Contributions

to Indian Sociology
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The symbolic merger of body, space and cosmos in Hindu Tamil Nadu
Brenda E.F. Beck
Contributions to Indian Sociology 1976 10: 213
DOI: 10.1177/006996677601000202
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The

symbolic merger of body, space and cosmos

in Hindu Tamil Nadu
BRENDA E.F. BECK
University of British Columbia

In his famous work, The Golden Bough, Frazer attempted to distinguish

magic from religion. He argued that the first presupposed a world subject
to natural laws and the second a world dependent on the caprice of various
spirit beings. These two ideas, he argued, represent two stages in the
evolution of mans theorizing about his cosmos. Frazer focused many of
his inquiries on what he considered to be the first stage in this evolutionary
scheme, the stage of magic. He believed magic to be based on the idea that
objects at a great distance from one another could share a secret sympathy.
A magician was someone who performed actions on one such object with
the belief that corresponding changes could thus be effected on the second
by means of contagion.
Since Frazers time the specific stages in the evolution of thought which
he envisioned have been rightly called into question. If we leave aside the
question of stages and concentrate on his basic concept of secret sympathies, however, we find an important correspondence between Frazer and
more modern religious theorists. Victor Turners recent reports on Ndembu
ritual, for example, suggest a belief in the existence of a secret connection between the human bodys internal substances (blood, milk, semen)
and the sap of certain plants (Turner 1968). Mary Douglass writings (for
example, Douglas 1966) point to a number of cultures where such external
features as body shapes and body peripheries are believed to be secretly
linked to order and boundary maintenance of the society at large. Still
other authors have written of a belief in correspondences between various
divine beings or animal species and the caste or clan categories that segment human society (Dumont 1959; Levi. Strauss 1963).
The evidence of recent studies like these leads one to conclude that
ideas about mysterious structural correspondences, joining what may seem

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214

important in many cultural

between
the human body (physisympathy
cal or moral) and the non-human spheres of mans experience may turn
out to effectively underlie many religious traditions. The present paper
explores the evidence for a concept of secret sympathy in one particular
cultural setting, the Tamil-speaking area of south India. In this exploration two interesting south Indian Hindu concepts will be found central.,,
The first is the idea that the body must be continually realigned in space
in order to make the most beneficial use of shifting lines of cosmic force.
The second is the idea that in specialized Hindu rituals the individual
joins with and even becomes identical to the cosmos itself. In this cultural
tradition, under certain conditions the individual body and the universe
to be otherwise unconnected

traditions. Indeed, the

sense

domains,

are

of

thought to actually merge.2

interesting question, in studying a religious perspective that stresses
correspondences is, what is the nature of this sympathy that man can play
upon? Are man and cosmos like two concentric forms, one inside the
other? Or are they related as an object is to its mirror image? This question and others will be repeatedly discussed in the pages that follow. In the
conclusion it will be suggested that certain kinds of spatial paradoxes are
are

The

in fact central to many southern Hindu ritual concerns. Furthermore, such

dilemmas seem to provide some sort of creative tension. They become wellsprings that inspire continuing thought.
THE FORCES

OF

OUTER SPACE

own major research work has been focused on the Coimbatore District
of Tamil Nadu (Beck 1972). Hence, this exploration of spatial concepts
will start with certain popular ideas that I know to be shared by nearly all
the rural residents of this area. For example, there is a belief that the bods
must be properly aligned in space in order to make the most out of the
various lines of cosmic force. The most basic of these forces are fixed in
association with the various compass points. The east, for example, is the
direction from which many beneficial forces emanate. The front door of a

My

North Indian parallels can probably be found for many of the ideas and customs
1
below. It just happens that the author is more familiar with the
south and so has drawn most of her material from there. Many of the concepts to be
outlined, however, are probably familiar throughout.
A belief in the possibility of a complete merger of the devotee with the divine is
2
the monist position. The extent to which actual merger is possible, however, is not
the question here. Getting as close as possible is what is important. Stated this way,
the problem is equally salient for Hindus of dualist persuasion.
to be discussed

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215
house should open to the cast, therefore, to insure familial well-being.3
People, when they undergo any of the auspicious life-cycle rituals, such as
ear-piercing or marriage, are careful to sit facing east. The shrines of most
of the great gods also face in this direction.
The explanation of the importance of the east rests on its association
with the rising sun. The light rays emanating from the sun as it comes over
the horizon are said to be very beneficial. People stand outside and worship these first rays at the traditional winter equinox festival (Tai pongal)
held in January. Some shrines have indeed been aligned so precisely that
the suns first light reaches directly into the innermost sanctum only at
sunrise on this day. Linguistically, various Tamil terms for the east convey
the same idea. Mfidu, for example, refers to the direction in which the sun
rises, and the related mcitu, to the root, cause or origin of something. The term for east as a compass point (fir), however, refers to a
place or space below (Emeneau and Burrow 1961: 4133 and 4348). Taken
together, these several words seem to link the idea of origins or beginnings
with emergence from below.
The west, of course, is contrasted with the east in many ways. It is
inauspicious to have the main door of a house facing west, for example.
This would encourage the entry of upsetting influences into ones home.
If the main door must face west for practical reasons, then an old broom
or a couple of old sandals are kept near it to ward off the possible ill
effects. Furthermore, the only time a person would be required, ceremonially, to sit facing west would be for a ceremony where an evil spirit was
about to be exorcised from them. The several terms for west have mixed
word associations, however. Patu, which means to set (as the sun does)
equally means to perish or to die. Yet the term for the associated
compass point (mekk) also means height, superiority, or excellence. Hence,
west clearly contrasts with the idea of lowness or of being below, one of
the main associations of the east. Interestingly, this makes the west more
ambivalent than the east in terms of its symbolic associations. The west is
not all-malevolent as the east is all-beneficent. In keeping with its mixed
qualities is the fact that several prestigious temples in this area face west.44
The other two compass points, north and south, also have important
symbolic associations. The south, for example, is the direction in which
The houses of orthodox Brahmin families, furthermore, often have a great open
3
passage stretching through them from east to west intended to maximize this beneficial influence. In urban areas where this is not always possible, mirrors are sometimes used to give the substitute visual impression of such a corridor when none, in
fact, exists.
The great shrine dedicated to Murugan at Palani, for example.
4

