The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s8.52

v2.c11.s8.52

The Āmalaka moreover in early Vāstuśāstra is also called ‘Aṇḍa’, the ‘egg’ (see Part VII, p. 273). The interchange of these two images has its background in the ‘Chāndogya Upaniṣad’, III. 19.1: “The sun is Brahman. Such is the teaching; and its exposition is this: In the beginning, this was indeed non-existent; it became existent; it came into being; it became an egg; it lay for the period of one year; it broke open; then came the two halves of the egg shell, one silver, one gold” and Śaṅkarācārya’s commentary: “What is emphasized is not the negation of existence (but the absence of differentiation of Name and Form). As a matter of fact, the term ‘sat’, ‘Existent’, is found to be used in the sense of ‘differentiated name and form’ and this differentiation of name and form of the universe is mostly dependent upon the sun”. The Brahmāṇḍa the ‘world egg’ is the true ‘Dhātu-garbha’ and is enshrined as such in the Harmikā or casket above the Stūpa.¹⁹¹