The Hindu Temple as Cosmogenic Architecture by AVKam

THE HINDU TEMPLE AS COSMOGENIC ARCHITECTURE

Ayodh Vasant Kamath

Acknowledgements

Dissertation Co-ordinators: Prof. Rajat Ray, Suptendu P Biswas American Institute Of Indian Studies School Of Planning & Architecture Family and friends

Contents Page No. Abstract

Background

Hypothesis

Scope

Theoretical Framework

Methodology

Building Close To Nature & Natural Languages

Self-organization & Emergence

Organizational Depth, Multivalence, Complexity

Diversity, Variety, Bottom-up Participatory Systems

Locally Based Styles

Local & Universal Cosmogenic Language

Conclusion

References

Abstract U

In the book ‘The Architecture of the Jumping Universe’, Charles Jenks discusses the implications of a new paradigm based on contemporary science and its consequences for architecture. “We do not live in a cosmos, as was represented in Greek, Christian, or Modern architecture, but in a cosmogenesis, a process of unfolding and sudden emergence, a surprisingly creative universe.”1 Thus he coins the term P

cosmogenic architecture.

This dissertation shows that cosmogenic architecture does not have to be restricted to contemporary architecture based on contemporary science. Based on parallels drawn between the world-views of contemporary science and traditional Eastern cultures in the book ‘The Tao of Physics’ by Fritjof Capra, the Hindu temple is chosen as a candidate for being a cosmogenic architecture that is not based on contemporary science and the Vaikuntha temple at Khajuraho is taken as a representative example of a Hindu temple.

A framework for analyzing the temple is made based on the ‘directions‘ of cosmogenic architecture enumerated by Jenks at the end of ‘The Architecture of the Jumping Universe’. Adam Hardy’s framework in the chapter ‘Form, Transformation and Meaning in Indian Temple Architecture’ of the book ‘Paradigms of Indian Architecture’ is used as a tool for interpreting temple architecture in the light of cosmogenic architecture.

Using this framework it is shown that the Vaikuntha temple follows all the directions of cosmogenic architecture without being based on contemporary science. U

1 PT

Jenks, Charles, The New Paradigm in Architecture, pg.1, Yale University Press, 2002

Background

Thomas Kuhn defined a scientific paradigm as “a constellation of achievements – concepts, values, techniques, etc. – shared by a scientific community and used by that community to define legitimate problems and solutions.”2 Physics witnessed a paradigm shift in the 1920s with the advent of quantum P

physics. Similar shifts in other scientific disciplines were brought about by “Complexity Theory … Chaos science, self – organizing systems, and nonlinear dynamics.”3 On the whole science could be seen to P

have undergone a paradigm shift. This paradigm shift in science has naturally started affecting other aspects of human culture and has begun a paradigm shift in society. A social paradigm can be defined as “a constellation of concepts, values, perceptions, and practices shared by a community, which forms a particular vision of reality that is the basis of the way the community organizes itself.”4 P

In the book ‘The Architecture of the Jumping Universe’, Charles Jenks, carries out a “search for this (new paradigm) in architecture”2 and coins the term ‘Cosmogenic Architecture’ to represent its result. The new P

social paradigm has, “For the first time in the West since the twelfth century … (given) … an allencompassing story that unites all people of the globe, a metanarrative of the universe and its creation”5 P

to “reveal the universe as a single unfolding, creative event”.2 “Cosmogenesis, our new Genesis story, P

fundamentally concerns a sudden coming forth of the unexpected, a new level of organization that reflects back on and influences its parent.”6 P

Jenks emphasizes that according to the new paradigm, “We do not live in a cosmos, as was represented in Greek, Christian, or Modern architecture, but in a cosmogenesis, a process of unfolding and sudden emergence, a surprisingly creative universe.”7 Thus he differentiates between cosmic architecture and P

cosmogenic architecture, the difference being that cosmic architecture represents a static cosmology whereas cosmogenic architecture represents a cosmology that is dynamic and emergent. He thus says that, “Architecture has always had some cosmic dimension in traditional cultures. In India, Egypt, Greece, Japan, and in the West throughout the Renaissance architects inscribed the cosmos in their buildings, oriented their structures to the propitious points of the universe and represented it in the details. Today architecture must do these things, as well as go beyond this to our contemporary view; that is, cosmogenesis.”8 TP

In contrast to this view of wanting to ‘go beyond traditional cultures’ Fritjof Capra, in the book ‘The Tao of Physics’, discusses the implications of the theories of modern physics such as relativity theory and Capra, Fritjof, The Web of Life, pg.5, Harper Collins, 1996 Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.9, AD Academy Editions, 1995 4 Capra, Fritjof, The Web of Life, pg.6, Harper Collins, 1996 5 Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.7, AD Academy Editions, 1995 6 Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.9, AD Academy Editions, 1995 7 Jenks, Charles, The New Paradigm in Architecture, pg.1, Yale University Press, 2002 8 Jenks, Charles, The New Paradigm in Architecture, pg.122, Yale University Press, 2002 2 TP

3 TP

quantum theory and the worldview that thus results, and the similarities of this to the worldviews of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Zen. In the preface to the second edition of this book he adds that, “the parallels to Eastern mysticism are appearing not only in physics but also in biology, psychology, and other sciences.”9 “The order of nature was conceived by the Vedic seers, not as a static divine law, but as a P

dynamic principle which is inherent in the universe… The more one studies the religious and philosophical texts of the Hindus, Buddhists and Taoists, the more it becomes apparent that in all of them the world is conceived in terms of movement, flow and change. This dynamic quality of Eastern philosophy seems to be one of its most important features. The Eastern mystics see the universe as an inseparable web, whose interconnections are dynamic and not static. The cosmic web is alive; it moves, grows and changes continually. Modern physics, too, has come to conceive of the universe as such a web of relations and, like Eastern mysticism; has recognized that this web is intrinsically dynamic. The dynamic aspect of matter arises in quantum theory as a consequence of the wave-nature of subatomic particles, and is even more essential in relativity theory, as we shall see, where the unification of space and time implies that the being of matter cannot be separated from its activity. The properties of subatomic particles can therefore only be understood in a dynamic context; in terms of movement, interaction and transformation.”10 TP

Capra’s observations provide a different perspective from which to view ‘traditional cultures’ with respect to the ‘new paradigm’. According to him the difference between ‘traditional cultures’ of the East and contemporary Western science is in the processes that they employ to reveal knowledge, not the nature of the resultant knowledge. While contemporary Western science looks at the material world using scientific methods, Eastern mysticism looks inwards to the mind through processes of meditation and other forms of introspection, and both show the universe to be a dynamic cosmogenesis. According to Jenks cosmogenic architecture is a result of ‘form following world view’ where “Another aesthetic is growing out of this new world view: a language of building and design close to nature, of twists and folds and undulations; of crystalline forms and fractured planes.”11. Since the world-views of Hinduism and the TP

new paradigm are shown to be similar by Capra, so should their representation in architecture.

