In the councils of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or
08 VELLORE
FROM SPACE TO CONSCIOUSNESS: INDIC ARCHITECTURE – II
SHONALEEKA
KAUL
hat is the ultimate purpose of ar-
W
chitecture? Is it mere utility or a
lasting human validity? Dividing
our experience of the world into
interior and exterior, what does
T
the act of building effect in hu-
man terms? A separation or con-
tinuum? A split or equipoise? Al-
ienation or belonging? This series
explores two central architectural
concepts from early India, man-
dala and mandara, in which form
and spirit fused synergistically
with a view to transcending di-
vides and transforming the par-
taker. In metaphysical terms, the
hrdayakasha (human heart) and
paramakasha (cosmos) or the in-
dividual atman (soul) and univer-
sal brahman (pure consciousness)
mirrored each other, and true
knowledge was the realisation of
their unity. So Indic architecture
too, at its highest, became a medi-
tation on the true nature of reali-
ty, which led to liberation.
How did this happen actually?
One of the powerful techniques
evolved for this was the concept of
vastupurushamandala. Note the
homology between the human
body (purusha) and architecture
(vastu)—an understanding of
space in the image of man, a par-
allel that extended between the
body and the universe too, as we
will see. The mandala is a square
grid design or plan consisting of
64 or 81 squares radiating out-
TUESDAY
Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
wards from the centre, on which
ritual altars, temples, chaityas,
houses, palaces or cities were
meant to be founded in early In-
dian architectural thought. It is a
configuration of square base, sur-
rounding enclosure with aper-
tures/exits, and a real or projected
vertical axis.
In the temple specifically, this
“axis of access”, as Michael
Meister called it, was visualised
stemming from the mandala’s
centre, the sanctum called gar-
bhagrha (womb), guha (cave) or
hrdaya (heart). It rose through
graded tiers till as high as the
devotee’s vision could rise, to
form a spire called shikhara
(peak) or vimana (tower), culmi-
nating in a finial or summit called
bindu (point).
The bindu served literally as the
point of contact between the im-
manent, concealed, recessed con-
sciousness deep within the gar-
bhagrha or hrdayakasha on the
one hand and the transcendent ex-
pansive infinite consciousness
without, i.e. the brahman or para-
makasha on the other. The temple
plan thus symbolised the “descent
and ascent of consciousness”, to
quote R Nagaswamy, and provided
for the merger of exterior with in-
terior, or of eternal consciousness
with that of the devotee. Duality
was thus overcome, reality was
thus realised. Further, it is by the
14 12 2021
l l
spatial plan of the temple, via the
mandapa or verandah that led
straight up to the sanctum, that
the devotee was inexorably drawn
to the garbhagrha to experience
this self-transcendence.
As if that wasn’t transforma-
tive enough, the temple also
served as a participatory creation
myth. The reference to purusha
harks back to the celebrated Vedic
Purusha Sukta or creation hymn,
wherein the cosmos was born
from the body of the primeval or
supernal man. But “in the begin-
ning was darkness, swathed in
darkness; all this was but unman-
ifested water,” as the Rig Veda
Samhita (X.129.3) narrates. From
this cosmic ocean of darkness, us-
ing the inverted heavenly moun-
tain named Meru or Mandara, the
gods and demons conjointly
churned into existence all of cre-
ation. Mount Mandara is verita-
bly the axis mundi, then, that rent
or pillared apart the heavens and
the earth, holding up the former,
connecting it to the latter, and
lending to the Hindu temple its
name, mandara, and its analogy
with a mountain.
Here is, interestingly, how the
astrophysicist McKim Malville
Far from a contradiction in terms, early
Indian architecture appears to have been
meant to overcome contradictions of the inner
and the outer, the subject and the object,
mind and matter, unity and multiplicity.
It was meant to recuperate the whole
unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for Dwight D
the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist Eisenhower
describes the experience of enter-
ing a temple:
“Moving inward in space and
backward in time, one proceeds
from brightly lighted exterior
space to darkness, from large open
spaces to confined small space,
from richness of carving and dec-
oration to the simplicity of the
unadorned centre … Enshrouded
by a darkness pierced only by a
few lamps, lies the garbhagrha …
symbolic of the chaos, potentiali-
ty and undifferentiated wholeness
out of which the universe
emerged. Spreading outward from
the centre along cardinal and in-
tercardinal directions, the stones
of the temple [and the rich iconog-
raphy on them] symbolise the [di-
versity of] creation into which the
universe transformed itself.”
The underlying unity is never
lost thus. As the Katha Upanishad
tells us: rupam rupam pratirupo
bhavuh (the formless takes many
forms). Further: “Decorated with
symbols of water like images of
Ganga and Yamuna, the doorway
of the [womb chamber] is a trans-
formational symbol, like water
itself. When entering … the devo-
tee undergoes a transformation
and a death: He dies to time. For
Bindu (finial point)
Shikhara/Vimana (spire)
Garbhagrha
(sanctum sanctorum)
Mandapa (verandah)
Cross section of a North Indian
( Nagara ) style temple ( mandara )
he can travel back in time by mov-
ing to the temple centre, and expe-
riencing or re-experiencing [there]
the birth of the cosmos.”
The temple plan thus set eter-
nity in motion, as it were! Can
there be a more profound remind-
er to humankind of being at one
with creation? And can there be a
more powerful argument for over-
coming the fragmentation and al-
ienation that plague modern hu-
mans and society?
What may we take away from all
this? One, we must acknowledge
the transcendent potential of ar-
chitecture and the veritable power
of built space when it is true to,
and in harmony with, qualities of
the human spirit in equipoise.
Therefore modern architecture
must discover meaning and pur-
pose that are greater than itself.
And two, we must infuse contem-
porary building practice with cul-
turally specific possibilities and
solutions to the perennial prob-
lems of the human condition.
In other words, we must restore
to the practice a communitarian
knowledge and vision of a better
way of life. Far from a contradic-
tion in terms, early Indian archi-
tecture appears to have been
meant to overcome contradic-
tions of the inner and the outer,
the subject and the object, mind
and matter, unity and multiplici-
ty. It was meant to recuperate the
whole. Let architecture be medi-
tation once again, and heal and
make whole again.
(Concluded)
(The author is editor of ‘Eloquent
Spaces: Meaning and Community
in Early Indian Architecture’)
(shonaleeka@mail.jnu.ac.in)