The Pavillion

The mandapa is situated a little off the side of the road. Although it was almost completely hidden by bushes and shrubs, I noticed it many times. Passing it from the distance in a car it was just an impression of ancient pillars and a roof. But although I often thought I would like to have a closer look I never stopped the car. Till a week ago.

Something had changed. The shrubs and bushes had been removed, and the mandapa was clearly visible now, and could easily be reached. Whoever did this service, I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to them. So this time I stopped and got out of the car. It is a simple open mandapa, which means a pillared hall. Four rows of six pillars are supporting a flat roof. The central isle is somewhat wider then the side-isles. The back end has been closed off at one time with bricks, and between two pillars on one side an arch shaped entrance had been constructed. This was probably not part of the original structure.

I went inside and started making photos. There are two types of pillars basically, and the mandapa is structurally divided into two parts. The main building is positioned on a raised stone floor, with pillars that are alternating square and octagonal and capped with an unshaped or T-shaped corbel. In front of the main structure four pillars form a kind of porch or veranda. These pillars are alternating square, octagonal, and polygonal (16 facets), and capped with corbels sculpted in a style belonging to approximately the 13th or 14th century. Some pillars have been left unfinished.

I walked around, avoiding the debris lying around, while at the same time photographing the sculpture on the pillars. The best sculpture is found on the square base of the pillars. The base is decorated with nagapadams, cobra heads, rearing at the corners. There are several deities depicted such as Shiva, Murugan and Sarasvati riding her swan, and a figure that might be Vishnu as Mohini. There is a Nandi performing tapas, some bhutagana figures. The upper parts of the columns are either not carved, or carved very roughly with various abstract symbols and figures. It struck me that there are also quite a few depictions of humans, which are usually the donors in a context like this. On the pillar in the South-East corner there is a most peculiar relief of what is undoubtedly a European trader or sailor. From the dress I could gather it was most likely one of the Dutch merchants once settled in Sadras nearby. His coat, hat, high boots, and the sword he wears, indicate his high rank.

Walking around and enjoying the sculpture was a pleasant experience. I am always inspired by the achievements of our ancestors. The pavilion is a pleasant one and the sculpture is very nice, but it is not a master piece. I made what I thought was a final round and was about to go back to the car. But as has happened to me more often in my life, something, some intuition, made me look up, at the ceiling. And there I discovered the hidden treasure of this mandapa.

First my eyes caught the depiction of cobras undulating in front of what I knew to be the Sun and Moon. This is the traditional way of depicting an eclipse. One cobra about to swallow the disk of the Moon. Another depicted as moving in the opposite direction, about to swallow the Sun disk. These are Rahu and Ketu, the ascending and descending nodes of the Moon. Neighboring these eclipse depictions are mythological and real animals. A deer, several sea-creatures, one with a human face, monkeys. A little further I discovered the mythological being that had been calling me for many years now. The Indian sphinx or purushamriga (human-beast) faces a multi-facetted lotus. Opposite this sphinx the saint Kanappa is depicted in the act of giving his eyes to Shiva, a well know legend from the Shaivite tradition.

A little further a scorpion with a human face and a two-headed bird are facing each other. Another multifaceted lotus is on the slab next to them. And further two fish face each other. I was stunned with this unexpected treasure of sculpture with so much meaning and went back inside the mandapa to inspect the ceiling there. Several more eclipses are depicted, as well as mythological animals and lotuses. I saw more pairs of fish, two cobras almost touching with tiny figures near their heads. Another scorpion with a human face is situated opposite a tortoise.

So many questions arise from this iconography and from these symbols. This mandapa is a remarkable astronomical monument. I feel and could say it is an astro-archaeological discovery of high significance. It obviously commemorates several solar and lunar eclipses so the next question was which astronomical events were depicted here? I used the Solar and Lunar Eclipse Explorer calculators on the Nasa Eclipse Website and looked for what would have been extra-ordinary celestial events in the past that would fit the architecture and sculptural style.

