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The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s9: The Temple as Puruṣa

The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s9

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The Temple as Puruṣa

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The meaning of the forms and figures on the walls of the Prāsāda and its superstructure is held and integrated in the crown of the temple whether it is dome shaped as in South India or has the appearance of an Āmalaka, as on the great majority of temples. Beneath the apex of the dome and under the Āmalaka, the house of God rests on this earth whose extent, architecturally, is covered by the Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala. In it the temple has its plan, prognosis, and projection on the surface around the Brahmasthāna; its centre coincides with that of the Garbhagṛha. It is there that the Pillar of the temple, passing downwards from the High Temple or the Āmalaka, strikes the ground. The Brahmasthāna, ensconced in the body of the temple, in the Garbhagṛha, is transfixed, as it were, by the vertical shaft of the finial above the dome or the Āmalaka; disembodied, beyond the body of the Prasada, it stays in the Empyrean and points into the unconfined. From its point downward the temple spreads the rich folds of its cloak, the sheath of its Pillar, its super-structure and walls. It extends in all the directions, has no façade but is oriented. From its hem or perimeter upwards and inwards it connects all the directions of space and all the constellations in time, in a sumptuous fabric. It coheres in strict measure and is woven with images, each in its place; they are multiform in all the pursuits in which man is confirmed in deathlessness (Pls. XXX, LXVIII, LXXX). The long ascent (dūrohaṇam) from tier to tier and peak to peak, is lit by the ‘radiance’ of Āmalakas and Gavākṣas; the light of the sun rests upon their curves and mingles with the superluminous darkness which is held in them. Each peak has its sun, each station its light; it is eclipsed by one that shines from a higher plane which, with a greater power, draws towards itself the forms of monumental display. Far above and yet supported by the ground of nature, the high platform of the superstructure levels in its squareness the competition of the multitudinous forms and images. Thence the Pillar of the Temple emerges naked : it is seen from this high level only whereas its immanence in the body of the Prāsāda supports each of its varied profiles and strata, which form the slopes of Mount Meru, the body of this Universe.

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All the things indeed of “this wonderful world (saṃsāra)”,—its course and the passage that leads beyond it—“are described under the guise of the temple (Prāsāda) : the diverse shapes of all creatures, high and low, encaged in their bodies through their various actions, from the celestial beings (downwards).²⁰² Thus the kings are admonished in the above inscription, not to turn their minds to sin, but to see the Order of this world in the likeness of the temple and be guided by it, supported by it in the long ascent to the ground above, the High Altar, above which are the rays and the deathlessness of the Sun, the Brahman (‘Chāndogya Upaniṣad, III. 19.4; Taittirīya Āraṇyaka’, II. 2.2). Below it, all are in the power of death, who has given this residence on earth to sacrificial man so that he may ascend to its summit, and finally transcend it. All is order in the residence of God on earth, in the symmetry of the structure, and its plan. Square in shape, it is the Vāstupuruṣa, the place of all the gods. The Vāstupuruṣa, Existence, the Asura, the unruly, expansive, is kept in check, cosmic order covers it and makes it the time-table of its movement every day, every year, in all the cycles of the aeon. All the gods, those of the stars and the suns, face the Brahmasthāna, are turned towards the centre, they have their images placed on the body of the temple, adorning the folds of its robe, the buttresses of its walls and face the devotee. Viewed from above as much as from the Centre—which view no physical eye can take—they have their stations simultaneously, in rhythmic intervals on the body of the temple wrapt in its still mantle of carved stone. Viewed however from outside, and compelling circumambulation, they are the links of its closed body, unfolding its vestment in the many recesses, offsets and piers (Pl. XLIV), the pages in the book of all Time, a consolidated region where the South and the North have the same architectural profiles and only their images are as different as is their orientation.

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²⁰² Sirpur stone inscription, verse 21; 8-9th century; ‘Ep. Ind.’, XI. p. 190.

