Introductory Essay – Endnote 8

8 Vastupurusha Mandala

The origin of architectural mandalas was attributed in myth to the error-prone creator, Brahma, who made a cosmic man, the Vastupurusha, so voracious he threatened to consume the entire universe. When the devas begged that he be contained, Brahma rallied the celestials to pen or pin him down inside an 8 x 8 square grid with 64-pada. Brahma himself held him in the central 4 brahmapadas, the devas in the 12 vedikapadas around those, humans, in the next concentric square of 20 manushinpadas and demons and goblins, in the 28 paisachikapadas around the periphery.  An 8×8-pada mandala is called a Manduka mandala (Sans.>manduka frog) because of the posture of the Vastupurusha squeezed inside it, while a 9 x 9 or 81-pada Paramasayika (Sans.> parama highest, ultimate +sayika sleep, repose) mandala has a square instead of a point at its center; architectural mandalas with 5×5 or 25 padas and 12×12 or 144 padas also exist. Karnata Dravida temples project or emanate their rathas and redents regulated by these mandalas which encompass their vimanas; the pitha or altar and the garbagriha generally occupies the central brahmapadas, whilethe underlying square vimana fits within the remaining padas.