“Pervading the earth on
every side and filling a space ten fingers wide,
The Puruṣa
is
all
that
yet
has
been
and
all
that is to be.
All creatures are
one-fourth of him;
The other three-fourths
have eternal life in heaven.”
Any study of Javanese temple architecture needs to begin with
a
discussion concerning
the organizing principle that must have guided the architects when
laying out
the temples. The vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala,
which
has
governed
the
construction
of
residences,
palaces,
temples and even entire cities in
Greater
India since ancient times, “is both the body of the Cosmic Being and a
bodily device by which those who have the requisite knowledge attain
the best
results in temple building.” [1] The vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala (fig. 1)
is
rendered
not
as
a
circle
—
as one might suspect from the term maṇḍala — but
rather as a
square symbolizing the earth as the residence (vast) of the
primordial
‘male giant’ whose body originally filled the entire universe. When the
devas
caught hold of thepuruṣa they
laid him face down upon the earth, with each holding down a different
limb to
be sacrificed, thereby giving rise to the creation.[2] “The
moon
was
gendered
from
his
mind
and
the sun from his eyes had birth;
lightning and fire were born from his mouth and wind from his breath.
Midair
came forth from his navel and the sky was fashioned from his head, the
earth
from his feet and from his ear the regions. Thus they formed the
worlds.”[3]
According to India’s
sacred
science
of
architecture
(vāstuśāstra), attaining a proficiency in the vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala
was the first discipline that any aspiring temple architect had to
master.[4] It
provides
the
ritual
means
through
which
each
and every aspect of the
Universal Spirit becomes bound to the plot of ground on which the
temple-construction is to take place,[5]thereby
transforming
the
building
into
an
image
in
reduction of the entire
universe.[6] Initially
drawn
on
the
leveled
ground
of
the
site, it “is the place for the
meeting and marriage of heaven and earth, where the whole world is
present in
terms of measure, and is accessible to man.”[7] This primordial cosmogram
can consist of a single
square, or be rhythmically expanded through gnomonic projection to
incorporate
as many as 1024 (32 x 32) squares, with each new iteration built up
through the
addition of a single square to each of the sides. The versions of
particular
importance with respect to the present investigation are given below (fig. 2).
Fig. 1: A vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala of 81 squares.
The vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala is not a schematic or
blueprint that
had to be strictly emulated with respect to form. For example,
deity-images
need not, and typically do not, occupy their corresponding squares in
the
diagram, though in some instances this may indeed prove to be the case.
Moreover, structures can be rectangular, octagonal, or even circular
and
nonetheless retain the vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala as its symbolic
foundation
even though neither the shape nor the number of squares it contains
precisely
conforms to the idealized model. However, with respect to whatever form
it does
ultimately take, each and every structure with the vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala
as its fundament is symbolically occupied by a total of 45 Vedic
deities.[8].
Fig. 2: The architectural plans
employed in Central Java.
No.
of
squares
Name
Temple
designs
in
Central
Java
Citations
9 (3x3)
pīṭha (‘throne’)
The
foundation deposit or pripih;[9] the roof of Caṇḍi Pawon (fig. 7).
Mayāmātam, Vol. I, p. 41
49 (7x7)
sthaṇḍila
Caṇḍi
Mendut rooftop, the main temple at Sewu (fig. 6).
Citrakarmaśāstra (7.70-78)
81 (9x9)
paramaśāyikin
Caṇḍi
Mendut, Borobudur’s summit, Prambanan’s
inner courtyard as defined by eight small boundary shrines
Covering the entire form of the puruṣa, “they are his
limbs and vital parts and their sum total is the vāstupuruṣa
with whom it is coextensive. Their number necessarily
is the same in the vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala of 64 or 81 or any of the other number
of squares,
only the extent allotted to each, differs, but not their relative
position in
the plan.”[11]
[1]
Ganapati Sthapati,
as cited in Narasingha, Swami B. G. “Vāstu Śāstra and sacred
architecture.” [http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/saranagati/html/nmj_articles/sacred_architecture/vastu-shastra.html].
[2] See the
Bṛhat Saṃhita
53.1,3. In another version of the legend, it is the puruṣa
who sacrifices his own body, thereby inaugurating the
creation. SeeMahābhārata Book 12, Santi
Parva 315.
