The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s2.30

v2.c11.s2.30

⁴⁷ In principle, the temple has 4 doors (cf. Part V, notes 69, 73), facing the cardinal points (‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. XII. 17). They are Śāntidvāra: the Door “Peace”, in the East; Vidyādvāra, the Door “Knowledge” in the South, Nivṛttidvāra, the Door “Turning away from the world” in the West and Pratiṣṭhādvāra, the Door “Firm basis” in the North. These four names are those of the four Kalās, the ontological part-aspects of manifestation, according to Śaiva terminology. Their hierarchical sequence is, beginning from the lowest Kalā: Nivṛtti, Pratiṣṭhā, Vidyā and Śānti. All these doors however lead to the fifth and highest Kalā, and to the Supreme Essence of the Pure Principles.