The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s3: Function and Form of the Superstructure
The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s3
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Function and Form of the Superstructure
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The Tabernacle of the jungle was placed on the dolmen, or also embraced while surmounting it. The dolmen had been raised on a platform or altar. These forms of sacred architecture are conjoined in the vertical direction; their indissoluble sum total is the Vimāna in its most typical Indian form.
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The shapes of sacred architecture absorbed by the superstructure itself or subsumed to it are many. With them the image of the Mountain was given an indefinite number of variations. The purpose of the superstructure is always one and the same. It is to lead from a broad base to a single point where all lines converge. In it are gathered the multifarious movements, the figures and symbols which are their carriers, in the successive strata of the ascending pyramidal or curvilinear form of the superstructure. Integrated in its body they partake, each in its proper place, in the ascent which reduces their numbers and leads their diversity to the unity of the point.
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An exchange of forms within a community of symbols went on through the countries and centuries; an ever more explicit and detailed exposition was given to the meaning of the Prāsāda; increasing coalescence of the several symbolic shapes on each of the types safeguarded its monumental unity. The intricate carvings all over the surface of the later temples do not distract the attention from their one and only purpose (Pls. I, XLIII, LXXI, etc.). In the strong light of the Indian day the profusion of plastic detail is absorbed into the texture of the monument. In its wealth its form is alive; it impregnates the carvings. In the most elaborate versions and their many combinations is the integrity of the original forms.
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They had been assembled from diverse origins: superposed slabs and various types of roofs whose more mellow and suggestive shapes the vertical edges of the former assumed; and also actual roofs arrayed in similar stratification. This latter type, as in Gop, Kathiawar, and in Kashmir, however did not lend itself to great development in stone or brick buildings, due to the meagreness, as a plastic form of the pent roof of laminated boards.
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Slabs in receding tiers are placed on the flat roof of the temples of village gods in the Tamil country and on Śiva shrines in the Himālayas. They help to hold the supernatural presence on the spot and correspond in this respect to the Sannirodhinī mudrā, the ritual hand gesture by which the presence of divinity is restrained and held at the place of worship, in the image in which it has its seat at that time. The slabs produced the trunk of a pyramid, stepped and gradually contracting into one steep ascent.⁷⁹
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⁷⁹ With this have to be contrasted the layers of increasingly broad beams or slabs supported on posts, etc. and placed in several strata above a sanctuary: cf. the Bodhi-tree temple, as represented in a relief from Mathurā, 2nd century B.C. (Coomaraswamy, HIIA, Fig. 70) and the particular shape of capitals of Buddhist pillars, in which an Āmalaka forms the most important part (Part VIII).
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Richer in motif than this type (IA), of the pyramidal superstructure, is the other (IB) in which a storeyed building, the centre of a hypaethral sanctuary on each of its levels, is crowned by a domed High Temple and raised as a whole on the walls of the Garbhagṛha.
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As humble in its origin as is the series of slabs, whatever they originally might have consisted of, stone, or layers of bricks or less likely wooden planks, attaining height in the shape of a pyramid (IA),—is the curvilinear prototype of the Śikhara (II). The Tabernacle in the forest is one of the primeval forms of sacred architecture in India, as full of meaning in its curves as is the arch made of branches described in the "Āpastamba Śrauta Sūtra" under which, as under the rays of the Sun man returns from death to life (Part IV). The arch of vegetation gives its curve to sanctuaries set up for a definite Pūjā only; they are not meant to outlast the time of worship. They have no permanence but are always put to the same use. The large leaves of the banana fold into walls; or the temporary shrines are made of bamboo, etc., and withes. As many of these shrines as are set up, so many perish; quicker even than they had been built they are dismantled after the Pūjā; they belong to a tradition which does not date and is living.
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The superstructure crowned by the Āmalaka or by the High Temple is the third and highest part of the 'body' of the monument, the Prāsāda;⁴⁰ the two other main parts of the temple being the solid base or socle, its altar; and the sanctuary with its vertical walls. By its form the Prāsāda leads from the square at the base to the point above; by its exalted position and by its form, which leads to the peak, the superstructure is the Mountain; its mass is the vesture (kośa) in which is clad
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⁴⁰ It is crowned by the High Temple or the Āmalaka, and exceeded by the Stūpikā or finial. The latter is no longer part of its mass. The finial, Cūla ('Agnipurāṇa', CIV. 22) or Cūlaka (ib. LXI. 14, where the word is wrongly rendered as Vṛkala, Cubuka or Calaka) is above the Āmalasāraka (which is above the Kaṇṭha and the latter above the Vedi); above the Cūlaka—in a temple of Viṣṇu—is the Sudarśana Cakra, Viṣṇu's disc (ib.). This is one of the few passages which mention the emblem of the god to whom the temple is consecrated and which is placed on top of the finial. The 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra' enumerates in many passages the several parts of the finial, the Candrikā or Padmaśīrṣa, the Kalaśa or Kumbha and on it the Bījapūraka, Bījasvara, etc. (LVI. 153-154: LVII. 136, 425; 719). No comprehensive name is however given to the whole finial. The 'Tantrasamuccaya', I. II. 50, describes the finial, the Stūpikā, as consisting of a Padma, lotus; Kumbha, vessel and Kuḍmala, lotus bud, etc. In an Alpaprāsāda, the height of the Stūpikā is ¼ of the Mānasūtra or width of the Vimāna, and is equal to the height of the Adhiṣṭhāna ('Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', III. ch. XXX, see chart I, Part VII; also note 40, ib.).
