The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s8.9

v2.c11.s8.9

The superstructure reduces the extent of the temple from the surface covered by its plan and perpendicular walls, to the point of the finial which is beyond the superstructure. This ascension is made haltingly, pausing at every Bhūmi or level (Pl. LXXI) and coming to an end of its own at the pinnacle of every Śṛṅga (Pl. IV), which is but a station on the steep upward slope and curve towards the summit. "The stations on the way to Brahman are conductors of the soul, not marks of the road nor places of enjoyment" ('Vedānta Sūtra', Comm. IV. III. 2-7). Śṛṅga clings to Śṛṅga; (Pls. IV, XLIII); and all the Uro-mañjarīs lean against and are urgent in their competition towards the top where they come closest to the root-Śikhara and the central Pillar. As much as the piers and offsets proceed from the perpendicular walls, away from the centre of the temple, so much do the Śṛṅgas and Latās compete towards—or leave off—and, reduced in number or extent, reach the inner sheath (venu kośa-antara),¹⁶⁷ the topmost course of the Vedi (skandha) and the Pillar with its Āmalaka. It is a long ascent (dūrohaṇam) made by the eye on the basis of shape and form. This ascent is an architectural analogy to the recitation of the Dūrohaṇa mantra, "By repeating the Dūrohaṇa Mantra the sacrificer ascends to heaven" ('Aitareya Brāhmaṇa', XVIII. 6. 20). The sacrificer must already when alive ascend to heaven and gain a footing in the sun which shines on high; then he descends again to the earth. Thus the sacrificer who has arrived in the celestial world takes foot solidly in this world.