In the last decade of the 13th century an extra-ordinary series of three solar eclipses that were total over parts of South India took place. Where this mandapa is situated these eclipses did not reach totality, according to the eclipse calculator, but they were very near totality. And the variability of DeltaT leaves room for the possibility for one or more of these eclipses to have been total to the eye-witnesses here after all. These eclipses took place on the 5th of July 1293, the 28th of October 1296 and on the 21st of February 1300 (astronomers use dates from the Julian calendar for events before 1582). In the same period there were an unusual high number of total Lunar eclipses; 1284 (2), 1287 (2), 1291 (2), 1294, 1295 and 1298.



When we look at the style of the sculpture and architecture of the pavilion the period around 1300 would be a proper fit. Also the clothes and hairstyle of the people depicted agree well with this date. Except for the European sailor or trader. He seems to be out of place. Was this figure added at a later date? This relief is executed in a very different style from the others, and may be a later addition which gives this mandapa an even greater historical significance.

But it is the astronomy in combination with the iconography that secures the meaning and the date of this pavilion and its unique iconography. The last in the series of the three solar eclipses that had the phase of totality over South India occurred on the 21st of February 1300. It being a New Moon day infers that is must have been the day before or after Maha Shiva Ratri, which is always celebrated on the night of New Moon in the month of Magha (Masi Masa in Tamil). The Tamil traditional calendar is a sidereal calendar, so the month would have fallen differently with respect to the Western calendar from today. And the Julian calendar is used to calibrate the dates. But this date definitely translates into Maha Shiva Ratri or New Moon night in the period of February-March for the year 1300.






And this explains the presence of the sphinx or purushamriga. Because the Indian sphinx is especially connected with Maha Shiva Ratri, as it is the night that devotees run a race called Shiva Ottam in Kanya Kumari district in commemoration of the race between Bhima and the sphinx in the Mahabharata. The presence of Kannapa also relates to Maha Shiva Ratri. The multi facetted lotus medallion in between them is the representation of the total solar eclipse, with the lotus petals representing what contemporary astronomers call Bailey’s Beads and the streamers of the sun’s corona, I think. It expresses in an appropriate artistic form the vision and experience of a total solar eclipse. This relief also expresses the significance of an eclipse as a major spiritual event.


Besides this total eclipse on the 21st February 1300, the depiction of several nagas or cobras with solar and lunar disks in front of them on the ceiling of this pavilion express the registration of this series of solar and lunar eclipses that had a special significance for the eyewitnesses. They commemorated these events with the building of this mandapa and recorded them by carving these astronomical symbols on its ceiling. The reliefs are in a way 14th century photos of these astronomical events.

Eclipses, both solar and lunar, are of great spiritual significance and are seen by the Vedic tradition as moments of great spiritual power and potentiality. People who follow a spiritual path (sadhana) would perform meditation and rituals because of the special energy generated by the eclipse. The Panchangam or almanac would have predicted the eclipses accurately and people would have been forewarned and would have prepared for them.

Eclipses are also often interpreted as forewarnings of disaster and adversity, depending on the astrological circumstances in which they occur. The reality is that just a little over ten years later South India was invaded. This invasion was a disaster for the civilization of South India, and nothing would ever be the same again. The pavilion as a whole expresses the importance the people of the time attached to this series of celestial events.

When we summarize the significance of this remarkable mandapa we see it is both an astronomical and a historical monument of unusual significance. A series of three solar eclipses that were total over South India concludes with one that coincides with the date of the spiritual festival of Maha Shiva Ratri, one of the most important religious festivals in the traditional calendar. A decade later South India is invaded and thrown into chaos and despair. This small mandapa on the side of a modern road commemorates these astronomical and historical events, and helps us to understand a decisive event of the past, and how it was experienced by those who witnessed it.

Many armed gods

A question asked more frequently then any other is why do Hindu gods and goddesses often have many arms?