“The (Hindu) temple is built in the likeness of the universe and is its reduced image. The architect of this world image, the temple, is looked upon as descended from, and in his sphere alike to, Vishvakarma, who made all that exists in the universe. (Brihat Samhita)”12. In the two article series ‘Patterns of Thought and P

Form in Hindu Temple Architecture’ in Architecture + Design (1986) Adam Hardy states that, “There are visual patterns in Hindu temples which, once seen, are equally visible in Indian thought.”13 Since the P

Hindu temple is thus an architectural representation of the universe according to Hinduism, and this

Capra, Fritjof, The Tao of Physics, pg.17, Collins (Flamingo), 1976 Capra, Fritjof, The Tao of Physics, pg.209-213, Collins (Flamingo), 1976 11 Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.9, AD Academy Editions, 1995 12 Kramrisch, Stella, The Hindu Temple, pg.10, Motilal Banarsidass, 1946 13 Hardy, Adam, Architecture + Design, pg.28, Sept-Oct 1986 9 TP

10 TP

conception of the universe, according to Capra, has similarities to that of the new paradigm, the architecture of the Hindu temple is a form of traditional architecture to which can be related to cosmogenic architecture. The discourse on cosmogenic architecture should not therefore be restricted to contemporary buildings that look to contemporary science alone, as advocated by Jenks, but also include the architectures of other traditions with a similar world-view.

Hypothesis U

The Hindu temple is an example of cosmogenic architecture even though it is not based on contemporary science. U

Scope

Hinduism, however is a diverse religion and has many manifestations. The Hindu temple similarly has many forms ranging from the primitive dolmen to the monumental temple complex. From this variety of forms it is impossible to comment comprehensively on all. Therefore it is necessary to study examples that are most meaningful and representative. In this context the temples of Khajuraho are what first come to mind. These temples are built in the Nagara style with a curvilinear Shikhara superstructure. Such temples are greatest in “number, wealth and distinction… (and occur) … throughout four-fifths of India… Temples of this type are represented most perfectly in central India, especially in Khajuraho.”14 Of the P

various temples in Khajuraho the Vaikuntha or Lakshmana temple is the first of its mature phase (954AD) while the Kandarya Mahadeo temple “marks the climax of building activity at Khajuraho”15. These temples P

will be the focus of this dissertation.

This phase of architecture takes on special significance with respect to cosmogenesis as “Khajuraho rose to prominence in India’s history at a time when the temple had architecturally evolved into a mature structure and when Indian philosophy reached

had an

also

interesting

stage of its development… Architectural expansion of the

temple

was

accompanied

conceptual developments in

religio-philosophical systems

regarding Being

the

Supreme

and

manifestations,

its the

One

and its many forms, the Unity and multiplicity.”16 P

Fig 1: Kandarya Mahadeo temple, Khajuraho, Source: Indian Art, Thames & Hudson

14 TP

15 TP

16 PT

Kramrisch, Stella, The Hindu Temple, pg.205-212, Motilal Banarsidass, 1946 Dehejia, Vidya, Indian Art, pg.157, Phaidon, 1997 Desai, Devangana, The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, pg.3, Franco-Indian Research, 1996

Theoretical Framework

In ‘The Architecture of the Jumping Universe’, Charles Jenks enumerates ‘directions’ that represent the path to a Cosmogenic Architecture, which have been summarised below: 

Building close to nature and natural languages: Look to the rhetoric of natural systems such as crystals, bones, slime-mould and clouds … with an additional source of creativity; that is, ourselves as the originators of a second nature. Elsewhere in the book Jenks names various manifestations of cosmogenesis in nature and their architectural representations such as fractals, strange attractors, waves, folds, etc.



Representation of the basic cosmogenic truth – self-organization, emergence and jumps to a higher (or lower) level: Architecture might therefore dramatize punctuated equilibrium, the optimism and tragedy; and it can do this through both juxtaposition and smooth continuity.



Organizational depth, multivalence, complexity and the edge of chaos: The creative modes which achieve depth are imaginative play and intellectual research, while the rhetorical means are redundancy, self-similarity, variation on themes, feedback, and rich linkage.



The celebration of diversity, variety, bottom-up participatory systems that maximize difference.



Diversity can be supported by techniques such as collage, radical eclecticism and superposition: by including a mixture of different designers in a single scheme, or by using methods which simulate this heterogeneity.



Architecture should acknowledge the time and its compelling agenda, which include the ecological imperative and political pluralism: locally-based styles which root a building in a particular time, place and constructional relevance.



It should have a double-coding of these concerns with aesthetic and conceptual codes: architecture must adopt a shared symbolism and this means both the local and universal, cosmogenic language.

Lastly it is stated that, 

Architecture must look to science, especially contemporary sciences, for disclosures of the Cosmic Code: it must look to the transcendent laws which science reveals.

In the chapter ‘Form, Transformation and Meaning in Indian Temple Architecture’ of the book ‘Paradigms of Indian Architecture’ Adam Hardy puts forward a framework of ‘seeing’ temple architecture which shows the temple to be “a symbol of manifestation: of the enshrined god and its various aspects, and in another sense, the universe. Manifestation is to be understood not as a single event but a continuous process – not fixed cosmology but ceaseless cosmogony.”1 The similarity of this to Charles Jenks’ concept of cosmogenesis makes the framework ideal to help in study of the Hindu temple as an example of cosmogenic architecture. According to this framework the ‘matter’ present in a temple is its compositional 1

Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture,

structure, its meaning and its evolution which are expressed through compositional principles, symbolism and evolutionary tendencies respectively. The framework of Adam Hardy is an architectural one and therefore rests on the compositional principles enumerated by him in the text mentioned above as well as in earlier works such as ‘Patterns of Thought and Form in Hindu Temple Architecture’2. He shows how it is through these compositional principles that a temple embodies meaning and progressively evolves. Thus the ‘matter’ in a temple can be thought of in the following manner:

TEMPLE

Compositional Structure

Meaning

Evolution

Symbolism

Evolutionary Tendencies

Compositional Principles

A summary of the underlying compositional principles is given below: 

Proliferation: which creates fusion by devaluation so that the individual form not only loses its uniqueness, it also loses isolation, since it is seen in relation to other similar forms so that interconnectedness is increased.



Fragmentation: The breaking up of elements to augment fusion through the mental effort required in reconstituting them into wholes and the sense that the space contained by the fragments has expanded.



Abstraction: by making forms less representational by either simplification or elaboration and grouping elements based on formal qualities thus obtained; thereby increasing the interconnectedness between elements.



Radiation which gives a point of fusion at the center and Concentricity which increases interconnections between concentric bands without implying fusion in, or emergence from the center.