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216

god who announces human deaths (Yama) is said to reside. A corpse

should, therefore, be laid out (on its back) with its head to the south, both
for the funeral ritual and later for cremation or burial. Similarly, ancestral
shrines are traditionally found set against the southern wall of a house. Yet
these sacred alcoves and their associated objects are said to face north,
just as a shrine built over a tomb should face north.5 Many local deities,
especially local goddesses, also face the north. Thus, while the messenger
of death inhabits the south, the north is thought to be more auspicious.
the

More generally, there is an idea that culture (especially the Vedas and
other learned writings of the ancients) originally came from the north.
While east-west serves as the axis of cosmic force, then north-south can be
viewed as containing a secondary polarization of those forces that bear
most directly on the human condition.
In addition to this rather permanent and static set of directional concepts, however, there are several more mobile sources of cosmic influence.
. The best known and best codified of these are the five visible planets, the
sun, the moon, and two personified nodes which provide an opportunity
for eclipse (technically, those places where the suns and the moons orbits
cross). Each of these nine beings has a distinctive personality; some are
more malign and some more beneficent. However, their rather irregular
movements are subject to prediction only by learned astrological specialists
who make themselves available for hire everywhere. For a fee they will
tell one where these nine will be (in terms of the cardinal points) at any
given time and hence what activities and orientations of the body are most
likely to be beneficial during certain periods. The calculations are always
personalized, when done carefully, by consulting the clients personal
horoscope. The initial angles of influence the nine planets took at the
moment of a persons birth, fix an individuals make-up to a large degree.
Their initial placement determines ones future susceptibility to similar
placements at later points in tie.66
Lastly, there are a few totally unpredictable influences on an individuals
well-being. These are the souls of local residents who have died untimely
or unnatural deaths and which later hover about a village. These beings
attack the timorous when they pass under certain trees, walk near a graveyard or cremation ground, or happen to express fright, especially at night.
An ascetic will sometimes be buried in
5

seated

position. When

this is done his

body is seated facing the north.

Indeed, temples have horoscopes
6

too. The nine planets are always represented at

square shrine inside the whole. Their varying configurations are said to
record their alignment at the time of that particular temples construction. (See

special

subscript

s.,

Diagram 9.)

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217
In sum, then, a person must consider the fixed cardinal points, the moveable but predictable positions of the nine planetary beings, and also certain
local danger spots in organizing his day-to-day activities.
One might well ask how the common man manages to cope with such a
hopelessly complex cosmology. Simplification is a common strategy, of
course, and yet people certainly do remain. continually aware of their cosmic self-positioning. A stranger, when asked for directions on how to get
somewhere, for example, will respond with directions that assume a knowledge of the cardinal points. But for most matters, the degree of calculation required is tailored to the seriousness of the task at hand. All local
almanacs contain simplified schemes for day-to-day use, even these bits of
advice are ignored by the less devout. Advance calculations concerning the
planetary positions are generally made only in preparing for important
occasions. Yet everyone blames their misfortunes on the influence of
planetary beings. Furthermore, it is believed that all such cosmic forces
travel in straight lines. Thus an unpleasant one can usually be avoided by
a change of bodily position that gets one out of the direct path of its malevolent rays. People often blame insomnia on such unidirectional forces,
for example, and it is common to see someone get up and move his cot to
another part of the room while cursing them. When a family suffers a long
string of misfortunes, they may even call in a builder to wall up an old
entrance to their house. In cutting a new one leading in from a different
direction they hope to evade the impact of a given malign influence,
The same assumptions about ones orientation in space also have a lot
to do with divination rituals. Thus, many divination specialists explain
illness by suggesting that an evil spirit seized a person while he was walking in a certain direction, that it attacked from a particular side of the
road, etc. The remedies a diviner will commonly suggest for individual
problems caused by such spirits often involve directional calculations.
Thus one may be told to place charms or perform small rituals in a particular place with the body oriented to space in some particular way.

THE SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE

OF THE

BODY

The above ideas lay out certain popular, universally familiar concepts
about the forces of outer space and how they affect the day-to-day life of
the individual. We will now describe certain aspects of body space that are
similarly codified. Instead of two main axes of orientation, we must now
deal with four. The first is the vertical contrast of the head with the feet,
and the second is the opposition of the surface of the body to its interior.
The third is the separation of the right from the left side of the body, and
,

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218
the fourth, the contrast of the front with the back. No one can conduct
himself in the simplest of matters without an awareness of his movements
in terms of the framework of these four overarching principles.
The head, for a start, is the first organ of the body to be protected in
times of illness. People often wrap their heads in towels of various sorts,
as a sort of turban substitute. A woman who feels ill will pull the end of
her sari over her head. The feet, by contrast, are considered lowly. Extending ones feet towards another person or towards a shrine is an insult, while
extending ones head (as in lying down) is a compliment. Lowering the
head to the region of anothers feet has a similar connotation. Such a
gesture says, in effect, the most lowly part of your body (your feet) are
the equal of the most exalted part of my body (my head). In the area
where I did fieldwork, people were always very conscious of the placement
of their feet, lest they should insult someone accidentally. Indeed, the worst
insult one can give, all out of proportion with the actual pain inflicted, is
to kick them or beat them with a shoe. Passions can be so inflamed by
such behaviour that murder will be contemplated in revenge.
There is a similarly developed symbolism for the use of the right and
left hands. Thus the right hand is taken as the hand that must execute any
important act. One eats only with the right hand8 and accepts all gifts with
the right hand. Where two hands are used to receive something, the right
will be extended first, often with the left held underneath it. Often the left
hand can be seen hanging limply at a persons side. Sometimes it is even
tucked behind the back to hide it from view, or held cupped under the
right elbow as if to lend the former support. Impure actions should be
executed with the left hand and most refuse is handled with the left hand.
Respect, on the other hand, is shown to a deity or to a person by placing
them to the right. This is particularly common in temple ritual where one
of the most frequent modes of worship is to circle a deity while keeping it
to ones right.9 In the wedding ceremony of most castesl the groom stands
and sits on the brides right.
The use of the front and the back of the body is similarly codified. Thus
one should always face an object of respect while turning ones back is
considered an affront. On the other hand, if something is considered to be
I
7 have several examples of this extreme response (some fantacized,
ed) from my field notes.
All eating, of course, is done directly with the hand.
8

some

attempt-

We would call this clockwise movement in English, but in India it is described

9

as

keeping the object of respect to the right, a point clarified for me by Dr Veena Das.
Surprisingly, the major agricultural caste of the Coimbatore district (the Kavun10
tar) is an exception. In their wedding ritual the bride must sit on the grooms right.

