The Hindu Temple v1.c8.s7.53

v1.c8.s7.53

The different levels below ground and above producing two sanctuaries are destined for various rites; they are not restricted to a definite position. The dividing line may be the ground surface; it need not however be only there but is applied in the vertical direction so that one sanctuary is above the other. Made independent of a definite level, the principle is that of vertically superposed sanctuaries. This is known from Gupta and Early Cālukyan temples, in northern India, the Deccan and in South India. It is as if the sanctuary from below the ground with its omphalos in the shape of Liṅga or image had arisen to the higher levels. Sanctuary upon sanctuary, they are superposed in several storeys, particularly and consistent with the total symbolism of the respective temples, in South India. There, the special application of this principle is to those temples of Viṣṇu where in seven superposed storeys, the lowermost cell enshrines the standing (sthāna), the next higher one the seated (āsana), the one on the third floor the recumbent (śayana) image of Viṣṇu, as in the Vaikuṇṭha Perumal Temple at Kāñcīpuram, and in the yet higher storeys the images of Brahmā, Mahāviṣṇu, Sadāviṣṇu and the four armed Nārāyaṇa. "Like a hollow cane of bamboo (venurandhravat) are the cells placed one above the other in the vertical axis of the Prāsāda" ('Vaikhānasāgama', VI).¹¹⁵