³⁶ Dolmen, etc., see Part V.

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³⁷ P. C. Mukherji, ‘Report on the Antiquities in the District of Lalitpur, Roorkee, 1899.

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³⁸ “Often a large rough stone with no carving on it is stuck up and serves for shrine and image alike.” Whitehead, ‘The Village Gods of South India’, p. 35. The shrine of Poleramma, ib. Pl. XV. has one large flat stone, its roof, supported by several upright flat stones and is practically a dolmen; Pls. V. and VI., ib. are further varieties of the Dolmen type; the monolithic uprights are replaced by courses of smaller stones (Pl. V). The shrine of Poshamma, Pl. IX., is a more complex temple of this type, a hollow cube, with a separate door frame, and a number of large flat stone slabs are laid in the shape of a recessed pyramid on top of the flat roof. It is surmounted by a finial. See Part V, notes 53, 55.

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From the sixth century A.D. onwards, the time of the compilation of the earliest preserved treatises on architecture, stone is one of the accepted materials.³⁹ It has its ritual which is partly identical and partly analogous to that of the bricks, a well defined destination, and due consideration is given to its own nature.⁴⁰

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³⁹ Brick, and also stone were used and are preserved in the sacred buildings and their accessory parts, in the third, and the second and first centuries B. C. respectively. Lithic in its construction and not only in its substance is the solid stone fence unearthed in Besnagar, Bhopal. It belonged to an "Uttama Prāsāda" of Vāsudeva—only its brick foundation exists—of which also the Garuḍa stone pillar with the inscription of Heliodoros, son of Dion and an inhabitant of Taxila, formed part (see also ASIAR, 1913-14, Pt. I.). These relics date from the 2nd century B.C. The balustrade of the terrace of the Buddhist Stūpa of Amarāvati, Kistna district, similarly consisted of uprights with a rectangular slab morticed between. The majority of the stone railings, such as those in Sāñcī, Barhut, etc. are stone versions of wooden prototypes. The Mora well inscription from Mathurā of Mahākṣatrapa Soḍāsa, of the 1st century B.C. speaks of a temple, a "śailadevagṛ . . ." a "stone house of god" where 5 images in stone of the holy Pañcaviras of the Vṛṣṇis were installed. No trace of this temple is left ('Epigraphia Indica', XXIV. ; J. N. Banerjea, JISOA, Vol. X). Another inscription of the 1st century B.C. from Nāgarī, Udaypur, Rajputana ('Ep. Ind.', XXII, p. 204) says: "This 'pūjāśilā-prākāra', enclosing wall, round the stone (object) of worship, called Nārāyaṇa-Vāṭikā (compound) for the divinities Saṅkarṣaṇa-Vāsudeva . . . . has been caused to be made by (the king) Sarvatāta . . . . who is a devotee of Bhagavat (Viṣṇu) and has performed an Aśvamedha sacrifice." Part of a high stone enclosure is preserved; but only a brick platform on which stood a temple of brick or stone. The stone fence consists of large stone slabs inserted in grooved stone uprights; in this technique also are the perforated screens or windows set into the walls of Gupta temples in central India and in the Lad Khan Temple in Aihole (Bijapur District). Of subsequent inscriptions referring to stone temples, the Eran stone boar one speaks of the 'śilāprāsāda', the stone temple of Toramāṇa ('Corpus Inscr. Ind.'), a Viṣṇu temple, it appears; and the Gwalior stone inscription of Mihiragula designates this stone temple (śailamaya prāsāda) as one of Sūrya, the Sun.

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⁴⁰ A detailed study of the qualities of specific stones, their marks, etc., is made in 'Silparatna', XIV, 2-14.

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The 'Matsyapurāṇa' (CCLXVI, 5-18) speaks of the Brahmaśilā, the Brahma-stone,⁴¹ and its consecration. The Brahma-stone forms part of the 'support' (ādhāra), of the temple to be built.

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⁴¹ 'Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', III. ch. V. 9. (trans. JISOA vol. X. p. 221).