[3] RV
10.90. 13-16. See also the Muṇḍaka
Upaniṣad 2.1.1-10.
[4]
McFadzean, Patrick. Vāstu Vidya: studies in experimental
geomancy.Oxford:Institute
of Experimental Geomancy (1999).
[5]
Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu temple. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass (1996): 11-12
[vol. I].
[6] Ibid. pp. 10-11.
[7] Ibid. p. 7.
[8] Ibid. p. 85.
[9]
The VPM of nine
squares was “used for establishing the plan of svastika
villages, of the first temple enclosure and of king’s
palaces; it can also serve for the foundation deposit casket.” Ibid.
The
Javanese called the latter pripih.
[10]
Frederick
Bunce has suggested a plan with 576 squares for Caṇḍi Sewu, which in
my
opinion is incorrect. (See Bunce, Frederick. The Iconography of
Architectural Plans: a study of the influence of Buddhism and Hinduism
on plans
of South and Southeast Asia. New Delhi: DK
Printworld
(2002): 144-146. Bunce has assigned two extra tiers of squares to the
plan in
order to include the four pairs of images guarding the cardinal points.
These
eight chthonic beings are more likely to be accommodated outside the
plan.
“Outside the Vastu, in the eight directions, having positions but no
plots, are
stationed homeless presences: Sarva-Skanda in the east, Aryaman in the
south,
Jṛṃbhaka in the west, and in the north, Pilipiñjā...”, plus
the female demons
Carakī (NE), Vidārī (SE), Pūtanā (SW) and Pāpārakṣasī (NW). See Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu
temple, Vol. I. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (1996): 94-95 and the
diagram in Chauhan,
Muktirajsinhji. “Vastu
Shastra” at www.archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/vastu-shastra.html.
At
Sewu, the architect seems to have
depicted these chthonic forces as four male pairs at the entrances to
the
temple yard (i.e., without female figures).
[11]
The rim (32 nakṣatra) and nave (core square or
squares) of the VPM signify 33 (32+1) deities, which relates to the
heaven of
the 33 gods on Mount Meru as well as the Great Year of the
Ādhisaṃvatsara,
which encompasses a total of 33 eclipses.
Figs.
3 & 4: Prambanan
(below left) and Borobudur(below right)
Figs. 7 & 8: Pawon roof (below left)
and Plaosan
Lor
(below right).
The diagrams with 64 (8 x 8) and 81 (9 x 9) squares are
of
particular importance with respect to Indian temple architecture. The
former,
which has eight squares on each of the four sides, consists of a
central area
containing four squares, surrounded by three bands containing 28, 20,
and 12
squares, respectively. Moreover, the compartments at the corners are
divided in
half to accommodate the full contingent of 32 deities along the
diagram’s outer
border, which fill the 32 squares of the outer border in the plan with
81
squares. The remaining squares that lie between this outermost tier of
squares
and the core of the diagram collectively represent the movement of the
sun
along the plane of the ecliptic.[12] By
contrast,
the
core
square
of
the
plan
represents
the “super-luminous, dark
source of all light” beyond all time, “which in ontological hierarchy
is prior
to manifestation.” In the paramaśāyikin plan of 81 squares it
is surrounded by eight
more squares collectively representing “the light of all suns that ever
shone,”
and which in repeated cycles, illuminates the entire universe “in one
duration,
supernal time.” Together, these nine squares are collectively known as
the
‘Place of Brahmā’ (Brahmasthāna). And as we shall shortly see, Mahāyāna
Buddhist
architects likewise made use of the same plans (fig.
9), with only minor variations occurring in the names of the
deities
occupying the individual squares.
The interior tiers of 16 and 24 squares, respectively, are
collectively occupied by a group of solar deities that stand for the
“different
manifestations of the one sun god in the 12 stages of his journey”[13]
and thus identifiable with the twelve zodiac constellations, but within
the
diagram itself are reduced in name “to eight, their Vedic number.”[14] Their
radiance
proceeds
outward
through
the
32
nakṣatra squares along the outermost border.