I remember very clearly the situation when I was asked this question for the first time. I waited a bit, and directed the conversation to some general ground. Then I walked to a nearby motorized pump. I casually asked my friend about it and asked about some technical details. I read the engine label; it said “80 horsepower”. I asked my friend to explain to me what this meant. He answered, “It means the motor has the power of 80 horses.” So I opened the cap of the petrol tank and peered inside. “Where are all those horses” I asked. It took a while before my friend realized I had just answered his question about the many arms of deities. I had to explain it.

We symbolically say an engine has so much horse power. This doesn’t mean there are any horses in the engine. It means the engine can produce as much force as so many horses. In the same way a deity may be depicted with four, six, ten or even a thousand arms. Human beings think partly through analogy. The image of the deity is an analogy and a symbol. The arms represent the many ways and powers the divinity offers the humanity for comfort and support. And humans generally need an image to relate to. Most people can achieve an abstract understanding of the divine only through long and arduous spiritual practice. At the same time the image, the murti, is also truly the embodiment of the divine power. This is Advaita, non-dualism. The divinity is invoked, invited, into the murti through ritual and mantra. The rupa, form, has been ‘seen’ in ancient times by the rishis, the visionary sages who gave the doctrine to the humanity. The form of the god has been seen by the sages. Later it has been given shape by artists for the direction of humanity.

Analogy, a spark for wisdom

“Everything is analogy, it has to be.” These are the words from one of my favorite authors. But I knew it long before I read his books. It reflects the way human beings think, how they learn. So I have been teaching through analogy all my life. I started teaching as a young man. Being one of a very few of my community who could communicate in English and being a priest of two renowned temples in South India, I started my teaching when travelers and seekers from outside India approached me, talked to me, and asked me about my tradition and culture. In those days, in the middle seventies and early eighties people were very different from today. The people I met back then took their journey serious and were open, broad minded and didn’t mind to think deep. Many became friends.

I teach the power of analogy through an analogy: you can’t explain ‘honey’ to a person who does not know what is ‘sweet’.

The power of analogy is to teach an unknown thing through a known thing.

Kumbha, The Cosmic Vessel

We use pots in our daily life for all kinds of purposes without thinking about it. But the humble pot carries deep meaning and symbolism in the doctrine and plays an important role in ritual and tradition. In Sanskrit the ritual pot is known as kumbha or kalasa.

Pots play a role in many different myths. This reflects the different aspects of the pot as a symbol expressing various meanings. Perhaps the most profound myth in which a pot plays a central role is the myth of the Samudra Manthana, the Churning of the Cosmic Ocean. The climax of this myth is the appearance of Lord Dhanvantari, the God from whom Ayurveda, the traditional Vedic science of healing originates. He rises from the Cosmic Ocean holding the pot with Amrita, the Divine Drink of Immortality in his hand. For this it was that the Devas and Asuras churned the Ocean of Milk.

Another important pot from mythology is the Kumbha holding the amrita and the seed of creation. In Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu the entire landscape is sanctified by this myth of the pot carrying the Drink of Immortality and the Seed of Creation through the pralaya, the cosmic flood which ended the previous yuga. Various places and temples in and around Kumbakonam are associated with aspects of this cosmic pot. Finally Lord Shiva Kumbheshvara, the Lord of the Pot, pierced the pot with an arrow and the amrita and the cosmic seed spilled out, regenerating the cosmic cycle of creation. Today the place where the amrita flowed out of the pot is the Mahamagha Tirtha, a large and sacred water reservoir. Once in twelve years the water becomes once again the amrita, the divine nectar, the source of all life, and over a million people will come to bath on the auspicious time.

The astronomical time frames that designate and specify the auspicious time for the ritual bathing are connected to precession. The mythology that is expressed through the sacred landscape of temples, tirthas, vrikshas, mythology and ritual in and around Kumbakonam express precession and its ancient spiritual meaning. The sacred landscape and its mythology reflect the role of astronomy as a key to understanding ancient myth as is described and explained in Hamlet’s Mill.

The essence of the pot is of course that it can contain something. A full and complete pot is called purnakumbha. It represents abundance, completeness, wealth and prosperity. In a way it is a parallel to the horn of plenty of the western tradition. The purnakumbha is prepared according to doctrine with the thread windings, the coconut, the mango leaves and filled with water. It is given as an blessing and honor when rishis, saints, kings or ministers enter a temple. It is a symbolic gesture bestowing grace and abundance through the symbol of completeness, the purnakumbha.