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The 'Viṣṇudharmottara' (Pt. II. ch. XXIX. 78), describes the laying of the first stone (śilānyāsa). A stone jar should be placed in the centre of the Vāstumaṇḍala of 64 squares and the stones, anointed and covered with cloth should be laid down, following the course of the sun, and beginning from the north-east.⁴² The 'Bṛhat Saṃhitā', LII. 112 also describes the laying down of the stones: they are to be known as goddesses. The 'Vaikhānāśagama' (V) regards the four stones as the four Vedas. They should be laid in the 4 directions beginning from the East.

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⁴² From the south-east, according to 'Bṛ. Samh.', LII. 110, from the north-east, according to the V. D., 1. c.

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The relation of the stone and the brick in the rites of laying the foundation of the temple is multiple. Where the stones are considered altogether as 'brick' or their substitutes, the mantras by which they are invoked are the same; the stone-bricks may be relatively larger than the earthen ones.⁴³ The ritual stone foundation is always laid in the centre of the pit in accordance with the central structure and symbolism itself of the Vedic Agni. The ritual brick 'foundation' however is below the door-jamb, it underlies and pre-faces its vertical direction.

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⁴³ 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra', VIII. 141-42. "a stone or brick of good quality should be placed in each of the 4 directions."

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There are thus two distinct foundation rites of the stone buildings; either of them is performed in the centre of the pit. The one is based on the Ādhāraśilā, the support given by the first stone, to the total structure. Its symbolism proceeds in the vertical, from the Omphalos or Nābhi, which here appears as Ādhāraśilā.

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The other rite follows closely that of the laying of the first bricks. There the stones or bricks are spread out horizontally and demarcate a square. Above this 'altar', in the case of actual bricks, the Garbhapātra, the vessel which holds the Garbha, is immured in the building.

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The rites of the central stone foundation are indicated in the relatively early texts, such as the 'Matsyapurāṇa' and the 'Viṣṇudharmottara'. They are described explicitly in later texts.⁴⁴

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⁴⁴ To this day, the foundation rite is called in Amritsar for instance, 'śilā-sthāpan' the setting up of the stone ('Indian Antiquary', vol. XXXVIII. p. 122 f.).

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In the middle of the foundation pit⁴⁵ and after threefourth of it has been filled, the Ādhāraśilā is laid down. According to the 'Tantrasamuccaya' I. ch. I. 74-89, and the 'Śilparatna', X. 6-13, a treasure jar (nidhikalaśa)⁴⁶ made of stone or copper is placed on the Ādhāraśilā; on the jar a stone lotus is placed, on the stone lotus a stone tortoise, on the stone tortoise a silver lotus and on it a silver tortoise, on the silver tortoise a gold lotus and on it a gold tortoise. From there a funnel shaped tube, the Yoganāla, made of copper leads up to the plinth (janman; 'Śilparatna', 1. c.) or to its lowermost moulding (upāna; 'Tantrasamuccaya', 1.c.). In the treasure jar is invoked Bhuvaneśī as Greatest Śakti, Holder of the Āsana, the seat or foundation of the temple.⁴⁷ The several symbols strung together in the vertical direction illustrate the meaning expressed in words : the sun strings these worlds to himself on a thread of his rays (Ś.B. VII. 3. 2. 13). The hierarchy of existence is shown here by the different substances of the symbolic forms. Stone, here is the last support, the rock bottom on which is firmly established the vertical order. The prototype of this kind of vertical symbolism was built into the Fire Altar (Ś.B. VI. 2. 3. 1-5).⁴⁸ In Hindu inward worship (antaryāga, inner sacrifice) this vertical symbolism is present in the meditation called Pīṭhapūjā, the worship of the ‘basis’ or ‘support’.⁴⁹

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⁴⁵ 'Tantrasamuccaya', I. ch. I. 89, states clearly that the position in the middle of the pit, where the first stone, the support of the building is to be laid, is altogether distinct from the plot assigned to the first bricks; in all the texts unanimously this is to the right side of the door of the temple, below the door jamb. The 'first stone' is laid on one level (that is when three-fourths of the pit are again filled) with the first bricks.