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On the fixed ground, the pillar is struck; it inheres the mass of the temple; like a lighthouse it has, as it were, turned around its axis and has thrown forth its radiance in the shape of images, visible and clear to all. The solid pile of the monument, with its buttresses and recesses and their sculptural exposition, is embodied movement, it revolves with the spirits of the air (Pls. XXV—XXVIII) in unbroken rhythmic form. In it Śakti is active, the power that drives forth the form, and is its substance. The Spirit gives His impress to it, and Yama, the Dharmarāja, gives it definition and finality in the succession of creative movement, at its own time and place.

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The temple stands firm; it is a monument of the movement of the cosmos and leads beyond it. It is to be seen and comprehended (darśana) by circumambulation (pradakṣiṇa), to be approached and entered (abhigamana) so as to be born from its dark womb and to ascend its height in an instant of coincidence, to the golden point of reintegration from the middle of the cavity, in the heart. This monument is the seat and house of God. Its substance and shape (ākṛti) is Prakṛti ('Agnipurāṇa', LXI. 25 f), the primordial nature of the world; its images which mirror the course of the world (saṃsāra) give liberation ('Kulārṇava Tantra', II. 24). Its total form is the seat (Prāsāda) of the Supreme Spirit.²⁰³

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²⁰³ The vision of the Temple, the Seat of Liberation, is amplified in the image of Vaikuṇṭha, the World wherein dwells the Supreme Viṣṇu. Vaikuṇṭha is described as full of many cities. In the centre is the city of Ayodhyā, surrounded by ramparts and gates in the four directions each having a high Gopura. In its centre is the "inner city" (antaḥpura) of Viṣṇu, itself surrounded by ramparts. In the centre of the "inner city", is the hall, "the King's abode" (rājasthāna) and in the centre of the hall is the "Beauteous Throne", the essence of all the Vedas. In its centre is the Yogapīṭha, the Base of Reintegration, and in its centre is the eight petalled Lotus, at the centre of its petals is the Supreme Puruṣa and Īśvarī ('Padmapurāṇa Uttarakhaṇḍa' ch. CCLVI, 7-26; cf. also CCLVII. 120-133). The temples of South India, the Drāviḍa country, with their Prākāras, or ramparts surrounding the innermost shrine, are the architectural form of Vaikuṇṭha, the 'Un-hindered', pervaded throughout by the Supreme Puruṣa.

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'At the end of Prakṛti' ('Agnipurāṇa', CI. 13), in the Kalaśa, the golden

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Prāsāda-Puruṣa is installed²⁰⁴ in the Empyrean below the Paramount Point of the finial. The temple as house and seat of God in which dwells His Essence is also His body; the temple contains the whole manifestation ('Mayamata', XVIII. 193) in which He is beheld as Puruṣa, Supernal Man. "The Prāsāda should be worshipped as Puruṣa" ('Śilparatna', XVI. 114). It is both, His house and representation.²⁰⁵ The several parts of the temple communicate His living presence and are likened to the body of man in the same way as the square of the plan and its partitions are the 'body' of the Vāstupuruṣa. The door is the mouth,²⁰⁶ the Āmalaka or the High Dome is the head; its Brahmarandhra or foramen²⁰⁷ is pierced so as to receive the tenon (kīla) of the finial (stūpikā). The image in the Garbhagṛha is the Life (jīva) of the temple concealed in the darkness of the cave, enclosed by the mountain of its walls. The outside of the bulwark, teeming with ordered shapes and figures, is its explicit form. The temple is conceived from inside and visualized from outside; the communication between inside and outside is brought about by the radiating power from within which assigns its place to each and every facet of the walls; the inner dark is extracted through closed doors and windows (Ghanadvāra and Gavākṣa) as a chiaroscuro which adheres to the Prāsāda extended in mid-space and facing all the directions. Tier upon tier in a solidified ascent, its bulk is reduced in the tapering superstructure and carried towards the Paramount Point.