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219

debilitating, lowly or polluting, then it is entirely proper to turn ones

back on it. Indeed, this gesture affords a certain measure of protection
from attacks of malign spirits. And finally, things that go into the body
must meet higher standards of purity than those merely touched. Thus,
what is eaten is always subject to great scrutiny. The condition of the
eater, of the cook, and of the server must all meet high standards. The
fact that one may only accept the most vulnerable foods, that is boiled
dishes, from cooks of equal or superior ritual status suggests that the
symbolism being allowed inside has almost inseparable social and bodily
aspects. Cooked food not yet eaten must be especially protected from the
eyes of outsiders. By contrast, anything that comes out of the body is
immediately allocated an inferior status. Thus urine, faeces, spit, ear wax,
nail clippings, nose mucus, semen and hair clippings are all treated as
polluting and as potentially insulting to others.
In concluding this description of everyday usages we must also note the
important tendency of these various dimensions of body symbolism to
overlap. For example, in lying prone to face a deity it is difhcult to say
whether placing the top of ones head towards god or at his feet is
more important. Both are done simultaneously. Even more ambiguous is
the overlap between injection via the mouth, the head as the summit of
the body, and the right hand which is used in the feeding process. Thus
these four abstract dimensions of the body form have a certain tendency
to intermesh and to share the same symbolic overtones. The same would
be true of the two axes of the compass. North and east tend to be interchangeable directions where auspicious matters are concerned, and the
west with the south where malign influences are uppermost in local thought.
We have now examined what might be called the first level in an elaborate cultural codification of space. This is the level of general knowledge,
shared by almost all adults. Indeed, it would be difficult to move comfortably in the rural areas of Coimbatore and be accepted as a native unless
one knew this much. The next question follows directly upon these ideas.
If one can link or overlay the various dimensions of body symbolism can
one also map the entire body, in some way, onto outer space? The answer
is certainly yes, but this mapping requires some esoteric knowledge. Most
of the details that follow, then, are known only to people who are learned
in ritual matters.
.

THE CEREMONIAL CONSTRUCTION

OF

SPACE

Let us now turn to tbe representation of space in ceremonial contexts. We

will first consider the principles that underlie the drawing of ritual designs

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220
on the floor of the average home on festive occasions. These geometrical
patterns, traditionally made of rice flour and laid on a moist, dung-base
surface, are always made by women. They underlie areas later to be covered

by objects of ritual importance. They are also commonly drawn in doorways, or under windows. No overt explanation is given for their use, except that they are thought decorative and generally auspicious. However,
it

these designs were once intended to map out spaces

and protective significance. As such, these maze-like
designs may have once been thought to trap malevolent influences that
might otherwise enter the house and attack a place where ceremonies were
to be performed (Layard 1937).
These floor designs appear to be based on a core pattern employing a
square oriented to the cardinal points of spaced The basic shape is usually
marked by four corner dots and/or four mid-points. One additional point
is added to locate the centre.l2 The drawer begins by laying down each
point. Then the space is outlined. Slowly each point becomes trapped or
contained by a series of lines drawn around it. Finally the centre is filled
in.I3 Two such basic designs are illustrated below. It seems that the four
or eight starting points for such drawings serve to mark the basic directions of space while the central point serves as a sort of cosmic mid-point
for the whole.
In the home, these ritual designs are not given anything more than a
certain general, festive significance. However, we will now see the same
principles operating much more explicitly in the layout of a sacred space
by a specialist. Since Siva is acknowledged as the supreme god by the great
majority of rural residents in the Coimbatore District, we will follow the
Saivite tradition in this. Priests and others learned in ritual matters usually
describe Siva as having five faces. Indeed, this god is associated with the
number five by popular tradition as well.&dquo; These five faces, also, are
seems

having

likely that
magical

The squares simply become multiplied for large designs. However, some drawings
11
as temple carts or ritual lamps. Under these circumstances it is permissible to break out of the basic format.
This basic ritual form is probably not only pan-Hindu but also pan-Indo12
European. Thus, the quincunx was once used as a format for planting a grove of
sacred trees in Europe. The same structural form also serves as a cardinal principle
of church architecture. A more extended discussion of 4-5 and 8-9 as numbers that
delimit the sacred in Hindu art and textual tradition can be found in Bosch (1960:

represent specific things such

84-89)
Some designs are made by connecting the original dots rather than by encircling
13
them.
For example, the popular mantra or sacred verse addressed to him is referred to
14
as the five syllables chant. It is: na-ma-ci-vā-ya.

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221

always laid out in a square space and oriented carefully in terms of the
cardinal points. Each of Sivas heads is further represented by a separate
sacred pot placed in its appropriate square. These are then worshipped in
the order indicated. Each head is thought to face a particular direction of
space, the primary head being described as oriented upwards.1-5 When Siva
temples are constructed the ground plan underlying them is similar. The
main image, Sivas lingam, is located at the centre of the whole and its
summit is associated with Isana or the upward-looking face. Any welltrained priest would be familiar with these details though the ordinary
worshipper is not.
Often, however, the centre of ritual attention will not be Siva himself
but some other deity. In such a case a sacred pot symbolizing the latter
must be given the central position. Thus would be the case, for example,
when Murugan (Sivas second son)is serves as the focus of ceremonies. In
such circumstances Sivas fifth head, which would otherwise occupy the
centre, now has to be placed somewhere else. The north-east corner is always chosen. Since Tgdna is the face that belongs in the centre looking upwards, we can say that it is the only one to be vertically oriented. The
other four faces are understood to be horizontally directed. In ritual, furthermore, the north-east corner is commonly called the water corner or
jala mula. It is also the corner where the well for a temple or house is traditionally dug. Wells are depositories of rain water and are commonly
associated with the descent of divinity to earth in local myths. The name
Isana is also associated with the idea of movement or flow (Bhattacharji
1970 136). In a functional sense, then, the face of Isana can be thought
to somehow involve movement between heaven and earth. Elsewhere Isana
is said to be lord of the Yaksas, a kind of half divine, half human type of

being (Bhattacharji 1970: 7). This also suggests the idea of a go-between.
Sivas lingam is also commonly spoken of as connecting heaven and
earth. This is especially true of the Jyotir,inga form (Agrawala 1963: 44).
When Sivas five-headed form is visually depicted in sculpture, four of his heads
15
actually face outwards from the neck towards the four cardinal points while the fifth
sits on top of the others and looks upwards. In early wall reliefs the upward looking
face was shown on top of three others. The final head was imagined to face into the
wall and was hence not visible. Interestingly, however, after about the third century
A.D. the upward looking face was eliminated and said to be invisible. Thus the
famous statue of Siva in the Elephanta Caves is three-headed, but is said to depict
the five-headed form (Agrawala 1963: 52).
He is also known as Skanda, Karttikeya or Subramāniam. Murugan is an extre16
mely popular god in the south of India, though not particularly well-known in the
north.