Vertical and Horizontal Continuity: to create a three – dimensional orthogonal continuum.



Domination by the Center: through principle axes leading to an emphasis of cardinal projections.



Overlap: of elements to create a sequence evoking ‘serial emergence’, and fusion through the

Hardy, Adam, Architecture + Design, pg.31, Sept-Oct 1986

breaking down of boundaries. 

Embeddedness: through the representation of one element partly merged with another and partly emerging from it.



Projection: of elements to create definition, express emergence and expansion, and (when also staggered) create a complex interplay of multiple readings.



Enshrinement: within an aedicule coupled with embeddedness and projection to express emergence.



Expanding Repetition: to create rhythmic series of elements.



Progressive Multiplication: to create progressively broadening patterns of elements.



Tapering: Expansion through continuous widening.



Pictorial representation: in terms of sculptural representations of emergence and expansion meant to be seen in their architectural setting.



Gyration: especially in stellate shrines which give the impression of turning while unfurling by drawing the eye around the circumference.

Meaning, in temple architecture is expressed through symbolism. Symbolism is of three types – ‘formal’, ‘representational’ and ‘associational’. ‘Formal’ symbolism refers to the ‘meaning’ embodied in the ‘compositional structure’ alone; the way the geometry of the temple corresponds to the Hindu perception of manifestation in terms of “the transmutation of the eternal and infinite into the shifting multiplicity of existence, and the reabsorption of all things into the limitless unity from which they have come”3

‘Representational’ symbolism refers to the use of imagery in a direct pictorial manner such as in the case of monster finials of horseshoe arches or apsara brackets. ‘Associational’ symbolism is the use of elements that are culturally associated with certain ideas or a set of multiple ideas reinforced by myth, poetry and sculpture.

Fig 2: “The expanding universe revealed by the principal shikhara forms, dissolving in the very process of manifestation” in the Kandarya Mahadeo temple is an example of ‘formal’ symbolism. Source: Paradigms of Indian Architecture,

The process of evolution of the Hindu temple is inherent in every temple building because of the manner 3

Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture, pg.10,

in which the ‘compositional structure’ of emanation from a point corresponds to the evolutionary development of the temple form. This can be seen in the sketch on the following page and comparing it with one on this page. The reason for this is that in a temple the primary aim is to portray manifestation in the form of development over time. The ‘compositional principles’ used in temple architecture thus take traditional elements as a starting point and transform them through ‘proliferation’, ‘fragmentation’, ‘progressive multiplication’, ‘expanding repetition’ etc. Temples therefore often portray the evolutionary stages that have actually occurred historically. The principal ‘evolutionary tendencies’ enumerated by Hardy are summarised below: 

Aedicularity: the tendency of articulating the temple as a matrix of interconnected aedicules or shrine-images connected in a hierarchy.



Aedicular density: the tendency of aedicules of one level to move closer and get increasingly embedded within those of the next higher level.



Proliferation and fragmentation: the proliferation of aedicular forms to increase aedicular density and a resultant fragmentation of the form as a whole.



Central emphasis: the increasing dominance of the cardinal directions in the temple as a whole.



Movement: an increasing use of ‘compositional principles’ to convey a sense of emergence and expansion.



Staggering: the staggering of the whole due to the addition of aedicular components as per ‘compositional principles’.



Continuity/Alignment: the development of horizontal continuity due to the addition of mouldings one above the other and vertical continuity due to the alignment of elements one above the other.



Abstraction: the process of representational imagery moving away from depiction towards formal needs.



Assimilation: the development of explicit formal relationships between elements not explicitly related.

Fig 3: The ‘idealised’ evolution of the nagara temple. Source: Paradigms of Indian Architecture,

Broadly correlating the frameworks of Jenks and Hardy one can say that ‘building close to nature and natural languages’ and ‘the representation of self-organisation and emergence’ as described by Jenks 12

involves the ‘compositional structure’ of the building. ’Organisational depth, multivalence and complexity’ involve ‘compositional structure’ as well as ‘meaning’. ‘The celebration of variety, diversity and bottom-up participatory systems’ involves ‘evolution’. ‘Locally based styles rooting a building in a particular time, place and constructional relevance’ can arise from ‘compositional structure’, ‘evolution’ and ‘meaning’. While using ‘a shared symbolism of local and universal cosmogenic language’ involves ‘meaning’.

The last point that ’architecture must look to

contemporary science’ is a restriction on cosmogenic architecture that this dissertation wishes to remove. These relationships based on initial observation can only provisional in nature, since in actuality the temple is a unified structure where ‘compositional structure’, ‘meaning’ and ‘evolution’ are not differentiated and are ultimately all expressed architecturally through ‘compositional principles’. Thus for the moment, the relationships between the two frameworks can be summarised in the following table. Close to nature and natural languages

Composition Evolution Meaning



Selforganization, emergence and jumps to a higher (or lower) level 

Organizational depth, multivalence, complexity

Diversity, variety, bottomup participatory systems

  

Locally-based styles

  

Local and universal, cosmogenic language



Methodology

As per the theoretical framework each ‘direction’ of cosmogenic architecture corresponds to one or more forms of ‘matter’ embodied in a temple. All the ‘matter’ of a temple is ultimately expressed architecturally through ‘compositional principles’ via ‘symbolism’ in case of ‘meaning’ and ‘evolutionary tendencies’ in case of ‘evolution’. Therefore the methodology for the dissertation will involve studying the Vaikuntha temple as per the ‘compositional principles’ underlying the ‘matter’ of the temple related to each of the ‘directions’ of cosmogenic architecture. This is explained in the diagram below:

‘Direction’ of Cosmogenic Architecture

‘Matter’ of Temple Architecture

‘Symbolism’/’Evolutionary Tendency

Compositional Principle’ of Temple Architecture

Building close to nature and natural languages

In ‘The Architecture of the Jumping Universe’ Jenks discusses two principle methods of building close to nature and natural languages: fractals and waves. “Fractals, the fractional dimensions lying between the customary one –, two –, and three-dimensions can be found throughout nature… In a typical fractal object, the parts resemble not only other parts, but the whole. This self-similarity is a transformational similitude – not an exact replication”.

Out of the various kinds of ‘matter’ embodied in a temple, the

‘compositional structure’ is most closely related to building close to nature and natural languages.

The compositional principles of proliferation, abstraction, embeddedness, expanding repetition, and progressive multiplication together work to create geometry reminiscent of fractal forms in Hindu temples. The sketches used by Adam Hardy to explain these principles and their explanations in relation to the current discussion are given below: 2 Proliferation: This creates fusion by the devaluation of the individual so that the individual form not only loses its uniqueness, but also loses isolation, since it is seen in relation to other similar forms. Thus interconnectedness is increased. Proliferation is a prerequisite for several other principles, which acting together produce complexity.

