The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s2.19

v2.c11.s2.19

The presence of the Rivers purifies the devotee from all taints of his human state. It is equivalent to a bath taken in the sacred waters.⁴² The entrance to the Garbhagṛha is the sculptural metamorphosis of the natural Tīrtha. The door-way is an iconostasis of the descent of the Rivers, of Śakti; and of the ascent of life competing for its heavenly origin in the creepers rambling upwards on the 'branches' (śākhā) of the frame, in the multiform concatenations within their stalks and, on each single śākhā, in the sequences of lovers ('mithuna'), prancing chimaerae (śārdūla) and jubilant spirits (gaṇa) (cf. Bṛ. S. LV. 15). All these have their support (dhṛ) on these waters, are borne by it. Thus is illustrated the knowledge that the waters are Dharma (‘Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa’, XI. 1.6.24), the support of Life and generation; of a new birth and a transformed body.