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²⁰⁴ This rite is performed—not only—in South India to this day; cf. also ‘Paurāṇikavāstuśāntiprayoga’, Fol. 24 B; ‘Bṛhacchilpaśāstra’, III. 102.

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²⁰⁵ Cf. Ś.B. XIII. 8. 1. 1. where the Vedic funeral mount is spoken of as "house and representation", "gṛhaṃ vā prajñānaṃ vā".

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²⁰⁶ The Sukanāsā is the nose, the Bhadras are the arms, the Aṇḍa=Āmalaka, the head; the Kalaśa, the hair; the Kaṇṭha, the throat; the Vedi, the shoulders (skandha); the door, the mouth, and the image (pratimā) is the Jīva, its life. ('Agnipurāṇa', LXI. 23-25). See Part IV, note 84.

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²⁰⁷ Coomaraswamy, 'Symbolism of the Dome', 1. c., p. 53. M. Eliade, 'Yoga', p. 306.

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When the building is completed a large flag, as long as the temple is high, is fixed, at the top; the finial is installed and the Kalaśa.

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Finally, the rites of consecration are performed: the indwelling essence is established in the temple (hṛtpratiṣṭhā).²⁰⁸

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²⁰⁸ A summary is given here of their description in the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, Pt. IV. ch. XXXIV. 65-93.

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As in the beginning, so also on the completion of the building, the rite of auspicious germination (aṅkurārpaṇa; Ī.P. IV. ch. XXXIV. 27; ‘Kāmikāgama’, LXI. 3; Mayamata, XVIII. 166) is enacted and oblations are given at night. Then at dawn, of another day, the Sthapati, the master architect, and the Sthāpaka, the priest architect, ascend the Vimāna and with a golden needle, perform the rite of opening the eyes (netra mokṣa) of the Prāsāda in front of the cupola (Śikhara) of its High Temple (Harmya).

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The Sthāpaka then instals the Prāsāda, in its concrete shape (prāsādamūrti) on its altar or pedestal (dhiṣṇyamūrti) and places in it the Seed (bīja) of the Temple.

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Prior to the inception of the building, the Seed of the temple,—its causal stage whence the unmanifest becomes manifest—was deposited in the ground (bhūmi), in the womb of the Earth,²⁰⁹ surrounded by all her substances and sheltered by her so that the temple may arise. Now the building is completed, the Seed has germinated, assimilated all the substances and grown into the body of the temple.

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²⁰⁹ Part IV, p. 126; notes 85 and 95.

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In the completed building too, the Seed, having germinated in its substance, is realised in its causal, creative significance in which it dwelt while the temple was being built in the lotus of the heart,²¹⁰ of the Guru, the Sthāpaka. Now, on the completion of the building it is brought from the heart of the Guru and placed in the temple. This seed is Consciousness itself (Cit).²¹¹

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²¹⁰ Cf. I.P. III. ch. XXVII. 72-106; XIII. 71 f.

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²¹¹ Ib. IV. XXXIV. 55-56.

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The form of the Prāsāda (prāsāda-mūrti) is the monumental embodiment of the Puruṣa, the Essence, ²¹² it is the form of Consciousness itself.²¹³

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²¹² 'Agnipurāṇa', LXI. 11; 'Viṣṇusamhitā', XIII. 61-69; 'Śilparatna', XVI. 114.

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²¹³ As such "buddhyā niścitya mandiram" ('Śilparatna', XIX. 115), "having fixed in mind the temple (with all its parts) from base (janman) to finial, the Sthapati together with the Takṣan should place the lowermost moulding (pādukā)".