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223

Furthermore, when the lingam is symbolically moved from its normally

position to the north or north-east, a tree with a milky sap often
seems to serve as a ritual substitute. This is the case, for example, in the
festival for an important local goddess of the Coimbatore area, Mdriyamman, who is spoken of as a form of givas wife. There, a milk-sapped tree,

central

DIAGRAM 2

LAYOUT OF THE FIVE FACES OF

91VA

FOR WORSHIP

explicitly identified as her male lover, is planted (to the north) right outside
the door of her temple during her annual ceremony. A branch of a tree
having a milky sap is also planted in the north-east corner of the square
area that is used for the wedding ritual. 17
THE SACRED SPACE BROUGHT

TO

LIFE

considering the underlying principles of

sacred space in this

dimension of the problem. This
is the existence of five special mantras or magical verses that are to be
addressed to Sivas five faces by the priest. By reciting these verses the
priest concretely establishes the various parts of a divine body within the
sacred space. It is interesting that these verses should be called the Brahma
mantra though they are explicitly linked to the worship of Siva. Brahma
is the Hindu creator god whose own body was once dismembered and the
pieces dispersed in order to generate the discrete beings and qualities of the
world known today.&dquo; In reciting these mantras, the priest alternately touches
While still

region we should

now

consider

one more

17 is, the wedding ritual of the dominant Kavuntar community.

That
A popular description appears in the Visnu Pur
18
na, where Brahmā is said to have
ā
made sheep from his breast, goats from his mouth, cows from his stomach and sides,
horses from his feet, etc. (OFlaherty 1975: 45). But this seems to be a late adoption.
Earlier myths describe Brahmā in more abstract terms, as a Universal Soul, while the

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224
various parts of his own body and gestures towards the five directions of
space. The underlying idea appears to be that the priest is symbolically
taking pieces from his own body in order to accomplish a magical reunification of Brahmas once scattered being
The idea of cosmic reconstruction is very fitting, furthermore, to the
context in which this ritual is commonly used. It is usually performed
when the images of local giva temples need a cosmic recharging. Each
temple should have this done once every twelve years, though many wait
longer because of the considerable expense involved. The ritual recitation
of the special mantras is thus explicitly linked (at least in this area of
India) to a process of rejuvenation. Furthermore, as soon as the five
Brahma mantra have been recited, six more (the Ai1ka mantra) must follow.
These latter are placed on the parts of the newly joined body as a kind of
protection of the new whole (Somasambhupaddati, Vol. l:p. 325 and a
local priest). These two sets of mantra and the specific gestures associated
with them are outlined in Chart 11
CHART 1
BRAHMA MANTRA

act of creation is attributed to a more concrete being named Prajāpati or Puruşa.

In these earlier texts the idea of a great sacrifice and subsequent dismemberment is
Rg Veda, 10.90 and Satapatha Brahmana, Vol. III, pp. 303-7). In later
quite explicit (
periods, however, the creators role is more that of transformer, maker or inseminator. Interestingly, the ritual described here bears its strongest affinity to the earlier
forms of this Brahmā-Prajāpati-Puruşa complex.
This idea is explicitly endorsed by Eggeling, editorof the English translation of
19

the Satapatha Brahmana (Vol. IV,

p.

xv),

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225
ARKA MANTRA

Beyond the idea of a recreation of the original cosmic body in this ceremony, however, one may study the interesting spatial imagery that derives
directly from it. Each of the five Brahma mantra, as said earlier, refers to
one of Sivas five faces. Each is also unambiguously associated with one
of five specific locales within the ritual space. When the parts of the body
DIAGRAM 3

THE FIVE FACES OF viva AS DESCRIBED BY THE

BRAHMA MANTRA

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226

described by the various verses are mapped according to this plan, it will
be discovered that they seem to describe a human body, lying prone on its
left side, and having its head extended towards the east.2 This mapping
in Diagram 3.
For those who are learned in matters concerning Saivite ritual, then,
the original sacred space now becomes identified with the body of a great
cosmic being. Ordinarily, this being is simply described as the five-faced
giva. At the core of the ritual proceedings, however, there are magical
chants that transform these faces into body parts and identify S~iva with
an original, unsacrificed, Brahma. In this transformation we have now
noted three important themes: (1) The ritual puts back together what a
basic creation myth says had once been rent asunder,21 (2) This undertaking involves an identification of the basic body form with a ritual representation of the cosmosat large, (3) This magical body-cosmos match-up is
achieved within the confines of the sacred square.
is

provided

THE BODY

We will

OF

VASTU

look at some of the other ways in which Hindu religious

to link the human body to the structure of the cosmos at
large. Some of these, too, are known at the popular level, while others are
esoteric and belong to a vocabulary of ritual initiates. Through these examples we will illustrate how many of the more concrete mappings of a human body onto a directional and square cosmos have proved contradictory.
Perhaps this is one reason why the problem has retained its interest for so
many generations of Hindu thinkers.
Folk tradition in the Coimbatore district holds that there is a being in or
of the ground, called Vastu, who must be propitiated every time a building
is constructed. A non-Brahmin priest will be called for this purpose, and
he will mark out a ritual square where the new structure will eventually
now

thought attempts

All the necessary details for this reconstruction

20

are common

knowledge

to

priests, but the explicit reference to a prone body is my own idea. Support can
perhaps be found for this interpretation in Volwashen (1969: 45), where he mentions
that something similar existed in Aryan sacrificial ritual. There a human being was
represented on the altar by the arrangement of sacrificial vessels. The five faces of
Siva are also represented in this ritual by sacred vessels.
This idea fits well with what Levi-Strauss has argued is the basic purpose of all
21
ritual activity, e.g., to reunite what has become differentiated into a new and unpartitioned whole (Levi-Strauss 1971: 596-611). Although I would be hesitant to agree
that all rituals are of this type, the above example certainly seems to suggest that
some are.