But in the Vedic tradition the kumbha also performs the function of embodying the murti or form of the deity during a yajña, a Vedic fire sacrifice. Realizing the importance and the function of the pot in the doctrine and the ritual shines a lot of light on some of the misunderstanding that surrounds the Vedic doctrine, philosophy and our way of life.

The kumbha is the main vehicle for invocation of divine presence or energy during a Vedic fire ceremony. It is abstract and yet gives form. It is in every respect symbolic and actual at the same time. This is essential for the Vedic doctrine, which reflects advaita, non-dualist principles. The pot is prepared with various substances and features. Appropriate substances that represent the deity to be invoked will be put into it. This can be precious stones, gold or silver. It represents also the five Mahabhuta or Elements. And it is then fully filled with water. Finally it is placed on an altar made of various grains which represent other aspects of the deity or deities involved. And through chanting of mantras and ritual performance the deity is invoked in the kumbha.

The various features of the kumbha reflect the following meanings in a symbolic way:

The pot itself is the Ishva deha, the body of the deity. It can be fashioned from clay, but also from silver, gold or other metal.
The kumbha is decorated with a cloth, this is the vastra, the garment, it represents the skin of the body.
The coconut placed on the mouth of the pot, adorning to top of the pot, represents the head.
The mango leaves placed around the coconut represent the hair.
A kumbha can be covered with red sand, signifying the blood.
Sand can be placed in the pot, signifying the flesh.
The water with which the pot is filled is the fat, marrow and lymph.
The darbha grass placed inside the pot represents the bones.
The threads winded around the pot represent the nadis or veins. They are wind first in one direction, and consecutively in the opposite direction, creating a net-like wire-frame around the pot.
All the precious stones and gold inside is the Shukila Makavan.
The nyasa mantras and the prana-prathishtha confer life.

Under the kumbha the seeds for Ishvara, all the stages of the dhanya, are placed in ritual order to make the pedestal, the altar where the Lord is seated.

This is followed by the performance of the fire sacrifice. The essence or energy of the substances sacrificed into the Agni, the ritual fire, together with the mantras, is transformed into sukshma, subtle, and consequently transferred into the water in the kumbha by way of the ritual and the chanting. And finally this water will be poured on the murti or on the person for whom the ceremony has been performed. This transmits the energy to where it is required. There it will perform its function.

Because of the loss of understanding of the meaning which is embodied in the Vedic and Agamic doctrine so much unnecessary discussions rooted in misunderstanding and lack of knowledge are going on nowadays. And many misconceptions are taught and written down in books, creating even more misunderstanding in their turn. The function of the kumbha shows clearly the Vedic doctrine has always had a concept of embodying the deity. Understanding the role of the kumbha in ritual shines a completely different light on all the questions raised on whether the Vedic civilization worshipped murtis, deities in physical form, or not.

Sphinxes, Yalis and other composite beings in Vedic doctrine

To understand the existence of various divine and semi-divine forms that include parts of animals or full animals, it is very important to always keep in mind the consciousness of the ancient Rishis, who ‘saw’ the myths was very different from our own today. Our experience of ‘reality’ is very different from thousands of years ago, as can be seen in mythology and doctrine. Today we are all more or less influenced and indoctrinated by the western Greek-Christian worldview that lays at the basis of today’s technological and materialistic civilization. This is a huge subject in itself. I have written about this in some detail in my book ‘A Stream of Thoughts’ which I have made available through http://www.lulu.com/rajadeekshithar

Once we try to transport ourselves into the minds and consciousness of the pre-industrialized civilizations we first of all have to learn to take consciousness and mind more serious. In the Vedic traditions of Darshana, philosophy, Spirit comes before anything else. The undifferentiated Absolute Spirit, Purusha or Brahman, is the source of everything. I personally believe the primordial ‘energy’ of the Big Bang is the equivalent of Brahman, as I have explained in ‘A Stream of Thoughts’.