Abstraction: Abstraction is of two kinds – formalization, which is the making of forms less representational through either simplification or elaboration while emphasizing their formal qualities; and form families, which are formed when elements are grouped by their common formal qualities obtained through formalization, thus increasing their interconnectedness.

Expanding Repetition and Progressive Multiplication: Similar forms are repeated in a series in which forms get progressively larger.

1 2

Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.43, AD Academy Editions, 1995 Hardy, Adam, Architecture + Design, pg.28-39, Sept-Oct 1986

When these principles work together the result is very similar, if not identical to a fractal structure: While the principle of proliferation creates a large number of units of a form, the units may be modified by the principles of formalization. These modified forms may then be grouped in form families consisting of similar, though not identical forms. The principles of expanding repetition and progressive multiplication repeat units at different scales. The similarity of the two processes and their closeness to natural forms can be seen through the comparison of a computer generated ‘fractal landscape’ and the Kandarya Mahadeo temple at Khajuraho.

Figure 4: Fractal Landscape Source: The Artful Universe: The Cosmic Source for Human Creativity, Back Bay Books, 1995 KandariyaTemple Source: Indian Art, Phaidon, 1997

Like fractals, wave motion “is so crucial and omnipresent in nature. At a basic level, in the microworld of quantum physics, the wave function of the atom is as fundamental as the particulate aspect… A wave form is also the superposition of many small waves and thus … waves can add up, cancel, go through each other, and be at several places at once.”3 Charles Jenks has tried to represent these characteristics of waves in his ‘Soliton Gate’ in Scotland.

Figure 5: Soliton Gate: A soliton is a wave with a high degree of coherence due to positive resonant feedback from its subsidiary waves which enables it to persist for extended periods despite external disturbances – it is the opposite of turbulence. Source: The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, AD Academy Editions, 1995

The compositional principles of fragmentation, radial concentricity, vertical and horizontal continuity, domination by the centre, overlap, and projection can express the qualities of waves in Hindu temples. 4

3 4

Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.49, AD Academy Editions, 1995 Hardy, Adam, Architecture + Design, pg.28-39, Sept-Oct 1986

Fragmentation: The breaking up of elements to augment fusion through the mental effort required in reconstituting the sub-wholes into wholes. The space between the split halves is often the point of emergence for another element.

Radiation & Concentricity: Radiation gives a point of fusion at the centre, linking elements to the centre and to each other.

Horizontal and vertical continuity: This is achieved by aligning elements vertically or horizontally, linking them by vertical or horizontal lines, or relating forms to each other by emphasizing their common verticality or horizontality. This creates a three-dimensional orthogonal continuum.

Domination by the centre: This is the principle by which movement patterns are dominated by the principle axes and the movement patterns of the smaller parts are subordinated.

Overlap: Overlapping forms in two â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and three-dimensions give a sense of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;sequence of emergenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. It also causes fusion by breaking down boundaries between elements.

Projection: When one element is projected from another a sense of emergence from embedded form is created. This leads to a sequence of emergence and expansion. The staggering of an element leads to fusion due to the instability of its boundaries and creates several alternative limits to an entity that complicates the singling out of an element and results simultaneously in the focusing of attention to the centre of the element as well as away from it.

The principles of fragmentation can cause elements to ‘be at several places at once’, the principle of overlap enables elements to ‘go through each other’, the principle of projection allows elements to ‘oscillate between a wave a particle form’, while radiation and concentricity, horizontal and vertical continuity, and domination by the centre show how the wave can retain coherence despite external disturbances, like a soliton. *

The most apparent form of the compositional proliferation

principle in

the

Vaikuntha

temple is that of the nagara shikhara element in the form of shringas and urahshringas. At a larger scale, the series of ancillary halls in front of the garbhagriha â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the mahamandapa, mandapa, and the ardhamandapa can also be thought of as a proliferation of the same basic form. In addition to proliferation of the actual form the shikhara and the mandapa there also occurs, on the temple walls, representations of these elements in relief. These carvings in relief Fig 6: Proliferation of the shikhara element. Source: ASI Fig 7: Proliferation of the mandapa element. Source: ASI

can be thought of as abstractions of the three dimensional shikhara and

mandapa

elements.

The

abstractions involved in the relief representations are not only a flattening of the three dimensional form, but also a simplification due to the reduction in scale in the form

lesser

details

and

intricacy. At the same level as the shikhara and mandapa elements, occur udgama pediments. The udgamas are elements that have evolved

through

transformations proliferation,

various (including abstraction,

fragmentation etc.) of the chaitya dormer.

The

shikhara

and

mandapa elements, along with the Fig 8: Abstraction of the shikhara & mandapa elements in relief compared with the actual elements. Source: The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, Franco-Indian Research. Source: ASI

udgama pediments form a series of abstract formal elements that occur together to form a form family. The abstract reliefs of the shikhara and mandapa are placed together in the antrala – the part of the temple where the shikhara and mandapa join. Here one sees that the proportion of the shikhara and mandapa is changed with respect to the proportion of these elements in the temple with the mandapa element increased in size with respect to the shikhara. This change in proportion can be thought of as an abstraction that helps to create a form family using the two elements (and the udgama element) by reducing the difference between the two. Fig 9: Evolution of the udgama element. Source: Architectur e+ Design, Sept-Oct 1986 Fig 10: A form family consisting of shikhara, mandapa & udgama elements. Source: ASI The proliferation of the shikhara and mandapa elements occurs not only at the same scale, but also at different scales indicating progressive multiplication and expanding repetition. Therefore when the elevation of the roof is seen as a whole it reveals a structure where “the parts resemble not only other parts,

but

the

whole. This selfsimilarity

transformational similitude – not an exact replication”.1

Fig 11: South elevation of the roof of the Vaikuntha temple. Source: ASI 1

Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.43, AD Academy Editions, 1995

The udgama of the mahamandapa that forms a part of the form family consisting of shikhara, mandapa and udgama elements, emerges from a fragmented mandapa element while in the shikhara the udgama overlaps with two shikhara elements. In plan one can see how the walls of the temple consist of numerous projections that stagger its surface as well as how the form is dominated Fig 12: Emergence of the udgama element through a fragmented mandapa element. Source: ASI

its

centre and organised in

radial

concentric

and

manner.

The elevation shows the

organisation

terms of continuous vertical and horizontal bands.

Fig 13: Emergence of the udgama element through overlap of shikhara element. Source: ASI

Fig 14: Projection, staggering, domination by the centre, radiation and concentricity in the plan of the Vaikuntha temple. Source: ASI

Fig 15: Fusion of the garbhagriha, the mahamandapa, mandapa, & the ardhamandapa through staggering & vertical and horizontal bands. Source: ASI

The combined use of these compositional principles gives the overall form of the temple a wave like quality as the shikhara and mandapa elements appear to radiate out of the dominant centres created by the shikhara and mandapa, while the udgama elements interpenetrate them, the numerous projections blur the boundaries of the garbhagriha, the mahamandapa, mandapa, and the ardhamandapa and vertical and horizontal bands tie them together.