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227

stand. He then plants a branch of a tree having a milky sap in the northeast corner of this space and proceeds to perform certain rites over it. The
offerings he makes are said to be for Vastu. If this ritual is not performed
properly it is believed that Vastu may later sabotage either the building
itself or its inhabitants. Similar offerings are made to certain points on the
ground around the circumference of a Siva temple each year by the Brahmin priest. These, too, are for Vastu, even though the priest I spoke to
did not know the meaning of his gestures.
Thus there is a firm tradition that there is some male being associated
with the ground around all buildings and that he must be propitiated. But
for a more detailed explanation we must go to ritual texts that are known
only to specialists. Here we discover that Vastu is some sort of corpse that
fell to earth as what was left-over after the great, original sacrifice.222
DIAGRAM 4

THE BODY OF VASTU AS FILLING THE SACRED SQUARE

Left-overs have a great significance in Hindu ritual more generally. They are
22
usually food offerings of which god is said to have eaten the substance but left-overs
are considered sacred and are later eaten by devotees.

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228
Vastu now lies face-down on the earth and forms the substratum on which
all temples are built (Kramrisch 1946, Vol. 1: 73-76). His body is thought
to exactly fill a square space, and his bead is said to be located in the
north-east corner, as shown in Diagram 4 (adopted from Volwashen

1969: 96 and

Agrawala 1963: 346).

Here, then, we have another representation of the great autochthonous
being, fitted to a sacred square. As before, its head lies to the north-east.
But in this alternative mapping, the parts of a great body are no longer
given distinctive locations around the circumference. Instead, limbs take up
most of this space. Their length, furthermore, is now neatly divided into
one blank and four spaces for the
This
whole
serves
as
another type of diagram of space
compass directions).
to be used in ritual. And the twenty-seven squares around the circumference further cosmocize the enclosure by linking it to the stars above.

twenty-seven smaller square spaces (plus

THE TWENTY-SEVEN LUNAR MANSIONS

There is a very old Hindu tradition, known (in outline at least) to almost
all residents of the Coimbatore area. This is that the sky contains twentyseven star groups23 which mark the monthly movements of the moon across the heavens. Moreover, in the specialized rituals performed by Saivite
Brahmins, these twenty-seven lunar mansions seem to have a special place.
In sum, after using the Brahma mantra and A1ika mantra referred to earlier
and then symbolically bathing and dressing the newly constituted image of
god, the Saivite priest must further provide his deity with a court.24 This
royal audience usually consists of twenty-seven seats marked off around
the circumference of the ritual area.2-1 The names of these twenty-seven
In
23 English these are usually referred to as lunar mansions.
In
24 theory the gods own body is divided into parts for this and each part is then
in a fashion that enables it to render homage to the whole. The simile
used is that of a wick being held to an already existing flame so that the flame itself
is duplicated ).
Somasambhupaddhati
(
More elaborate representations, however, are possible in which there are several
25
rows or layers of seats. Interestingly, in architectural, as opposed to strictly ritual
tradition, the twenty-seven star groups become augmented to thirty-two. Presumably
thirty-two makes a much neater subdivision of the sides of a square (nine on each
edge) than does the former number. Volwashen (1969: 45), Kramrisch (1946: 31-32),
sa (p. xxxiii) all mention the idea that the thirty-two
ā
and the editors of the Silpa Prak
segments of the circumference represent lunar mansions. To understand how twentyseven can so easily become thirty-two see Diagram 5. Note also that the square containing Vastus folded body, shown earlier, has its border subdivided into thirty-two
units.

personified

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229
courtiers

are

same as the names for the lunar mansions in the asbut their number and placement are very suggestive.

not the

trological tradition,
Perhaps each of these twenty-seven divinities
.

was at

one

time

thought

to

DIAGRAM 5

LAYOUT OF THE COURT OF AUDIENCE FOR A GOD

DURING AN ELABORATE WORSHIP

(Corresponding to a plan
-

of the 27 lunar

mansions)

Key: X=4 dvdrakala, 0=8 dvarapala, Z=10 lokapala, plus

(uncategorized)

Total=27

Note: 27 divinities -t-1 blank -1-4 directions of the

compass=32 (Spelling in this

sketch follows the Sotnasambhupaddhati, Vol. 2, p. 3)

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230

just as the twelve solar houses are still

various
the
thought
by
planets. In any case, the ritual layout
is fairly standardized and has been illustrated in Diagram 5.26 Our interpretation is clearly strengthened by details given in various manuals on
temple architecture where it is said that the lunar mansions are to be installed around the borders of the square temple site (Kramrisch 1946, Vol.
1: 34). If one accepts this idea then we find this theme directly links the
body form to a basic celestial structure. Furthermore, the linkage is such
that the movement of both becomes equally contained within a square
form.
Equally interesting is the mythological tradition amongst Hindus that
the birth of the lunar mansions occurred at the time of creation itself. The
story goes that when the great ocean of milk was churned (producing a
number of important items including an immortal ambrosia), the great
churning stick nearly sank in the cosmic mud. Visnu then appeared in the
form of a tortoise and held the churning apparatus on his back. Since his
back had twenty-seven tortoise-like markings on it, these afterwards became the twenty-seven lunar mansions of the sky (Sircar 1968: 6 and 7).&dquo;
Early representations of these star groups employed a tortoise-shaped
space, but later the diagrams became squared.
rule

particular

star group,

to be ruled

THE TWELVE SOLAR HOUSES

The twelve solar houses are also represented by south Indian tradition as
laid out around the edges of a sacred square. As one turns the pages of any
local almanac the movements of the major spheres around the edges of the
square are charted visually to aid the reader in making his calculations.
Each of the twelve houses corresponds to a sign of the zodiac and the
names used are roughly similar to the names Aries, Cancer, etc., familiar to Western readers. In addition to their specific names, however, in
The diagram comes from Somasambhupaddhati, Vol. 2, p. 334, and chart 1. A very
26
similar version is given in the ā
Mrgendr pp. 126-27, and I also collected a
gama,
diagram showing the same layout from a local priest.
Some Indian sea turtl es indeed do have 27 segments marked along the outer rim
27
of their shells and one variety, the caretta caretta gigas, also has an inner ring
marked by twelve subdivisions. The two rings overlap by one segment, that nearest
the turtles head. Together, these two make a lovely model of the basic astronomical
system which of course has 27 lunar mansions and 12 solar houses. Since this particular turtle is the biggest variety found in the Indian ocean and is noted for its savage
biting (it is called the nai amai or dog turtle in Tamil) it may indeed be the original
natural model on which both the astronomical scheme and the myth were able to
build. For a further description of this turtle see Deraniyagala (1939: 164-66),