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⁴⁶ In the 'Viṣṇudharmottara', the jar is prescribed to be of stone only. Copper-jars are prescribed in the rite of the first bricks, in the 'Īśānapaddhati', 1. c., and elsewhere.

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⁴⁷ During excavation at Gokul, near Mahasthān, Bogra, Bengal, the Ādhāraśilā of the temple was found in the centre of the structure. It is a stone slab with 12 small holes and a bigger hole in the centre; in the central hole was a rectangular piece of gold embossed with the figure of a bull. The stone slab lay four brick courses below the level of the innermost central pit. ASIAR. 1935-36, p. 67.

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⁴⁸ The Svayamātṛṇṇā, or self-perforated stones (Ś.B. VIII. 7. 3. 13 ; 19 ; VIII. 7. 4. 1.), are placed in this vertical sequence: the first on the golden man in the centre of the bottom layer, the second in the centre of the third layer, the third upon the centre of the completed fifth layer. They represent the 3 worlds, the holes being intended to afford to the sacrificer (represented by the golden man) a passage to the highest regions; SBE. Vol. XLI, p. 155.

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⁴⁹ In the Pīṭha-pūjā the Great-Yoga-base (Mahāyoga-pīṭha) is realized as consisting in vertical sequence of Ādhāra-Śakti, Mūlaprakṛti, Ādikūrma, Ādivarāha and Ananta.

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In the centre of the ‘ātman’ or body of the Fire altar above the bundle of grass, which was the first ‘iṣṭakā’ or “brick”⁵⁰ of the first layer the priest (Adhvaryu) placed a lotus leaf, a golden disc, a golden man and on the golden man the first naturally perforated ‘brick’ (svayam-ātṛṇṇā) or self-holed stone; at a prescribed distance to the east of the centre, he set down a living tortoise on lotus flowers, so that it faces the golden man. The lower shell of the tortoise represents this terrestrial world and the upper shell is the air world (antarikṣa) (Ś.B. VII. 5. 1. 2). In the foundation of the temple, the stone tortoise too has to be set down first by the side of the treasure jar and then only is it placed on that jar and above the lotus.

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⁵⁰ Any unit laid down in the Agni is called a brick (iṣṭakā). The 5 ‘iṣṭakās’ of the first ‘cit’ or layer are given in Ś.B. X. 4. 3. 14.

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No golden man forms part of the symbols in the foundation of the temple. His identity is absorbed in the Vāstupuruṣa. The place of the golden Puruṣa is now occupied by the Vase, full of power (śakti).

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This means a transfer of spiritual levels; no golden disc—the sun’s orb—is placed below the vase; it rests on the Ādhāraśilā which is not round but square, and not of gold but of stone. Above the Śakti-vase is placed the lotus made of stone, an unfolding of all the possibilities such as are in the Ādhāraśilā, and on it rests the stone tortoise, who is Viṣṇu⁵¹, the stability⁵² of this world. Śakti and Viṣṇu are part of the ‘support’ of the temple; and stability is exemplified in the three superimposed regions of the earth-world, the air-world and heaven by the stone lotus and tortoise, the silver lotus and tortoise and finally their golden replicas. This picture of stability in the hierarchy of the worlds, is led into the visible temple, built above ground, by the Yoganāla, the funnel shaped tube with its wider opening at the bottom.⁵³

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⁵¹ ‘Tantrasamuccaya’, I. ch. I. 79 ; ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. V. 9 ; ‘Viṣṇu-saṃhitā’, XII. 82-88.

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⁵² Pratiṣṭhā ; ‘Kaṭha Upaniṣad’, I. 14.

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⁵³ ‘Tantrasamuccaya’, I. ch. I. 80.

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The symbols of the Ādhāra, the support, refer to these worlds of existence and not to that world which is beyond manifestation above the golden disc of the Sun immured in the Fire Altar.⁵⁴

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⁵⁴ Re. the symbol Āmalaka see Pt. VIII.