“Eachnakṣatra has a leading star and is presided over
and sacred
to a particular divinity. The 27 and 28 divisions of the ecliptic (fig. 10) become
fixed in position like a
great,
fixed, square dial with the numbers ranging not along the equator, but
along
the ecliptic itself. The square cycle of the ecliptic, would thus have
to be
subdivided into 27 or 28 compartments. Instead of this, the number of nakṣatras is augmented into 32, so that
each field of the border represents a lunar mansion or nakṣatra.”[15]
Moreover, the expansion of nakṣatras
from 27/28 to 32 was made to equate the four cardinal points with the
two
equinoxes and two solstices that occur annually.
The “solar spatial symbolism” of the days and years “is primary”
within the diagram; however, the moon’s monthly revolutions around the
earth
are also accommodated.[16] .Furthermore,
each
square
along
the
outermost
border
is
specifically linked to
the puruṣa
by means of a different body-part. Vāstuśāstra texts advise
temple
builders to consult the nakṣatras whenever the temple grounds
are
“taken possession of and when the rite of depositing the Germ of the
temple is
performed. The regents of the planets and the stars have their
allocation in
the diagram of the temple and their images are carved on its walls. By
them are
regulated the measurement of the whole building and its parts; the life
of the
donor and the age of the temple too.”[17]
[12] The Bṛhat Saṃhita
states that the twelve
solar deities in the middle section of the maṇḍala
collectively fill
all of the available space.
[13] Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu
temple, Vol. I. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (1996): 31 [vol.I].
[14] Ibid. pp. 88-89.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid. p. 10.
Fig. 9: Deities
of the paramaśāyikin plan according to
the Mañjuśrī Vāstuvidyaśāstra.[18]
Fig. 10: The
nakṣatras.
#
Degrees
nakṣatra
Planet
No. of Stars
Vedic Deity
1
00° 00’ - 13° 20’ Aries
Aśvini
Ketu
3 - β Arietis
Aśvinau
2
13°20’ - 26° 40’ Aries
Bharaṇi
Venus
3 - δ Arietis
Yama
3
26° 40’ Aries - 10° 00’ Taurus
Kṛttikā
sun
6 - η Tauri
Agni
4
10° 00’ - 23° 20’ Taurus
Rohiṇī
moon
5 - α Tauri (Al Deberan)
Prajāpati
5
23° 20’ Taurus - 06° 40’ Gemini
Mṛgaśirās
Mars
3 - β Tauri
Soma
6
06° 40’ - 20° 00’ Gemini
Ārdra
Rāhu
1 - γ Gemini (Al Hena)
Rudra
7
20° 00’ Gemini - 03° 20’ Cancer
Pūrṇārvasu
Jupiter
4 - β and α Geminorum (Pollux & Castor)
Aditi
8
03° 20’ - 16° 40’ Cancer
Puṣya
Saturn
3 - δ Cancri (Al Tarf)
Bṛhaspati
9
16° 40’ Cancer - 00° 00’ Leo
Aśleṣā
Mercury
2 - δ, ε, ζ Hydrae
Sārpa
10
00° 00’ - 13° 20’ Leo
Magha
Ketu
2 – α Leonis (Regulus)
Pītara
11
13° 20’ - 26° 40’ Leo
P. Phalgunī
Venus
2 - δ and θ Leonis
Aryaman
12
26° 40’ Leo - 10° 00’ Virgo
U. Phalgunī
sun
2 - β Leonis (Denebola)
Bhaga
13
10° 00’ - 23° 20’ Virgo
Hasta
moon
3- γ Virginis (Porrima)
Savitṛ
14
23° 20’ Virgo - 06° 40’ Libra
Citra
Mars
1- α Virginis (Spica)
Indra
15
06° 40’ - 20° 00’ Libra
Svāti
Rāhu
1 - π Hydrae or Symra
Vāyu
16
20° 00’ Libra - 03° 20’ Scorpio
Viṣaka
Jupiter
2 - α2 and β Librae
Indra-Agni
17
03° 20’ - 16° 40’ Scorpio
Anurādha
Saturn
4 – β Scorpii
Mitra
18
16° 40’ Scorpio - 00° 00’ Sagittarius
Jyeṣṭha
Mercury
3 - α Scorpii (Antares)
Indra
19
00° - 13° 20’ Sagittarius
Mūla
Ketu
11 - ε to λ, ν Scorpii
Nṛṛtti
20
13° 20’ - 26° 40’ Sagittarius
Pūrva Aṣāḍha
Venus
2 - αSagittarii (Nunki)
Āpa
21
26° 40’ Sagittarius - 10° 00’ Capricorn
Uttara Aṣāḍha
sun
2 - σ, ζ Sagittarii
Viśvideva
*
6° 40’ to 10° 53’ 20” Capricorn
Abhijit
―
1- α Lyrae (Lyrae)
Brahmā