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232
both traditions each solar house also corresponds to a specific part of the
human body. Furthermore, it is clear that the order in which the sun
moves through its several houses during the course of a year is equivalent
to a steady progression downwards in bodily terms. Thus the year begins
with the sun located in the skull of the human frame, and ends with its
arrival at the feet. A table of correspondences and a sketch of the south
Indian layout of these twelve houses is provided on p. 231.2$
THE EIGHT DIRECTIONAL GUARDIANS

There is yet another and much better known ritual tradition that further
relates human and celestial forms. This is the idea that Vastus fallen body
is held in place by eight guardians located at the eight compass points
(Volwashen 1969: 43-44 and Silpa Prakdsa, p. xxxiv). These guardians, by
their individual qualities and compass positions (as we shall see) embody
forces that are linked to the daily cycle of the sun. Thus their role in pinning Vastu to earth can be seen as a further way of containing the motions
of the sun within the borders of a square space.
Note that south Indian astrological tradition again places the head in
the north-east corner of the sacred space. The year, for astrologers, begins
at this point, just as the sun can be understood to rise in the east after a
brief dawn. It is also interesting that the feet in this cosmic scheme lie
next to the head. At the beginning of the new year, then, a great leap
must occur. If the movement during the year has been generally downwards from head to feet, then there must be a sudden vertical rise in the
north-east corner before the cycle can begin again. Such an upward thrust
is fully appropriate to this particular position in space, as we have already
seen. In addition, the hiatus between feet and head that is crossed at this
point suggests a more general mystical theme in which two opposites are
briefly and suddenly united. Finally, the progression of time downwards
can be found in many astrological handbooks, for example n
antapati
A
i
ā
Tirukkanita
nkam,
Panc 1972, p. 96. I have added the directions of space
through discussion with Indian astrologers personally. However, the same information is given in Diehl (1956:61), who cites a Tamil astrological handbook as his source.
The figure in the centre is my own. In south Indian tradition the zodiac signs are
laid out clockwise. In north Indian and European culture, however, the general

This
28

Cutta

tradition seems to be to make them go counterclockwise. Either would be observationally correct in the sense that the zodiac belt itself appears to rotate slowly clockwise, or (equivalently) the planets, particularly the sun and moon, appear to displace
themselves along this belt gradually, anticlockwise. The European list of body parts
comes from MacNeice (1964: 126 and 276). The Indian ones are taken from Tecikar

(n.d.: 33).

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233
is quite in keeping with the well-known Hindu concept of larger yuga time
cycles. The yugas, too, suggest a gradual falling off, a progressive degeneration of the cosmic condition. And at the end of both cycles we find the
idea of a rejuvenation or rebirth.
Now, let us consider the eight guardians who hold Vastu down and who
mark the daily rather than the yearly progress of the sun. The classical
representation of these eight guardians of space is not esoteric knowledge.
Sometimes these divinities are represented by actual human beings who
sit in their assigned places around the circumference of a square sacred
space for the south Indian wedding ceremony (Thurston 1909, Vol. 1: 13).
More commonly they are represented by small pots that demarcate the
boundaries of a sacred space for a special ceremony. In such a ritual setting the cosmos is given a manageable size. Usually a ritual enclosure is no
more than ten to fifteen feet along one side. This very simple act of decreasing the difference in scale between man and universe helps to encourage the sense that a sympathetic correspondence exists between the two.
DIAGRAM 7

LAYOUT OF THE EIGHT GUARDIANS

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234
The standard layout of the eight guardians is shown in Diagram 7. 29
One may understand these eight guardians as personifications of the
four basic elements (fire, earth, wind and water) plus four elemental forces
(sun, rain, life and death). Interestingly, Europeans tend to think of elements as static and forces as active. But here it is the elements that are
placed at the four corners of the cosmos. This tends to link them with the
idea of dynamic movement (Boner 1962: 27) while it is the forces that
occupy the more static midpoints.3 Thus wind is diagonally paired with
fire, and water is paired with earth. This fits with the popular idea that the
chariot of Agni (fire) is drawn (upward) by Vyu (wind) (Gopinatha Rao
1916: 524) and that the earth draws water downward from the sky.
Furthermore, these ideas link the south-east to upward movement and the
south-west to the opposite.
The above analysis suggests that an important principle of paired opposites may lie behind the placement of these eight directional divinities. But
one can go further, and also see in them a means of linking the underly.
ing structure of the cosmos to the daily movements of the sun. It is common knowledge, for example, that the sun appears to move upwards at
dawn and downwards at dusk. Furthermore, for anyone north of the equator the sun passes south of the zenith point on its way during a majority
of the days in the year. At night, therefore, it may be imagined to complete its cycle by moving eastward along a more northerly (but hidden)
course. If we understand the formal layout of the guardians to reflect these
natural events, then the location of fire in the south-east makes its heat
appropriate to the period after sunrise. Wind, found in the north-west, has
29 guardians are mentioned in some of the most important popular religious
These
of Tamil Nadu. Commonly they are seen as threatened by demonic forces
(acuras) so that the social life of the community becomes endangered (
La Legende de
Skanda, p. 62, and La Legende des Jeux de Civa, story 28). Sometimes these guardians
become associated with Sivas eight lingams (
La Legende des Jeux, story 56). The
texts

full list of names is found in the Manaiy

&
stiram.
amacr; A convenient reference in
ti C
ā
English is Gopinatha Rao (1916, Vol. I, pt. 2: 515). The glosses in brackets are my
own, but are common knowledge, except perhaps for Indras associations as a solar
deity (extensive evidence is provided by Bhattacharji 1970) and for Niruti as earth.
I derive the latter idea from Nirutis association with a hole or low spot on the earth
and also with the processes of decay in general.
This reversal of the European perspective finds collaboration in another opposi30
tion common to both, namely the male/female pair. In Indian tradition, as in the
European, female qualities are most often associated with the element earth, and
male qualities with the wind or ether. But the European view considers the male to be
the more active of the two, while a Hindu associates the female with the dynamic
), and the male with the idea of unchanging essence ).
akti
principle (S
purusa
(

