Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c57.9

v1.c57.9

The V. D. (III. XCIII 27, 28) like the S. S. also supports that the caves are the places where the denizens of the heaven are present. Naturally the man in his quest for re-union with the gods, his higher selves, makes an operation consummate with the high mission of godlines for cutting the living rocks to make them for this communion. Vāstuśāstra (S. S LIX—238) designates these secret (Guhā) places as Layana. Dr. Kramrisch also supports this conclusion—vide her observation in H. T. p. 114-15: "These, (i. e. caves) in their transformation by art, are stations of a return to nature symbolic of man's return to his original state and higher self. The devotee enters them as places of release equal to the structural temples with their transubstantiated walls. The cutting and entry into the living rock would thus re-instate man in that integrity from which he had departed and fallen since the Kṛta-yuga the perfect age, when he lived in the hills at peace with himself".