Fig 16: South elevation of the Vaikuntha temple. Source: ASI

Self-organisation and emergence

Self-organization is “The sudden, spontaneous emergence of new organizations – unpredicted and undetermined by the parts”1 and gives rise to emergence. “This is called emergence: high-level simplicity ‘emerges’ from low-level complexity. High-level phenomena about which there are comprehensible facts that are not simply deducible from low-level theories are called emergent phenomena. For example, a wall might be strong because its builders feared that their enemies might try to force their way through it. This is a high-level explanation of the wall’s strength, not deducible from (though not incompatible with) the low-level explanation…(that it is very thick)”.2 According to Charles Jenks, in order to represent this in architecture one can make use of “sudden surprises, quick changing discontinuities and fractured forms… (as) The aesthetics of emergence contrasts the difficult whole with the fractured surprise.”3 Thus the ‘compositional structure’ of a temple can be related to self-organisation and emergence.

Figure 17: The space between split fragments can be the point of emergence for another element. Source: Architecture + Design, Sept-Oct 1986

Figure 18: Projection and staggering causing the fracture of an element. Source: Architecture + Design, Sept-Oct 1986

The compositional principles of fragmentation and projection proposed by Adam Hardy (see pages 12 and 13) portray self-organization and emergence in temples. Fragmentation of whole elements in a temple creates fractured forms and the emergence of new elements from the space between the fragments of split elements is a source of surprise and changing discontinuities. Projection and the staggering of an element creates fractures and discontinuities in it and blurs its boundaries. *

Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.60, AD Academy Editions, 1995 Deutsch, David, The Fabric of Realty, pg.20, Penguin 1998 3 Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.63, AD Academy Editions, 1995  While Jenks uses the word ‘emergence’ in the technical sense explained in the paragraph above, Hardy uses it in the lay sense. 1 2

The fragmentation of the mandapa element and the emergence of the udgama from it in the mahamandapa have already been discussed with respect to wave-like qualities. When the udgama is seen in relation to the whole roof of the mandapa there is a stark contrast between the tiered form of the mandapa and the intricate and curvilinear udgama. The emergence of the udgama from the fragmented mandapa element enhances this contrast and at the same time helps unite the two forms.

The various parts of the Vaikuntha temple â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the garbhagriha, the mahamandapa, the mandapa, and the ardhamandapa â&#x20AC;&#x201C; have not always been components of a unified structure as in the case of the mature

Khajuraho

temples.

Historically

these

have

been

independent structures that have been added to the Hindu temple as the rituals of worship became more complex and new shrines were needed to house new ritual functions. This addition of shrines to the temple can be seen clearly in the temples of Orissa where even the fully evolved mature form (contemporary with the mature temples of Khajuraho) does not combine these components Figure 19: The udgama contrasted with the mahamandapa roof. Source: ASI

completely. One of the principle methods of combining these components in the Khajuraho temples is the use of the compositional principle of projection. The numerous projections on the surface of

the components fracture their individual identity and allow them to combine with adjacent components almost seamlessly.

Figure 20: The Parashurameshwara temple at Bhuvaneshwar (750AD â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an example of an early Orissan temple) showing the addition of the mandapa. Source: Indian Art Thames & Hudson

Figure 21: Projections used to combine the garbhagriha, mahamandapa & mandapa in the Vaikuntha temple. Source: ASI

Therefore one can see how the temple form is a delicate balance between the individual parts and the whole with sudden surprises, and fractured forms portraying self-organisation and emergence.

Fig 22: South elevation of the Vaikuntha temple showing sudden suprises and fractured forms. Source: ASI

Fig 23: Plan of the Vaikuntha temple showing the balance between the parts & the whole. Source: ASI

Organisational depth, multivalence, complexity

“Complexity is the theory of how emergent organization may be achieved by interacting components pushed far from equilibrium by an increase in energy, matter or information until it reaches a critical threshold between order and chaos. This important border is where the system often jumps in a new nonlinear way and is sustained through feedback and the continuing input of energy. In this process quality emerges spontaneously as self-organisation. Meaning, value and a greater degree of freedom are all positively associated with greater complexity. So, I would argue is multivalent architecture.”1 “For the general aspect of an architecture created around one (or a few) simplified values, the term univalence will be used. This contrasts with a multivalent architecture where many meanings are linked together to create a coherent, or manifold ensemble.”2 The property that allows multivalent architecture to embody complexity is organisational depth. “A structure rich in linkage, with a high degree of redundancy has organisational depth”3 and this is true of complex systems as well as multivalent buildings. Therefore it is through the ‘meaning’ embodied in a temple that organisational depth can be achieved and multivalency and organisational depth created.

The most direct method of conveying meaning in a temple is via representational symbolism in the form of relief sculptures on the surface. These relief sculptures are an integral part of the temple in terms of form and meaning and not merely ‘decoration’ since “Temple architecture (independently of carved images or invocatory rites) will not portray a particular theological hierarchy, but embody a more underlying vision. It will not in itself show who emanates from whom, but will allow sequences of divinities to be read into or carved onto it, because it shares with those sequences the same intuition of a serially emerging cosmos.”4 Associational symbolism can culturally link the carved figures in a temple to ‘sets of multiple ideas reinforced by myth and poetry’. This allows the creation of linkages and redundancy – where all meanings embodied in a temple may not be grasped by all devotees at once – and therefore organizational depth. The compositional principle that conveys representational and associational symbolism is that of pictorial representation. Pictorial representation is the use of sculpture, in a pictorial manner that enhances the surrounding walls and other architectural components by linking their form to specific myths and doctrines. *

Jenks, Charles, The New Paradigm in Architecture, pg.210, Yale University Press, 2002 Jenks, Charles, The New Paradigm in Architecture, pg.12, Yale University Press, 200 3 Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.65, AD Academy Editions, 1995 4 Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture, pg.133 1 2

“The knowledge of words and their multiple meanings was important to the Khajuraho artists, whether poets or sculptors. They displayed their love of puns or double entendres (shlesha) in both written and visual language… it is during the 10th -11th century, when the Khajuraho temples were built, that we come across entire poems, shlesha-kavyas, written in such a way as to read the words with two or more meanings. Two or three stories are simultaneously narrated covering, for instance, themes of Rama, Krishna, and the ruling monarch.”5 “The sutradharas (architects) of the Khajuraho temples saw an apt place for punning in the architectural part called the kapili (sandhi-kshetra, kokila), which joins the