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In a certain class of South Indian temples, i.e. the "small temples" (Alpa-Prāsāda) ('Tantrasamuccaya', I. II. 52), the demarcation is conspicuous between the walls of the Prāsāda and the superstructure; it is brought about by an entablature (prastara) and a recessed part above it, the walls of the storey called Grīvā or Gala (neck), just as the shaft which emerges from the shoulder course of the superstructure and reaches up to the Āmalaka or forms the walls of the High Temple is a recess in proportion to the platform of the Vedi, the Skandha, and is therefore also called Grīvā (gala, etc.). Thus six parts of the Prāsāda are distinguished in the vertical direction—Adhiṣṭhāna, the socle (with or without Upapīṭha, the pedestal), Pāda (the pillar or height of the wall) Prastara, Gala, Śikhara, and Stūpi. The adding of the superstructure (the High Temple) to the flat roofed lower temple is recorded in these divisions.
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the Axis of the temple. This emerges, in its topmost portion only, as section of a mighty pillar, as the ‘neck’ (grīvā) of the temple, above the shoulder (skandha) of the superstructure. The symbol of the Pillar of the Universe inheres in the picture of the World-mountain.⁸¹ The World-mountain is its vesture, the offsets and buttresses of the Prāsāda are its folds. They have their origin in the Prāsāda itself which is the monument of Manifestation. They are bodied forth in rhythmical progression from its centre and vertical axis, on every one of its levels (bhūmi).
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⁸¹ In the endeavour to build up the temple as an image of the World-mountain various forms of sacred architecture were superimposed. Some of these were not destined to consolidate into generally accepted types. Undoubtedly experiments were made over and over again. The flat roofed apsidal Durga temple at Aihole, of the 6th century, received a curvilinear Śikhara, at a later date; the Hucchimalligudi Temple, possibly built in the fifth century, received a curvilinear Śikhara on its flat roof, in the sixth century, to judge from its style. Of greater interest even is the Kuraja Bir Temple of the ninth century in Central India; it has a cell superposed on the Garbhagṛha which forms its first floor; and on top of the second cell which forms its second storey, a complete curvilinear Śikhara is raised which leads this structure to its highest point or the higher or second-floor Garbhagṛha with its curvilinear Śikhara may be seen as one complete Prāsāda placed on a flat roofed temple (cf. Part V, note 94). Finally, a complete temple with its curvilinear Śikhara is placed as a monument on top of a Gauḍīya Temple—which itself has a curved roof, the brick translation of the thatched roof of the Bengal village temple or house (for instance in Viṣṇupur, Bengal, c. 17-18th century, illustrated on a Plate between pp. 92-93, by N. K. Bose, op. cit.). The curvilinear Śikhara on top of various types of roofs of shrines is illustrated frequently in miniature paintings from Bengal from the eleventh century onward; cf. Foucher, ‘Iconographie Bouddhique’, Pl. III. 4. In all these compilations, it is the curvilinear Śikhara only which is given this exalted position; it soars towards the highest point from an already high level and forms the sheath of the ‘axis of the universe’, the central pillar whose shaft emerges from the platform (skandha) of its Vedi.
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This rhythmical progression from the centre is particularly elaborated in the plan of the temples having a curvilinear Śikhara. Wherever the shape of the Tabernacle rests upon or encloses the dolmen-shrine placed on the altar-like base, the three main components of the Hindu temple are joined in the vertical direction by the high flung arches of multiple buttresses which clasp its sacred form (Pls. LXXI, XLIII). On the temples with a pyramidal superstructure, the buttresses are but rudiments, flat and without gradation (Fig. h; cf. plans in Part VII), without the scope of numberless variations of shape in which they step forth from the centre of the Garbhagṛha and are joined below the Āmalaka of the curvilinear Śikhara.