22
10° 00’ to 23° 20’ Capricorn
Śravaṇa (Aśvattha)
moon
3 - β Capricornus or δ Capricornus
Viṣṇu
23
23° 20’ Capricorn - 06° 40’ Aquarius
Dhaniṣṭha (Shraviṣṭha)
Mars
4 - δ Capricornus (or β Delphini)
Vasus
24
06° Aquarius 40’ - 20° Aquarius 00
Śatabiṣaj
Rahu
100 - λ Aquarii
Indra
25
20° Aquarius 00’ - 03° Pisces 20’
Pūrvabhadra
Jupiter
2 - α Pegasi
Āja Ekapad
26
03° Pisces 20’ - 16° Pisces 40’
Uttarabhadra
Saturn
2 - γ Pegasi
Ahirbudhnya
27
16° Pisces 40 - 00° Aries 00’
Revatī
Mercury
36 - η Piscium
Pūṣan
[18] See Marasinghe, E.W., tr. The Vāstuvidyaśāstra ascribed
to Mañjuśrī.New
Delhi: Sri
Satguru Publications (1989):
11-13. Variations on the specific deity names are likewise
commonly encountered in different Hindu vāstuśāstra-texts.
Vāstuśāstra
and Buddhism
Although the vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala is universally acknowledged
within India
as the
symbolic fundament for Hindu temples, the Mayāmātam ― which sets forth the full spectrum of
VPM
iterations ― also provides limited information pertaining to Buddhist
images
and buildings.[19] Bruno
Dagens has established a chronological bracket for this
text, which
ranges from the early ninth to the late twelfth centuries and believes
it to
have originated from Dravidian India, most probably from the Tamil
area.[20]
The Mayāmātam is part of the Śaivite āgama
literary
tradition “without the connection being underlined by any pronounced
sectarianism and its drafting must have been done during the Cola
period [c.
850-1190], at the time when the architecture it describes had reached
the peak
of its maturity.”[21]
The
text’s
references
to
Buddhist
cult
places include the
statement
that the foundation deposit of a shrine dedicated to the Sugata
should
consist of an aśvattha (tree), a gold vase, a lion and an
umbrella made out
of gold.[22]
“Buddha is represented sitting with his legs crossed. He
has red clothing,
two arms, a red mantle and a russet (under-) garment; he has no head
ornaments.
He is seated on a lion throne and venerated by Indra and the other gods, as well as by Yakṣa, Vidyādhara, Siddha, Gandharva, etc. He is to be represented thus,
with the
appearance proper to him and with an aśvattha (bodhi tree) next to him.”[23]
The text also states that images of the Sugata may be placed amongst
Śiva’s
attendant deities.
The inclusion of Buddhist images and temples implies that
the
principles of vāstuśāstra should equally apply to Buddhist
constructions.
The input that South Indian architecture is believed to have had on
temple-building activities in Central Java ― not to mention South
India’s
influence over Java’s Siddhānta-Śaivism in general ― gives us reason to wonder
whether a
master builder or builders educated in South India’s architectural
traditions
had elected to adapt the vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala to serve as the
underpinning of
Buddhist temples he was commissioned to build for the Śailendra sovereigns and Javanese royalty, including Borobudur and Caṇḍi Mendut.
Various vāstuśāstra principles are known to have been
incorporated
into the architectural traditions of Buddhism pertaining to the
construction of stūpas and temples. For example, Tibetan
Buddhist texts
refer to the
initial layout of a square divided into 90 compartments per side, which
collectively symbolize the number of days contained in three months of
the
luni-solar year.[24]
The
square fundament for Buddhist stūpas and temples is likewise
deemed
occupied by a male being known as the ‘Lord of the Earth’ (Bhūpati).