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The Ādhāraśilā occupies the central place in the site which will be covered by the building of the temple⁵⁵. In the Fire Altar, this central place is the site of the navel (nābhi) of the Uttaravedi. In its own position the Ādhāraśilā is the omphalos or ‘nābhi’ of the temple which is the concrete form (mūrti) of universal manifestation.⁵⁶

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⁵⁵ The proportions of the several parts of the Ādhāra are derived from the height of the pillar of the temple, according to 'Tantrasamuccaya', II. XII. 3 and 'Śilparatna', X. 6-13. In the later text, the added height of Kalaśa, Padma, Kūrma and Yoganāla (jar, lotus, tortoise and tube) would be below one-half of the height of the pillar of the temple to be built; and the whole Pīṭha, according to ib. X. 7, would be about three quarters of the height of the pillar of the building.

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⁵⁶ The square Ādhāraśilā has a depression in its centre ('Tantrasamuccaya' I. I. 74) wherein grain is deposited and on it the Nidhikalaśa, the treasure jar. The place of the Ādhāraśilā should thus lie along the vertical axis which is laid through the centre of the Brahmasthāna. There, Brahmā is beheld on the navel-cord (nābhi-sūtra) of Vāstu-puruṣa [Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa] ('Kāśyapaśilpa', II. 24).

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In certain instances both the rites are performed, the rite of the Ādhāraśilā, the stone support, and the rite of laying the first bricks. The stone foundation rite is enacted separately: in the following night the laying of the first bricks, south of the main door takes place ('Tantrasamuccaya', I. ch. I. 81-82). The all important deposition of the Garbha, the Seed and Germ of the temple, is made above the first bricks on varying levels, according to the status of the donor of the temple.⁵⁷

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⁵⁷ According to 'Mayamata', XII. 104, the First Bricks should have a width equal to that of the Garbha, and should be twice as long and half as thick (cf. note 28).

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That the name of the First Brick, Adyeṣṭakā or Prathameṣṭakā is extended also to the first stone, etc. shows the rite of depositing the bricks to be the more comprehensive one. In this way, the foundation rite of a temple, built of any substance can be performed as Iṣṭakā-nyāsa. When the Śilānyāsa is performed as Iṣṭakā-nyāsa, when the first stones are laid alike to the first bricks, a stone jar is deposited in the centre and the stones are laid in the corners of the square with the invocation which is that of the Earth in its fulness, and of the bricks; "O Nandā, O Vāsiṣṭhā, gladden with wealth and progeny; O Jayā, bearer of victory, O goddess, bring thou victory. O Pūrṇā, thou fulfilled one, daughter of Aṅgiras, make me one with all desires fulfilled; O Bhadrā, daughter of Kāśyapa render my mind gentle. O ye, endowed with all seeds, full of all gems and plants, Rucirā, Nandanā, Nandā, Vāsiṣṭhā, take your pleasure here. O divine daughter of Prajāpati, thou square one (caturaśra)⁵⁸ and handsome in all parts, Mahimāyā, Subhagā, Suvratā, Bhadrā, Kāśyapī, take your pleasure in this building. O Bhārgavī, honoured by great teachers (ācārya), decorated with perfumes and garlands, benefactress of the world, take your pleasure in this building. O thou Perfect one, perfectly proportioned, with beautiful eyes, daughter of Aṅgiras, bestow (on us) the desired (blessings). I now instal thee (pratiṣṭhā)" ('Viṣṇudharmottara', Pt. II. ch. XXIX. 84-89)⁵⁹. With many names and as daughter of Prajāpati,⁶⁰ the lord of creation, and as square, Earth, the goddess in her wealth and perfection, is invoked in this rite of placing the first stones. There is no vertical symbolism of the centre here as that of the Fire altar or of the Ādhāraśilā of the temple and of the Pīṭha-pūjā.

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⁵⁸ 'Caturagra', in the text.