Once we look at the cosmos as consisting primarily of Spirit, consciousness, we immediately see a very different world then what we ‘see’ when we look at reality through the eyes of Western materialistic science. From Primordial Spirit various divine ‘energies’ devolve, as described in the mythology, Rig Veda and the Puranas. I myself think of these as ‘fields of force’ but with consciousness. When we, as human beings, through the vision of the Rishi, give form to these divine energy fields, bringing them into a physical existence for our own benefit, we embody them as Yantra or as Murti.

The cosmos is a kind of hierarchy of being, (in Medieval European culture and among the Neo-Platonists this was called the ‘Divine Chain of Being’) from the highest spirit, to the ‘lowest’ material particle. And from the doctrine we know there exist all kinds of spiritual beings with all kinds of powers and influences which we cannot see with our ‘modern’ materialistic eyes. Some of these beings have a definite spiritual form. Others we give form ourselves, influenced by how we see and experience their powers.

When the Rishis described the forms of divinities as they saw them with their vision, they had to describe their vision in terms that could be understood by humanity. That is why there is so much symbolism in mythology. The animal form can have two functions. It can express a higher form of being and it can express a lower energy vibration. According to doctrine, human existence is placed in the center between higher and lower forms of consciousness. Our existence is a kind of cross roads where consciousness can either move higher or sink lower. We have freedom of choice in this. That is what is called Karma.

When we ‘see’ a divine energy with a part animal form, this expresses an aspect of the divinity’s power. The animal form represents an aspect of the divine energy which vibrates similar as the energy of the animal. The vahana also expresses an aspect of that power, as do the attributes.




The many mythological beings that are not deities but combine various animal and human forms, such as Kimnaras, Makaras, Yalis etc. reflect semi-divine beings which I am sure have a reality of their own. But not a material/physical reality. They reflect vibrations of consciousness that reflect their attributes on a spiritual level. The doctrine has names and classifications for them. And they serve various spiritual functions, such as Shiva’s Bhuta Ganas. The Indian sphinx is classified as a Pramotha Gana of Lord Shiva. Its function is protection and purification. The sphinxes of Western antiquity had the same function. This is an indication of the spiritual reality of these beings on a non-physical plane.



The Divine Chain of Being is in constant evolution. Lower forms evolve into higher forms, higher forms devolve into lower forms. Evolution and Devolution. It is therefore very important to realize the difference between a being with an animal body and a human head, like the sphinx, or a human body with an animal head, such as Lord Narasimha. Both express very different concepts and vibrations of divine energy. Lord Vishnu devolved into Lord Narasimha to raise the negative energy of the cosmos to a higher level of vibration. The sphinx reflects the concept of evolution. The energy of the lion, in combination with the energy and consciousness of the human being, generates a form higher then the sum of the two.




I would like to give the following illustration through explaing something about Lord Mahaganapati and the tiny shrew or mushika who is His vahana. This apparent opposition expresses the essence that the huge gigantic form and energy of Mahaganapati also expresses in the tiny shrew. The shrew looks tiny to our eyes, but has gigantic power. The same energy in Him is also present in the shrew. So the lowest soul can also with the right path achieve the highest divine realization, realized consciousness. So many myths and Divine forms teach the same in different ways.

Purnakumbha

BRAHMAN

A mahout was riding on the back of his elephant when it suddenly became mad and started running down the street. He shouted and shouted to warn people to go out of the way. One man would not move away, however the mahout shouted. He was pushed aside by the elephant and was wounded. Eventually the mahout managed to calm down the elephant and tied him down in its place. He went back to see the man the elephant had thrown to the side of the road. To the mahout’s relief the man was only slightly wounded. He asked the man why he hadn’t moved away in spite of all his shouting. The man answered the mahout, “The elephant is the Brahman.” Then the mahout asked him, “If you see the Brahman in the elephant, why don’t you see the Brahman in me, who is shouting to rescue you.”

Half knowledge is always dangerous.