Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c56.69

v1.c56.69

So far we have been considering the body, the principal units of the constitution of the Prāsāda in its diffe.ent architectural origins, but this account would remain inco te if we do not take into our consideration the different sources which ve contributed to the origin of shape of the the Prāsādas thereof. From the references both literary and the epigraphic, the temple as a mountain has found an eloquent and increasing praise from the time going as for back as the times of Purāṇas and Epics Moreover, the very residences of the gods, innumerable as they were, were described on the mountain peaks, the higest and sublimest among them, the Kailāśa, is the abode of the great God Śiva. Naturally, therefore, this has also been a tradition of architectural manuals to designate some of the sublimest varieties of the temples, the Prāsādas after the names of the mountains. This has been done by the Samarāṅgaṇa too, in conformity with other ancient manuals of the science. In Bṛhat-saṁhitā, and Matsyapurāṇa, Meru, Mandara and Kailāśa are the first three names amongst the twenty types of temples. These are all the names of mountains and they have a vision behind them to be visualised by the architecture in the shape of the Prāsāda. It is in these names that the Hindu Temple gets its image, aim and distination of this world edifice. The mountain Meru is of the greatest importance in this respect as it forms the very abode of gods. And in the geography of the Purāṇas (cf. Viṣṇu P. IInd Ch. II-17) which says, Mandara is the the mountain, east of Meru, it can be imagined as the Eastern Uraśśṛṅga of Meru. Kailāśa, the abode of Śiva is situated to the north of Mt. Meru, and Siddhānta Śiromaṇi (II III-36) speaks of it as one of the three peaks of Meru, so either of these peaks, Mandara and Kailāśa is a part of Meru. Cosmologically, the Mountain is the axis of the world The temple is a microcosmic emblem of all-pervading formless macrocosmic reality, the Brahman. Therefore, the mountain motifs of the nomenculture of the temple has been a great tradition in India, the analogy of which can not be found elsewhere.