The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s8.16

v2.c11.s8.16

The finial (stūpikā) with its point (bindu) above the Kalaśa, above the Āmalaka rises from the centre of the Central Shaft (veṇu). Its pillar shape is clasped by the ring of the Āmalaka. But it is not the only pillar so clasped. Here it is the Central Pillar of the Hindu Temple; elsewhere, the pillar in itself denotes the presence of the Buddha and is carved in relief, in Amarāvatī for example. In regular intervals, like the Bhūmis of a Śikhara, Āmalakas clasp its shape. The Āmalaka here functions as a ring. Through a number of rings passes a central pillar or shaft. This is the original function of the Āmalaka as ring-stone or naturally holed stone, Svayamatṛṇṇā, the self perforated “brick” (iṣṭakā) in the Vedic Agni. Three such self-holed stones were placed, the first on the golden man in the centre of the bottom layer, the second in the centre of the third layer and the third upon the centre of the completed fifth layer. They represent the three worlds; the holes afford to sacrificial man, himself identified with the golden Puruṣa a passage to the highest region.¹⁷¹