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The Prāsāda with a pyramidal superstructure upon the ‘cube’—or prism⁸²—of its walls on the other hand preserves the distinctiveness of these two shapes (Fig. h). They cohere but do not coalesce. In plan, the walls with their flat buttresses where are the niches for the images, show their straight outline broken only by shallow effects in regular intervals (Fig. in Part VII); they do not jut out by being set off one against the other—as they do in temples having a curvilinear Śikhara—especially in the centre of each side whereby the walls of the square Garbhagṛha and of the Śikhara assume the shape of a cross, in the plan and in any horizontal section. The proliferating vitality by which the square of the Garbhagṛha is commuted into the cross, or into the circle of the stellate shape (Pl. XLIII) of the perimeter of the Prāsāda does not belong to the temple with the pyramidal superstructure.
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⁸² The height of the wall of the temple is equal to its width in principle (Part VII; in practice however it may be ¾ of it only, as for example in Orissa; note 61).
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However diversified the components and attributes of the temple with the pyramidal superstructure may be, the ‘Jāti-vimāna’ remains in principle a pyramid upon a cube, at all phases of its history.⁸³ The vertical section of its shape in all its variations has for its theme the square with the triangle above it. It is a version of the symbol of total manifestation ‘more geometrico’ and of its reduction to unity.⁸⁴ The 4 regions of space lie within the walls of the ‘cube’ of the Garbhagṛha and the storeyed pyramid above it, the superstructure, leads to the unity of the point.
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⁸³ The pyramid above the cube is to this day the form of simple shrines in Benares (cf. also R. L. Mitra, ‘The Indo-Aryans’, Vol. II). Here the ‘original’ stereometrical, symbolic form outlived its diversified appearance in the great monuments such as those of Bodh-gayā, or the South Indian Vimānas of about 1000 A.D. As a peculiar version of the Śikhara with Uromañjarīs, the temple of Sinaria (Monghyr, Bihar) deserves mention. Applied in low relief to its pyramidal superstructure are triangular Uromañjarīs (ASI. Bihar and Orissa photographs, 1936-7 ; No. 4655).
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⁸⁴ R. Guénon, ‘La Tetraktys et le Carré de Quatre’, É.T. 1937, pp. 140-145, treats of the quaternary as the number of universal manifestation. Its significance is cosmological (the 4 cardinal points, etc.) whereas the significance of the ternary is ontological. The unity is the first triangular number; it is also the first square number. The second triangular number is 1 + 2 = 3. 1 corresponds to the point of the triangle; 2, being produced by the polarisation of the unity, corresponds to the extremities of the base of the triangle.
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The first of these, the *Gospel of the Hebrews*, was used by the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and was probably a version of the Gospel of Matthew, though it contained some traditions not found in our canonical books. The *Gospel of the Egyptians* was used by the ascetic sects of Egypt, and was marked by a strong tendency towards mysticism and asceticism. The *Gospel of Peter* was used by the Docetists, and taught that Christ did not really suffer, but only appeared to do so.
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These gospels, and others like them, were not accepted by the Church as a whole, and were gradually lost or suppressed. The Church, however, felt the need for a standard collection of writings that would serve as a guide for faith and practice. This led to the formation of the New Testament canon, a process that took several centuries to complete.
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The first step in this process was the collection of the letters of Paul, which were widely circulated among the churches. Then came the four Gospels, which were accepted as the authoritative accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles were gradually added, and finally the Book of Revelation.
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By the end of the second century, the core of the New Testament was generally accepted by the Church. The process of canonization was not a formal act of a council, but rather a gradual recognition by the churches of the writings that were most valuable for their life and worship. It was only in the fourth century that the canon was formally closed by the councils of the Church.
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The formation of the New Testament canon was a crucial event in the history of the Church. It provided a standard of faith and practice that helped to unify the Church and to protect it from the influence of heretical sects. It also ensured that the teachings of Jesus and the apostles would be preserved for future generations.
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VII
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AND VARIETIES OF THE TEMPLE
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प्रमाणे स्थापिता देवाः पूजार्हाश्च भवन्ति हि । “When the gods are set up with correct proportions then they can be worshipped.” ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, XL. 13½.
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पाचकः कटुतीक्ष्णाद्यैरनुसाररसैर्यथा । अन्वीक्ष्य विपचेत् तद्वत् स्थपतिः सर्वमाचरेत् । यदुक्तं यदनुक्तं च तत् समग्रमपि स्फुटम् ॥ “As a cook cooks after testing various suitable flavours, the piquant, the sharp, etc., so should also the architect observe everything; whether stated explicitly or not, all (that is required) is clear (to him).” ib., LV. 158b—159.
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VII
Linked texts (1)
- Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra — Bhoja, Sanskrit