Figure 24: Plan of the Kandarya Mahadeo temple showing how, in sandhara temples, the kapili wall of the antrala is formed by the intersection of equal sized squares of the garbhagriha and the mahamandapa. Source: The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, Franco-Indian Research. mahamandapa (large hall) with the garbhagriha (womb chamber, sanctum), particularly of the sandhara temples… it is only the juncture wall of the three major Hindu sandhara temples where two equal squares of the hall and the sanctum overlap, which can be taken from the side of the hall as well as from the sanctum (as in a pun), “which is here also and there also”, that the Khajuraho architects found an appropriate place for employing puns and double meaning Figure 25: Detail of the kapili wall (south & north) showing the joining of the garbhagriha and the mahamandapa. Source: The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, Franco-Indian Research.

language”.6

Direct

proof that the architects of the Vaikuntha

temple

consciously

aware

were of

this

significance of the kapili wall can be seen in the placement of

5 6

Desai, Devangana, The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, pg.175, Franco-Indian Research, 1996 Desai, Devangana, The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, pg.178, Franco-Indian Research, 1996

miniature representations of the garbhagriha joining the mahamandapa on it on the north as well as south sides. “It is important for us to note that the dictionary meaning of the Sanskrit word shlesha, apart from pun, is “clinging or adhering to, connection, junction, union (also applied to sexual union), embracing”. Michael Meister, drawing attention to the punning on the juncture wall (kapili) of the Khajuraho temples says: “It may seem facetious to suggest that placement of scenes of ritual copulation in the walls which functionally are walls of architectural conjunction was an intentional pun, yet the iconography of certain images both at Khajuraho and on earlier temples would suggest that such a conjoining of meaning was indeed the case.”7

Another pun employed in the temple is based on the word ‘digambara’ which is an epithet of the Hindu god Shiva as well as the name of a Jain sect prevalent in the region at the time of the construction of the temple. Thus one can see the placement of the image of a naked monk with a peacock-feather stick (pichchhaka) on the band of sculpture on the buttress bearing images of Shiva.

In addition to these instances of the use of puns in the temple, the kapili wall also bears the representation of an allegorical play, the Prabodhachandrodaya (Moon-rise of True Knowledge), popular in the Chandella court. This play represents the union of Vedic Brahmanism with non-Vedic traditions that had given rise to the religious beliefs of the builders of the Vaikuntha temple. The play presents this theme through “a contest between the royal forces (rajakulas) of King Viveka (Discrimination) and King Mahamoha (Great Delusion)”8 thereby creating a myth related to the religious doctrine. The various characters of the play (representing various abstract qualities) are represented in the sculptures of the kapili wall giving the myth a visual form through pictorial representation.

Therefore one can see how, through pictorial representation, various meanings are embodied, and how these various meanings are tied together through the architectural form of the temple. These processes create “a multivalent architecture where many meanings are linked together to create a coherent, or manifold ensemble.”9

Desai, Devangana, The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, pg.179-180, Franco-Indian Research, 1996 Desai, Devangana, The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, pg.181, Franco-Indian Research, 1996 9 Jenks, Charles, The New Paradigm in Architecture, pg.12, Yale University Press, 200 7 8

Diversity, variety, bottom-up participatory systems

The reason for using bottom-up processes in cosmogenic buildings is to ‘build in time’ according to Charles Jenks. By this he is referring to the tendency of a building with “a coherently unfolding programme” to gain complexity and organizational depth over time, as in a cathedral that can take generations to complete. He uses the analogy of algorithmic complexity theory in computer programming where the complexity of a system can be given a precise numerical value based on the computational time required for writing a programme that mimics it.

The Vaikuntha temple at Khajuraho was commissioned by the Chandella king Yashovarma towards the end of his reign between 930 and 950 AD and consecrated in 954 AD. The names of the individuals involved in designing and constructing the temple are, as is the rule, not known. However it is known from inscriptions on the temple that the king had appointed a Sthapati to work under the Acharya of the Vaishnava Pancharatra sect. This is in accordance with the conventional method of going about the construction of a temple by a patron as prescribed by the Vastu Shastras. Assuming that the rest of the construction process occurred in accordance with the Vastu Shastras the following are the people involved in the construction of a temple: 10 

Yajamana: the patron of the temple.



Sthapaka or Guru: “knowing the Shilpa Shastras and possessing all the qualifications of an Acharya … knows the essence of the sacred texts, the Vedas and Agamas”.



Sthapati: “fit to direct the construction and should be well-versed in all Shastras… mathematics and the Puranas”.



Sutragrahin: “the disciple or son of the Sthapati… should always carry out the orders of the Sthapati… and should know the proportionate measurement by the cord (sutra) and rod (danda)”.



Takshak: the stone carver, “he should be qualified, able and capable to perform all sorts of work on his own initiative, in the right way, devoted to the Guru… and obedient to the Sthapati”.



Vardhakin: the mason who puts “together what the Takshak has carved and adds to the finished work the painting, and always follows the Sutragrahin”.

This hierarchy is appears to be a typical example of a top down approach to design and opposite to the kind of participatory design processes that Charles Jenks talks about in ‘The Architecture of the Jumping Universe’.

In the essay ‘Design Methods, Emergence, and Collective Intelligence’ the author Nikos Salingaros compares bottom-up design processes with top-down design processes. He shows that even though, “people have assumed that top-down and bottom-up design methods represent opposite and mutually

Kramrisch, Stella, The Hindu Temple, pg.7-8, Motilal Banarsidass, 1946

contradictory approaches”11, under certain conditions they become equivalent. “The selection process that generates a design solution via bottom-up methods is the result of actions and decisions by a host of individual inputs. A collective design project includes selection by the architect (or a group of architects), end-users, and environmental forces. All those forces are perceived and inputted into the selection process by human agents acting as collective intelligence.”

The conditions that make bottom-up and

top-down design approaches equivalent, he argues, occur in “the method of traditional design: copy a set of prototypes which themselves have evolved by selection over millennia”.13 This form of traditional topdown design he calls ‘adaptive top-down design’. “Adaptive top-down implementation also uses collective intelligence (like bottom-up design). The built environment is a common repository of stored information. Developments having to do with forms and structures that are adaptive to human physical, sensory, and psychological (and spiritual and religious) needs are stored in pre-modernist built structures. This information represents the work of an enormous number of individuals, as well as collective efforts throughout the ages.” 14

Adam Hardy shows how the compositional structure of a temple embodies the evolutionary development of temple form (see pages 7 and 8). Thus the evolution embodied in a temple via its evolutionary tendencies can be related to diversity, variety and bottom-up participatory systems (as equivalent to adaptive top-down design). The evolutionary tendencies proposed by Hardy are listed below. These tendencies are applicable to Hindu temples in general and are therefore comprehensive in nature, relating to most of the underlying compositional principles. 

Aedicularity: the tendency of articulating the temple as a matrix of interconnected aedicules or shrineimages connected in a hierarchy.



