The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s9.1

v2.c11.s9.1

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.