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⁵⁹ There are variations in the mantra, in the different versions. 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra', XII. 290-294; 'Bṛhat Saṃhitā', LII. 112; 'Vāj. S.', XX. 9. XI. 44. (Kāṇva recension). The first śloka of this mantra is the invocation of the Earth in the rite of Garbhādhāna; cf. 'Īśānaśiva-gurudevapaddhati', III. ch. XXVII, and 'Viṣṇusaṃhitā', XIII. 43 f., in slightly different versions. It is omitted from the 'Viṣṇudharmottara'.

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⁶⁰ Kāśyapa is Prajāpati; Vasiṣṭha, Bhṛgu and Aṅgiras are Prajāpatis. ⁶¹ A legend tells of the connection of sacred cave and temple, although in this particular instance the reference is to a structural and not to a rock cut shrine, the Kapoteśvara temple at Chezarla, built about 400 A.D., in the Guntur District, Madras. It is an apsidal, barrel vaulted, brick structure, re-decorated in the eighth century and still standing. (Coomaraswamy, HIIA, Fig. 147). The legend tells of Yogīs who performed austerities in the local caves at Devarakonda and how these Yogīs were transformed into Liṅgas by the power of their austerities. Rāja Śivi of Kashmir who had come there and was giving up his life for a dove was also transformed into a Liṅga. The Brāhmaṇas erected a temple there and named the Liṅga Kapoteśvara, the Dove-Lord, as Śivi had given up his life for a dove (A Rea, ‘Report, Southern Circle’, G. O. No. 382, 1889; ‘ASI., Southern Circle’, Report 1917-18, p. 34).

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Stone, as a substitute for brick shares in its rites; they differ from the vertical symbolism of its own rite of installation in the centre of the pit of the temple corresponding to the centre of the Vedic altar. The symbolism in the vertical of this foundation is understood in the Hindu temple as the realm of Śakti and Viṣṇu, the seat of the supporting Energy and Stability below the level of the temple as Puruṣa. Stone takes its place in the tradition; it is in the very centre of the sacred site.

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Stone, declares the ‘Mayamata’ (XV. 78) should be used for temples and is allowed to Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas and heretics (pāṣaṇḍin) but one should not use it for Vaiśyas, and Śūdras. Once more (XXV. 186-87), the ‘Mayamata’ says: stone or wood are fit for gods, Brāhmaṇas, kings and hermits (āśramin); stone is not fit for Vaiśyas and Śūdras.

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The particular position of stone in the foundation rite has its prototype in the position of the central substances in the Vedic Agni, such as the Svayamātṛṇṇā “bricks”, themselves of stone.

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Apart from this, hermits and ascetics had chosen stone and rocks for their retreat (‘Arthaśāstra’, XIII. 2). Heretics, such as the Buddhists and Jains enlarged and embellished those retreats into rock cut monasteries and temples. The Hindus too carved and hollowed the living rock into cave temples though with some reticence, the earliest cave sanctuary, in Udayagiri in Central India dates from about 400 A.D. only. The ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ refers to the installation of images particularly in caves.⁶¹ Of rock cut temples the later texts have but little to say.

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Stone, when quarried and cut is an enduring and noble material, fit for gods, priests and the ruling classes. It is “100 times more meritorious to give a brick temple than a thatched temple; 10,000 times more meritorious to give a stone than a brick temple” (‘Mahānirvāṇa Tantra’, XIII. 24, 25). The ‘Mayamata’ makes stone beyond the reach of the lower castes. The attitude of the ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ is different. White stones are assigned there to the Brāhmaṇas, red ones to the Kṣatriyas, yellow to the Vaiśyas and black ones to the Śūdras (Pt. III. ch. XC. 2), in exact imitation of the colour of the soil as it is fit for the respective castes.

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Accordingly also, white clay should be used for bricks for Brāhmaṇas and so on (ib. Pt. III. ch. XCI. 1).