Aedicular density: the tendency of aedicules of one level to move closer and get increasingly embedded within those of the next higher level.



Proliferation and fragmentation: the proliferation of aedicular forms to increase aedicular density and a resultant fragmentation of the form as a whole.



Central emphasis: the increasing dominance of the cardinal directions in the temple as a whole.



Movement: an increasing use of ‘compositional principles’ to convey a sense of emergence and expansion.



Staggering: the staggering of the whole due to the addition of aedicular components as per ‘compositional principles’.



Continuity/Alignment: the development of horizontal continuity due to the addition of mouldings one above the other and vertical continuity due to the alignment of elements one above the other.



Abstraction: the process of representational imagery moving away from depiction towards formal needs.

Salingaros, Nikos, Design Methods, Emergence, and Collective Intelligence Salingaros, Nikos, Design Methods, Emergence, and Collective Intelligence 13 Salingaros, Nikos, Design Methods, Emergence, and Collective Intelligence 14 Salingaros, Nikos, Design Methods, Emergence, and Collective Intelligence (brackets mine) 11 12



Assimilation: the development of explicit formal relationships between elements not explicitly related.

These ‘evolutionary tendencies’ consider the aedicule to be the traditional temple form which subsequent builders elaborate. Each transformation of the aedicule represents a step in the historical evolution of the temple, resulting in the mature temple becoming ‘a matrix of interconnected aedicules’ that embody its evolution. The mature temple form thus becomes a ‘repository of stored information’ on temple evolution and ‘represents the work of an enormous number of individuals, as well as collective efforts throughout the ages’, and temple design an example of adaptive top-down design that is equivalent to bottom-up participatory design. *

The Vaikuntha temple is a panchayatna temple with five shrines, a main central shrine and four surrounding subsidary ones. The subsidiary shrines can be thought of as the first level of aedicular components in the temple that are completely independent of the main structure whereas the half embedded urahshringas around the shikhara above the garbhagriha form the last level of aedicules. The surface of the temple is covered with a profusion

aedicules

forming

the

intermediate levels of aedicular components of increasing aedicular density that obscure the

main

shikhara

form

through

fragmentation. Thus while the subsidiary shrines correspond to the first stage in temple

development,

the

shikhara

corresponds to the last stage and embodies within it all the previous stages.

The panchayatna form of the Vaikuntha temple enables the expression of evolution explicitly

the

subsidiary

shrines

correspond to the first stage and the main shrine to the last stage. Thus the temple can be taken to represent a case of adaptive top-down design that is equivalent to bottom-up participatory design that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;builds in time, complexity and organizational depthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

Fig 26: Plan and elevation of the Vaikuntha temple showing the embodiment of its evolution in its form. After Hardy, Dhaky

Locally based styles The need for locally based styles in cosmogenic architecture is to base a building in a particular time and place so that that particular time and place may be seen as a part of the process of cosmogenesis. Jenks enumerates the issues of ecology and politics as contemporary issues that can relate to local style. These very issues can also be seen to affect locally based styles of temple architecture. The most direct effect of ecology on temple architecture can be seen in the materials used in the temple. It is often the variations in available materials that differentiates temple architecture of different places and peroids.

The type of materials available directly influence the built form of a temple and thus its compositional structure, while its degree of evolution places it in a certain period of time. Thus the compositional principles and evolutionary tendencies together root a temple to a certain place and time. The evolutionary tendencies most closely related to the material of a temple are ‘aedicular density’, ‘proliferation and fragmentation’ and ‘staggering’ which are directly linked to the level of detail that can be achieved with a certain material. The compositional principles related to these tendencies are proliferation and projection.

Politics, the second issue relating a building to a certain time and place, manifests through the meaning embodied in a temple. Associational symbolism, with the use of elements that are culturally associated with certain ideas, can be used to make political statements through a temple that are reinforced by myth and poetry. *

The differences in temples due to different materials can be seen in the case of the Khajuraho temples where the earlier granite Chausath Yogini temple (late ninth â&#x20AC;&#x201C; early tenth century) is very different from the later sandstone temples of which the Vaikuntha temple is an early example. The Chausath Yogini temple, unlike the Vaikuntha temple, was not built under royal patronage. It thus uses the locally available granite that is hard and difficult to carve. The Vaikuntha and other sandstone temples were built under the direct patronage of the Chandella rulers and wealthy traders of their kingdom. The stone for these temples was brought to Khajuraho from Panna which is located across the Ken river.

Figure 27: Chausath Yogini temple. Source: Yogini Cult & Temples, National Museum, New Delhi.

Figure 28: Map of Khajuraho & Panna. Source: The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, Franco-Indian Research

The difference in the sources of the materials for the two temples reflects the difference in the relationship of the temple builders to their environment and

their

geographical

zone

influence that binds them to a certain region. This is also reflective of the political

situation

under

which

the

temples were built. A comparison of the plans of the Chausath Yogini temple with the Vaikuntha temple shows their differences in terms of projection in plan. While the Vaikuntha temple has many projections resulting in a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Latin cross planâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the Chausath Yogini temple has none.

Figure 29: Plan of the Chausath Yogini temple. Source: Yogini Cult & Temples, National Museum, New Delhi. Figure 30: Plan of the Vaikuntha temple. Source: ASI 34

Figure 31: Chausath Yogini temple. Source: Yogini Cult & Temples, National Museum, New Delhi.

Figure 32: Vaikuntha temple. Source: Indian Art, Phaidon.

Other considerations apart, a comparison of the walls of the two temples show how the difference in materials plays an important role in the difference in the degree of projections in plan.

The differences in proliferation caused by the differences in material can be seen in the manner of proliferation of the aedicular components in the two temples. While the Chausath Yogini temple shows proliferation of aedicular components in a horizontal direction with a set of sixty-five aedicules arranged in a rectangle, the Vaikuntha temple shows proliferation of aedicular components in a vertical direction along the height of the shikhara. This difference in the nature of proliferation also places the Chausath Yogini temple earlier in the stages of evolution of the temple as compared to the Vaikuntha temple.

The large number of projections in plan creates a large number of surfaces in elevation. These surfaces feature intricately carved human figures. These figures feature associational symbolism representing subjects such as the Prabodhachandrodaya (Moon-rise of True Knowledge) – a play representing the union of Vedic Brahmanism with non-Vedic traditions that had given rise to the religious beliefs of the Chandellas – that reflected pluralistic political environment of the time.

A summary of the main architectural features of the Khajuraho temples of, which the Vaikuntha temple is an example, is: 

A Latin cross plan with one or more ‘transepts’.



The formal integration of the different temple components – the garbhagriha, mahamandapa, mandapa, and the ardhamandapa.



A high plinth articulated with intricate horizontal mouldings.