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235

fitting association with the period just after dusk. The gods of the east
and west also are well..named, as if they were intended to distinguish the
direction of the sunrise and light from the direction of sunset and darkness
(as dark as the black clouds that come with rain). In its most abstract
form, therefore, this tradition of the existence of a set of active, personified
natural forces can be seen to be linked to the daily pattern of the suns
movemets. It is as if the universal experience of the suns basic cycle had
been codified and also humanized at the same time.
a

LINKAGES BETWEEN

PRINCIPLES OF SOLAR MOVEMENT

POPULAR TRADITION

THE

AND

seem to be any place in the classical literature where such

explicit interpretation of the symbolic undertones of these guardian
deities can be found. Though these gods themselves are very well known,
their underlying structural principles have remained implicit. A partial confirmation of the correctness of the above analysis can be found, however,
in the realm of traditional Indian folk theatre. Here is an example, it seems,
of how the same great cosmic plan of the suns movement becomes applied
in popular life. Village dramas are traditionally performed on a square
stage that is divided along its east/west axis by a hanging cloth. The actors

There does not

an

are

made up behind this curtain in the so-called green

room.

When the

actors pass around the ends of this hanging cloth at the beginning of a
drama, they can be seen to be like the sun at sunrise. They are also like

exiting from a womb. The darkened backstage area is a place of

growth. It is also the place to which all actors must return. It is like
the sun entering its secret abode again at sunset.31 The oil lamp is used by
the actors for worship, and to dedicate their dramatic performance to the
gods. It is no accident that such a lamp is traditionally mounted on a tall
stand, and that it is placed in the north-east corner where its potential

children
secret

for contact with the divine is maximized.

One further example of the reference made to this cosmic plan in ordinary life can be found in a traditional architects plan for the ideal city.
According to theory, and at times actually realized in fact, the great city
should be square (Volwashen 1969: 46-47). At the centre of the great settlement should be a fine temple surrounded by streets that form concentric
The accompanying diagram is taken from Kambar (1969), but the interpretation
31
is my own. Since Kambar does not include the compass directions in his description
I have taken the latter from a description of the traditional stage and audience in
Boner

(1972: 213-14).

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236
DIAGRAM 8
THE STAGE USED IN FOLK THEATRE

Key
0 Place of posts which support the cloth roof
Audience seated on three sides
Curtain dividing light and dark halves of the stage
b Entrance and exit points of the actors
c The stage proper
d Backstage, where the actors rest and the chorus sits
e
An oil lamp on a long-necked stand
f Curtain marking back wall of the whole

Four great arteries should pierce each of the four sides of the
that one can enter the city from any of the cardinal directions.
In travelling to and fro, the citizens of such a city will stand to benefit by
moving along these axes that have been so carefully oriented in a greater

squares.32

whole

so

A good example would be the old sections of the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
32
Here a great and almost square temple is to be found surrounded by square streets

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237
cosmic space. Also, in order to move about within the city the inhabitants
will be forced to continually circle the central temple, thus automatically
worshipping as they work.
Within such a city, furthermore, the Brahmins ideally reside in the
south. As they face the great temple from this position they will automatically face north, the direction associated with gestation and rebirth. These
are values with which Brahmins are, of course, greatly concerned. The
west, on the other hand, is to be occupied by Kshatriyas or members of
the ruling class. These men, in facing the great temple, will face the east and
the rising sun. This is a very auspicious orientation and is associated both
with the beginning of day and with a focus on practical matters in general.
The two lesser classes of society, the Vaisyas and Sudras are to reside in
the north and east respectively. Here they face the south and the west, the
two least auspicious directions of this great plan (Manaiyti Cstiram,
p. 5). Whether it be in the city, or on a stage, or in the home, therefore,
Tamil Hindus devote much thought to aligning themselves correctly with
regard to the structure of the cosmos as a whole.
THE TEMPLE

AS A

COSMIC BODY

Let us now consider the evidence on one final point, that complex of ideas
that associates the sacred or divine presence with a cosmocized body confined within a square space. Temple compounds in south India are normally built on square spaces. Indeed, a large temple will often exhibit a
whole sequence of concentric square areas, each marked off by its own
retaining wall. Entrance routes will pierce the centres of these just as they
pierce the four outer edges of the ideal city. Generally there will also be a
progressive narrowing of temple space as the worshipper progresses from
the outer, uncovered square compounds to inner, covered, square rooms.
As one moves towards the centremost shrine, then, one moves towards a
geometrically central area, from light to dark, and from airy openness to a
womblike core. Furthermore, the innermost chamber of a great temple
should have the shape of a perfect cube. This is a kind of secret, enclosed

pierced by arteries oriented in the four directions. In addition, these main streets
forming squares around the Madurai Minaksi temple are named after three imporvani (September-October) and ci
ā
M
tant festival months, Cittirai (April-May), Ā
(February-March) during which the great chariots of the sacred shrine are pulled
along these routes. Here the city space becomes identified not only with the sacredness

of the square itself, but also with time and with the festival cycle. A similar
can be found in Volwashen (1969: 46 and 56-57).

description

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238

lying at the heart of the main shrine. Indeed, it is called the garbhagrha (literally the womb room). The image of the main temple deity will
be kept in this room and great precautions must be taken to keep it pure.
Only the priest (not the worshipper) is allowed to enter this final chamber
and only the most correct and pious behaviour is sanctioned in this area.
Furthermore, such rooms are supposed to be lit only by the light of oil
lamps.33 Despite the general enthusiasm for neon lighting in Tamil Nadu,
neon illumination is almost universally forbidden inside a garbhagrha room.
Such light is said to be inappropriate here, and if electric current is allowed at all, it is usually of the more yellow, bulb type.
According to architectural manuals, below the garbhagrha lies a square
foundation that is supposed to be equal in depth and breadth to a man
standing. Indeed, this space is supposed to be exactly as deep as the measure
of the particular patron who has financed the temples construction (Kramrisch 1946, Vol. 1: 105). This suggests that, in principle, the patron himself
can be thought of as buried here as an ascetic or yogin. This would make
the temple a kind of superstructure over a metaphorical tomb.34 Indeed,
the whole exercise suggests a correspondence between the patron and Vastu
himself, that great cosmic body that is said to underlie all temples. Later,
during worship, this buried body is thought to turn upwards and acquire
new life, rising into the garbhagrha. Interestingly, the womb room lies just
above what we have suggested is a symbolic tomb. From there this regenerated life is thought to ascend further, via the superstructure on the temple until it reaches the divine world itself. At the completion of a temples
construction there is always a consecration ceremony intended to imbue
the major image in the garbhagrha room with life.35 And last of all there is
a special eye-opening ceremony. To perform this ritual the priest must
climb to the top of the main sanctuary and pierce a place on the
central cupola with a needle (Kramrisch 1946, Vol 1: 359).36 This ritual
symbolizes the ascent of this new life through the entire vertical mass situspace,

ated above the shrine.