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Then the Yajamāna, the sacrificer-patron, presents the Sthāpaka and Sthapati with gold, clothes, ornaments, etc., according to his ability. The Sthapati makes over a gift of gold to the Takṣan, and receives from him the entire merit (dharma sarvasva) of the work. The entire merit in building the temple, the Sthapati gives to the Yajamāna. Now the shrine is installed. The Sthāpaka and Sthapati who had begun the temple also complete it. Should they be dead, their sons and disciples carry out the work according to the precepts of the Guru. He conducts the work, from the beginning, and should he no longer dwell in the body, his painted effigy is present at the installation of the temple.²¹⁴

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²¹⁴ 'Īśanāśivagurudevapaddhati', IV. ch. XXXIV. 4; 'Mayamata', XVIII. 159-161.

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The continuity and perfection of the work are assured according to the particular tradition in which it was started. The science of architecture having its origin in Brahmā and being transmitted by an unbroken series of sages preserves its integrity in the planning and building of every temple. Thus it is said that "Brahmā himself is the Sthapati.²¹⁵

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²¹⁵ I.P. IV. ch. XXXIV. 3. The Yajamāna is Viṣṇu,—the sacrifice (Ś.B. I. 2. 5. 3; 9); the Ācārya (Sthāpaka) is Rudra.

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When the building is completed and consecrated, its effigy in the shape of a golden man, the Prāsāda-puruṣa, is installed in the Golden jar, above the Garbhagṛha, above the Śukanāsā. The effigy is invested with all the Forms and Principles of manifestation. While the Vāstupuruṣa "Existence" lies at the base of the temple and its support the Golden Puruṣa of the Prāsāda, its indwelling Essence, sum total of the Forms and Principles (tattva) of manifestation and their reintegration lies in the superluminous darkness of the Golden jar on top of the temple below the point limit of the manifest. In supernal radiance, the golden Puruṣa of the Vedic Altar ('Taittirīya Saṃhitā', V. 2. 7. 1) appears raised from the golden disc—of the sun—within the bottom layer of the Agni to the finial above the superstructure of the Hindu temple. The ascension of the Golden Puruṣa cancels the descent of the Vāstupuruṣa.

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Within these two movements the Hindu temple has its being; its central pillar is erected from the heart of the Vāstupuruṣa in the Brahmasthāna, from the centre and heart of Existence on earth, and supports the Prāsāda Puruṣa in the Golden jar in the splendour of the Empyrean. Its mantle carries, imaged in its varied texture, in all directions all the forms and principles of manifestation towards the Highest Point above the body of the Temple.

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The first of these, the *Gospel of the Hebrews*, was used by the Jewish Christians of Palestine, and was probably a version of the Gospel of Matthew, though it contained some traditions not found in our canonical books. The *Gospel of the Egyptians* was used by the ascetic sects of Egypt, and was marked by a strong tendency towards mysticism and asceticism. The *Gospel of Peter* was used by the Docetists, and taught that Christ did not really suffer, but only appeared to do so.

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These gospels, and others like them, were not accepted by the Church as a whole, and were gradually lost or suppressed. The Church, however, felt the need for a standard collection of writings that would serve as a guide for faith and practice. This led to the formation of the New Testament canon, a process that took several centuries to complete.

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The first step in this process was the collection of the letters of Paul, which were widely circulated among the churches. Then came the four Gospels, which were accepted as the authoritative accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles and the other epistles were gradually added, and finally the Book of Revelation.

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By the end of the second century, the core of the New Testament was generally accepted by the Church. The process of canonization was not a formal act of a council, but rather a gradual recognition by the churches of the writings that were most valuable for their life and worship. It was only in the fourth century that the canon was formally closed by the councils of the Church.

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The formation of the New Testament canon was a crucial event in the history of the Church. It provided a standard of faith and practice that helped to unify the Church and to protect it from the influence of heretical sects. It also ensured that the teachings of Jesus and the apostles would be preserved for future generations.

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EXPLANATION

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OF PLATES

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The Plates (I—LXXX) illustrate the Hindu temple and its sculptures in some of its types mainly in central India and Rajputana.

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