SYMBOLYSM OF TEMPLE

A Hindu temple is a symbol or a rather a synthesis of various symbols. It is concived in terms of the human organism which is the most evolved living form. The names of the various limbs of the human body from the foot to the hair on the crown of the head are applied in architectural texts to different parts of the temple structure. Terms like feet, legs, thighs, neck and head denote the anatomical position and function of the structural parts corresponding to those of the human body, and are often used figuratively to emphasise the concept of organic unity in temple architecture.

Evidently, even the most perfect body seems lifeless without the resident soul. To the Hindu, thetemple is the abode of God who is the spirit immanent in the universe. The temple, therefore, is known by such terms as devalaya, shivalaya and devayatana. Hence, worship constituting the living use of the temple starts with the installation of life in the form of the deity in the sanctum.

The deity dwelling in the temple symbolises the king of kings and is consequently offered regal honour, consistent with the concept of God as the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Significantly enough, prasada means both a palace and a temple. The deity is provided with the royal paraphernalia of a throne, umbrella and fly-whisk and the worship of the deity is attended by regal pageantry, together with music, dance and lighting of lamps. Just as the royal palace has a throne-room, a private audience-hall and a public audience-hall, the temple has a sanctum, an inner hall and at times an outer hall. In course of time, the temple came to possess many subsidiary structures for the various temple rites and ceremonials. In Orissa a hall of dance and a hall of offerings were added in front of the outer hall, while in south India the enclosures of the larger temples teem with accessory structures like the thousand-pillared hall, the hall of wedding and the hall of festivities and thus resemble a fortified palace.

While dance, music and public ceremonials are conducted in the accessory structures, the worship proper is offered to the deity in the sanctum sactorum individually by each devotee, for the Hindu shirne is primarily a place for individual self-realisation and is not intended for mass prayer or congregational worship. The sanctum is customarily a dark chamber enclosed by massive walls. Its sombre interior is dimly lighted by flickering flames of a lamp. This suggests and simulates the mystery that envelopes the universe and the divine spirit that shines behind the veil of mystery and pervades and illumines the universe.

Just as the sanctum is a microcosm, so is the whole temple symbolic of the universe inhabited by gods, demi-gods, humanbeings and animals, which are figurally represented on the temple facades. The same idea is expressed by the representation on the temple walls of the eight Regents of the cardinal points Likewise an ambulation around the temple symbolically means a perambulation of the universe itself.

The architectural origins of the several parts of the temple are significant. The base is derived from the Vedic sacrifical altar, the plain cunbical cell of the sanctum from the prehistoric dolmen, and the spire from the simple tabernacle made of bent bamboos tied together to a point.

The sanctum with its massive walls and the dark interior represents a cave, while the superstructure with its peak-like spire-the shikhara-represents a mountain and is frequently designated as the mythical Meru, Mandara, or Kailasa.

The temple is a structure based on the rhythm of proportionate correlated measurements. It is atirtha(source of release) in a concrete, tangible form created by the himan mind.

Building a Hindu temple is comparable to the performance of a sacrifice. It is an offering or an act of pious dedication which brings merit to the builder and his family and vicariously to the devotee who visits the temple, and to his relations. The devotee is not a mere spectator; the perceives and worships and thus fulfils the two objectives he has in visiting a temple. The ornamentations and imagery on the walls and the total form of the temple are designed to aid the attainment of these objectives.

The temple is a monument of manifestation and all the constituents of the temple plan and elevation partake in it. Thus, the sanctum has usually one door in front and false doors in the form of niches on the central projections of the remaining three sides. Although, these are massi ve feigned (only symbolically present) doors, the luminous power of the deity or the consecrated symbol of the Supreme Principle is irradiated from within, and revealed in the cardinal niches in the form of the main aspects of the enshrined divinity or the other deities related to the presiding deity. The lesser aspects of the presiding deity find a place in the minorniches, projections and recesses of the walls. The rite of circumamulation is actually a communion with the deity while moving around the images carved on the walls. The sacred carvings on the walls, pillars,architraves and ceilings of the interior compartments, too, have a profound impact on the mind of the devotee. Thus attuned and prepared, the devotee approaches the sanctum and stops at the door which is the last members to show the carvings. The presence of the river goddesses on the door-frame purifies the devotee of all earthly taints; his mind and soul are now concentrated on the enshrined divinity whose tutelary symbol is carved on the lintel.

Significantly, the sanctum is called the house of the womb, germ or embryo, for it is here that regeneration is effected and the higher self of the devotee is reborn through initiation and self-realisation. A similar purpose is served by the superstructure, the function of which is to lead from a broad base to a single point where all lines converge. The high point of the finial is at the apex of the centre of the sanctum and is the final, conspicuous symbol of the Supreme Principle enshrined in the sanctum.