Still more significant, perhaps, is the fact that the ideal form of the human body in Hindu tradition is said to be square The height of the perfectly proportioned man, as measured from the roots of his hair to the
This is reminiscent of the light in darkness theme associated with some festival
33
rituals that bear a link to pregnancy.
Examples of the burial alive of ascetics can be found in Banninga (1913: 1281)
34
and Srinivas (1952: 87-88).
This ceremony, called Kumbavicekam, is too complex to be described here in any
35
detail.
The ritual is very common and can be used to bring any image to life.
36

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239
soles of his feet, is supposed to equal the width of his arms stretched horizontally when the latter distance is measured from the tip of one middle
finger to the tip of the other. Such are the proportions attributed to the
Mahdpurusa or Universal Being (Kramrisch 1946, Vol 1: 42-43). This makes
DIAGRAM 9

THE TEMPLE AS A BODY TURNED UPWARDS

the perfect body the same in shape as the perfect shrine. And the identification of these two, that is, speaking of ones own body as a temple, is
part of popular as well as learned Hindu tradition. This idea supplies one
major rationale for keeping the body pure. For the faithful, furthermore,
every mouthful of food eaten is also a sacrifice to the internal fires of

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240

digestion (Malamoud 1975: 100-1). Eating, too, becomes a ritual of placing of food in a temple and each bite is now understood to be an offering
destined for the gods.
Yogic tradition carries this identification of the body with a temple even
further. Here the progress of a devotee from the outer entrance of a temple to its innermost shrine is compared to the movement of life force a
yogin experiences along the seven nodes of his spine. Through a series of
exercises involving successive degrees of awakening, such practitioners
hope to move the centre of their concentrated life force gradually upwards
towards a final point near the top of the skull. In entering a temple, then,
the worshipper automatically becomes involved in this process of yogic
regeneration. For according to some, the entire temple structure is itself a
perfect human form. As the worshipper progresses inwards towards the
central garbhagrha he simultaneously moves along the temples own spine,
gradually approaching its head. A diagram of this process, as depicted by
one south Indian author, is provided in Diagram 9.37
CONCLUSION
In the foregoing pages we have looked at the many ways in which human
body form and concepts of cosmic structure are linked in southern Hindu
tradition. We have provided many examples of this theme as expressed in
the popular culture of the Coimbatore district. In addition, we have shown
that scholarly codifications and elaborations on this core principle are
plentiful, The same idea undoubtedly underlies the religious traditions of
many other cultures as well. But a few things may be tentatively identified
as unique to the Hindu perspective. First we may mention the emphasis
on spatial form. In this culture, unlike many, body and cosmos are viewed
as related topological spaces that exhibit similarities at the level of visible
structure. Second, it is thought that the 1Bvo may be united by their successful containment within the same magical space. Third, the ideal1 shape of
this magical space, in Hindu tradition, is a square or cubic form.
At another level, however, this striving to unite bodily and cosmic being
leads to unresolved new problems. The crux of the paradox that results is
hard to pinpoint exactly. However, it appears to revolve around certain
fundamental criteria of perspective: for one, is the unity of body and cosmos to be viewed from the inside or the outside, and secondly, is it static
This particular diagram is copied with minor modifications) from Vamikanathan
37
17 and 20). Kramrisch (1946, Vol 1: 266 and 359) and Curtis (1973: 49) describe

(1971:
a

similar

symbolism,

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241

dynamic in quality? The first question can be shown to lead rapidly to

paradox. Simply take the point of view of a worshipper. If one is the object of a ritual one will normally sit facing east, oriented towards the rising

or

Oriented in this direction, as we have seen, one is considered to be

facing the central force of the cosmos. At the same time, however, one
faces west to worship others whose shrines or ritual spaces have been constructed here on earth. To a worshipper any shrine is a physio-magical
representation of the cosmos as a whole. But where, then, is that whole?
Is it like a series of receding mirrorS?311 Individuals, in worship, orient themselves towards foci of divine power greater than themselves. Those foci are
again oriented to face still greater forces. Thus the containment principle
is many-layered. What is outside and facing the self from one perspective
is the self from another.
The second problem mentioned was whether these body-cosmos correspondences are static or dynamic in quality. The concern with confining
the body inside a square space suggests that the linkages are static. But
some representations link the edges of that square to celestial movement,
as if the different planets moved through these spaces and were responsible
for the animation of the body form. Furthermore, linking both issues, is
the interesting symbolic relation of the womb and the head, or of the hollow/invisible/inner space with the surfaced/visiblej exterior one.39 We saw
that in the Tamil language, at any rate, the suns progress through the day
is linked to a rising movement. From a place below, in the east, it goes
upwards in moving west. Similarly, in the architects understanding of a
temple, the divine force within moves upwards from a womb-like inner
space to the top of the highest cupola rising about it. Complementary
downward motion, however, is important too. Vastu, after all, is thought
of as having fallen from above, and at night the sun itself must move
downward so as to begin its cycle again at dawn.
The whole set of body-cosmos correspondences must, then, also involve
a concept of movement. If the very innermost places are full of sacred
power, just as the very outermost ones are, then man is somehow caught
in between. How can he orient himself to both the inside and the outside
at once? No matter how he tries to fuse himself through ritual, with a
multitude of cosmic forces, he can never satisfy all the dimensions of
possible correspondence at once. Inside the magic square there is still

sun.

Indeed. in the kumpavicekam ceremony of renewing the powers of a divine image

38
in the text) one of the final steps is showing the god a reflection of itself

(described

in a mirror.
A similar theme has been reported from the island of Malaita in the British
39
Solomons (Maranda 1970).

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242
great scope for imaginativc arrangement. A number of partial solutions
used in south India have

now

been outlined.But

no one

solution

can

satis-

fy all of the possibilities for harnessing these secret sympathies simultaneously. As long as the concept itself remains salient, therefore, we can expect
new

solutions to continually appear. Living religions feed on paradox:

seem to thrive (as modern science does) on simple solutions.

they

do not

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