Solid walls with projections and recesses providing surfaces for intricately carved figures featuring 35

a mix of religious and secular imagery, alternating with balconied windows. ď&#x201A;ˇ

A roof comprising a series of graded peaks consisting of the roofs of the mandapas and aedicular components culminating in the shikhara.

The Latin cross plan and the formal integration of the components is a result of the compositional principle of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;projectionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, as discussed on page 19 and above, related to the material of the temple. The intricacy of the plinth is also directly related to the sandstone used in the temple. The imagery of the figures represents an example of associational symbolism reflecting a pluralistic political climate. The distinct roof form is a result of the nature of the proliferation of the aedicular components of the temples linked to the material of construction. It can thus be seen how the Vaikuntha temple is built in a style that is locally based, related to the environment and political pluralism that place the temple in a certain time and place.

Local and universal cosmogenic language In order that a building is cosmogenic it should not only reflect local concerns but also have a ‘doublecoding’ of these concerns with a more ‘universal cosmogenic language’. The previous section discussed how associational symbolism reflects local concerns and their relation to cosmogenesis. Formal symbolism on the other hand can reflect a ‘universal cosmgenic language’. Formal symbolism refers to the meaning embodied in the compositional structure alone, without reference to any further specific form of symbolism. Adam Hardy shows how the temple form is able to represent an “underlying vision… of a serially emerging cosmos”1 without having to concern itself with “a particular theological hierarchy… (and) who emanates from whom”2. Figure 2 on page 7 from Paradigms of Indian Architecture shows how the shikhara form of the Kandarya Mahadeo temple, with its numerous shringas and urahshringas, represents the general Hindu view of the emanation of the cosmos – “On the principle of projection of embedded forms, four minor shikhara (and by implication, four embedded Latina prasadas) are shown half-emerged from the four faces of the central shikhara. Along the cardinal axes of the mulaprasada may emerge further, lesser shikhara form, in diminishing sequence. These sequences continue to evolve through gavaksha pediments or giant gavakshas crowning the central projection of the wall below, and in through minor aedicules in the wall, or even the plinth.”3 This formal structure of the shikhara and its influence on the temple form as a whole shows, using formal symbolism, “The expanding universe revealed by the principal shikhara forms, dissolving in the very process of manifestation”4.

Therefore a temple is able to represent a local as well as a universal cosmogenic language through a combination of associational and formal symbolism. *

Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture, pg.133 Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture, pg.133 3 Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture, pg.116 4 Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture, pg.117 1 2

The Vaikuntha temple is an earlier example of the Khajuraho temples than the Kandarya Mahadeo temple and therefore has fewer aedicular components embedded in the shikhara. Despite this difference, the analysis of the Kandarya Mahadeo temple by Hardy is also applicable to the Vaikuntha temple, which too has shringas and urahshringas embedded in the main shikhara, which continue downwards as projections in the walls and plinth. It is in the walls and the plinth that the general symbolism of emanation is transformed into the specifics of Pancharatra system followed in the Vaikuntha temple and there is an expression of ‘who emanates from whom’.

The Pancharatra system is a specific system of cosmic emanation in the Vaishnava tradition “from the Supreme Being (Para-Brahaman) up to the gross element (prithivi-tattva), one emanating from the other in the Evolution or Creation of the Universe… The Supreme Being is un-manifest… There is a stage of polarization of Being and Becoming, of Para-Vasudeva and Lakshmi (Shakti). Lakshmi or Vishnu-Shakti is an active agent who impels the avyukta (unmanifest) into the course of Evolution. She also plays a role in the process of Involution or Reabsorption, and brings the devotee closer to the Supreme Being. The body of Vasudeva, the highest personal god as well as his consort Lakshmi consists of six divine ideals or gunas…Through permutation and combination of the three pairs of six attributes are constituted the vyuhas… who along with Vasudeva form the chatur-vyuhas (four emenations)… Vaikuntha was conceived of as representing chatur-vyuhas… From each of the four vyuhas descend three vyuhantaras or sub-vyuhas.”5. This process of emanation is represented through associational symbolism in the placement of images or iconography of the Vaikuntha temple starting from the garbhagriha till the plinth. This can be seen in the figures below.

Figure 32: The iconography of the Vaikuntha temple garbhagriha & plinth. Source: The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, Franco-Indian Research.



Note the equivalence of the creation and evolution of the universe in this system and its correspondence to the idea of cosmosgenesis. 5 Desai, Devangana, The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, pg.105, Franco-Indian Research, 1996

Thus, when seen as a whole, the Vaikuntha temple is able to represent the specific local, cosmogenic language of the Pancharatra system through the associational symbolism of the images on the projections of the plinth and walls of the temple and ‘double-code’ this with the universal cosmogenic language (shared directly with the Kandariya Mahadeo and other Khajuraho temples with similar shikharas) of “a serially emerging cosmos”6 represented through the formal symbolism of the shikhara. The termination of the wall projections in urahshringas emerging from the shikhara link the local and the universal cosmogenic languages expressed in the temple. This can be seen in the elevation of the temple.

Figure 33: The south elevation of the Vaikuntha temple showing associational symbolism as well as formal symbolism. Source: ASI.

Hardy, Adam, Paradigms of Indian Architecture, pg.133

Conclusion

Contemporary science did not exist at the time that the Vastu Shastras and other sources of temple architecture were formulated; yet the Vaikuntha temple follows all the ‘directions’ of cosmogenic architecture without ‘looking to science, especially contemporary science’. This shows that there exists, in the new social paradigm, a possibility to take inspiration from traditional architecture even when dealing with contemporary issues that are at the cutting-edge of scientific, social and consequently architectural development. This is possibly due to the fact that the world-view of the new paradigm is one which reveals “an all-encompassing story that unites all people of the globe, a metanarrative of the universe and its creation”7 – not just all the people of today, but also the people of past as well as future times. How long this paradigm will prevail, and whether it will prevail over competing paradigms at all, is not known. However, in order to fully understand its implications and opportunities it is important that one looks into all its aspects, not only those which are new.

Jenks, Charles, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, pg.7, AD Academy Editions, 1995 40

References

The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, Charles Jenks, AD Academy Editions The New Paradigm in Architecture, Charles Jenks, Yale University Press Architecture + Design, Sept-Oct 1986 The Hindu Temple, Stella Kramrisch, Motilal Banarsidass The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, Devangana Desai, Franco-Indian Research Yogini Cult & Temples, Vidya Dehejea, National Museum, New Delhi The Symbolism of the Stupa, Adrian Snodgrass, Motilal Banarasidass Indian Art, Vidya Dehejea, Phaidon Indian Art, Roy C Craven, Thames & Hudson The Web of Life, Fritjof Capra, Harper Collins The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra, Collins (Flamingo) The Fabric of Realty, David Deutsch, Penguin Cosmos, Carl Sagan, Wing Books