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Stone as part of the earth shares in the rites due to it; building stones however are quarried, taken from the earth by force, they have been rent from their living context like the trees which are felled for their wood. So the Sthapati and astrologer go to the quarry or to the forest and propitiate in the same manner the spirits who live in stones, all the gods, Yakṣas, Vidyādharas, Rākṣasas, Piśācas, Nāgas, Gandharvas and the eighteen Gaṇas” (‘Vaikhānāśagama’, X.), and those who live in the trees (‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, Part III. ch. LXXXIX. 13 f) with the request to change their abode and depart quickly (‘Vaikhānāśagama’, ch. X.). With similar words, and also with offerings, the spirits who reside in the soil are requested to leave before building is begun (‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, LVIII. 9-11; ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. XXVI. 73-74). This is done whenever a part of this earth is taken possession of and converted by the art of man into the residence of his God.

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“Let goblins, godlings and gnomes (guhyaka) depart, O tree, may Soma, the Moon, grant you further strength. Luck to you, sons of the earth, gods, and gnomes. I shall do this work (so please) change your habitations.” This incantation precedes the felling of the tree in the ‘Mayamata’ (XV. 89-90). At this moment the ‘Bhaviṣya Purāṇa’ (CXXXI. 33) addresses the tree directly as ‘God of gods’, after having consoled the tree: “O tree, go to the temple of the gods for the benefit of all the tree world. There you shall remain safe from the wood cutter’s axe and from fire”. “You will obtain the position of a God and people will worship you” (ib. 27-29). Then the tree is brought to the workshed and kept there for six months (‘Mayamata’, XV. 103-104). The wounds made by the axe are healed by the honey of the words and by the honey which has also been smeared on the axe (V.D. Pt. II. ch. XXIX. 48-49). Magical knowledge is combined with practical experience which requires that the wood of the tree should be seasoned so as to be fit for building and carving. Correspondingly, various tests are applied to the stone before it is quarried by which its suitability for building temples and making images becomes known.

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Stone, severed from the rock, taken from its site, is transformed in its nature, alike to the wood, when it becomes the substance of which the temple is built, imbued as are the bricks, with its indwelling Essence. The single courses of the stones of the temple have the height of the respective mouldings, reglets, etc.

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Stone, in its natural site, the living rock, is also made to hold sanctuaries and to simulate stupendous temples, such as the Kailāsanātha Temple at Elura (Hyderabad) of the eighth century and the smaller, rock cut shrines of different types at Mamallapuram (near Madras) in the seventh century and at Kalugumalai (Tinnevelly District, in the extreme south of India) in the eleventh century, at a time when the rock cut Buddhist Caitya halls and Vihāras had fulfilled their purpose and evolution and the Jain excavations (Indra Sabhā at Elura) had kept pace with the rock cutting activities of Buddhists and Hindus.

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But for a brief mention of the caves where, particularly installations should be made “for the denizens of heaven are present at these places” (‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, III. XCIII. 27-28), Vāstuśāstra designates these secret (guhā) places as Layana, when they are rock-cut temples (‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, LIX. 236). These, in their transformation by art, are stations of a ‘return to nature’ symbolic of man’s return to his original state and higher Self; the devotee enters them as places of release equal to the structural temples with their transubstantiated walls. The cutting and entry into the living rock would thus re-instate man in that integrity from which he had departed and fallen since the Kṛta Yuga, the Perfect age, when he lived in the hills at peace with himself.

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The death of the tree, clay or stone is effected in darkness⁶², the tree has to be felled in the evening (‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, III. ch. LXXXIX. 13-15) and when the night draws towards dawn, the spirits of the soil leave the field which is to be converted into the site of the temple (‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. XXVI. 74 f).

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⁶² R. Guénon, ‘De la Mort Initiatique’, É.T. 1934, p. 174; “Every change of state is accomplished in darkness”. ⁶³ The following is a resumé of the version of the ‘Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa’, I. ch. VII. 46-83. The account of the ‘Vāyu Purāṇa’ ch. XLV. 11-50 differs in details. ⁶⁴ The account winds up with a popular etymology,—deriving the word ‘śālā’, hall, from ‘śākhā’, branch. Śākhā is however the name for door-jamb (‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’, LII. 26. comm.)—and with a happy end saying that as the people felt happy in the big buildings, these were called Prāsāda. This popular etymology of Prāsāda is also given in the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. XXVIII. 1-2. “Prāsādas please (prasidanti)”, and copied from there, in

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