“Inside the square is drawn the Serpent-Bellied
Earth-Lord. He has a
hood of snakes above his head, the torso of a man, and from the navel
and
below, a serpent’s body. In his right hand he holds a maṇi
(jewel) over
his right hip, while the left hand covers his left ear. Concerning the
measurement of his body, his torso is five spans in length, and
similarly, his
snake tail measures five spans. In some illustrations he is shown with
horns;
in others without horns….In the first month of autumn, the Earth-Lord’s
head
should reside at the northeast junction and the tip of his tail at the
south-west with his mouth facing towards the south. Then, with the
passing of
each day, both his head as well as the top of his tail should be moved
one
small unit each in a clockwise movement towards the south. In this way
he is
moved through the ninety small units of each side in three months, and
through
the four groups of ninety small units in one year of the lunar
calendar, that
is three hundred and sixty days.”[25]
This Tibetan text has adopted a well-known concept of vāstuśāstra under which the movement of the vāstunāga (‘serpent in residence’) “is associated
with that
of the vāstupuruṣa, as caravāstu or movable vāstu; underlying
buildings,
etc., which is used for temporary purposes, such as…the performance of
a
definite rite…. For such purposes, time as movement encompasses the
extent of
the vāstupuruṣa and makes him revolve along with it…. In the [Bhūbāṇapradhīpa] it is enjoined that the body of
the snake
being divided into 8 (or 9) equal parts, head, heart, stomach, navel,
knee,
chin, ankle and tail, the foundation stone should be placed at the
heart or
stomach; the door also is to be placed at the heart or stomach of the
serpent.”[26]
The techniques prescribed for examining the
characteristics of the
soil on which a Buddhist temple is to be constructed also follow the
standard
procedures of vāstuśāstra. “Firstly, one should dig out the land
about
knee-deep and refill the pit with the same earth. If there is more than
enough
earth, it is said to endow siddhi. If the opposite
occurs, then the performer should not undertake the construction.”[27]
The corresponding examination to be found in the Mayāmātam
(IV.10-18) is as follows: “When the hole is filled up with its own
earth the site is of average quality if the pit is completely full; if
it
overflows with earth the site will prove excellent and if it is not
packed full
with earth it is of inferior quality.” The presentation of offerings
for the
spirits inhabiting the site and the issuing of commands for the spirits
to go
back to their own abodes are also prescribed in both Buddhist and Hindu
texts.[28]
[19]
Dagens, Bruno
translator. Mayāmātam.New
Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Center for the
Arts
(1994): xl [vol.I].
[20] Ibid. p.
xliii.
[21] Ibid. p. 135. The text’s connection with Śaivasiddhānta literature
“is
demonstrated
by
the
leading
place
given
to Śiva temples, by the chapter
given over to the Linga and especially by the speculations on the
nature of the
linga which it contains and lastly, by the pantheon described in
Chapter 36
which is essentially that found in Śaivāgamas.”
[22] Ibid. p. 75. The
tolerance shown by theMayāmātam
for Jain and Buddha
images is tempered by the fact that the locations attributed to the
cult places
of these two sects were close to those suitable for inferior deities or
even
malignant spirits.
[23] Ibid. Vol II, pp. 887-889.
By contrast, the Mānasāra only briefly discusses Buddha images
without
any references to the construction of Buddhist temples and shrines. See
Ācarya, Prasana Kumar. Hindu
architecture in India
and abroad.Bhopal:
J.
K.
Pub.
House
(1979):
146-147.
[24] Each of the four
sides of the vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala likewise represent three months of the luni-solar year.
[25] Dorgee, Pema. Stūpa and its technology. New Delhi:
Motilal
Banarsidass (1996): 34-37. [26] Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu temple. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass (1996): 90 [vol.
I]. [27] See also the
citations from the Sārvamaṇḍala-samanya-vidhinam-guhya-tantra
and the Ārya Vajrapāni-Abhiṣeka-Mahātantra
in Dorgee, Pema. Stūpa and its technology. New Delhi:
Motilal
Banarsidass (1996): 27. [28] See Mayāmātam IV.1-3
and
Ibid.
pp.
29-30.
