The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

THE SIKHARA

63

asthe full moon. Within itsfruitistheChitamdni, thejewel

ofThought, andhereSiva dwells in bodilyform as Brahma,

with

the divine swan

Hamsa, a mystic word which being

transposedbecomes

Saham—

i

am he.

Crowningall is the vast

lotus with

a thousand shining

turned-downpetals,whichcontainsthegermsofthousandthou-

sands

of

worldsyetunborn. Itistheabodeofpara-brahma,

and thereisthe

formlessandmotionlessone,maha-kali. "As

thelightningisborn

from thecloud,anddisappears within

the

cloud, so Brahma and

all the godstakebirthfrom kalI,

and

willdisappear in kaliwho isthegiverofnirvana."

Now,

the sikhara,or spireofVishnu's shrine, which has

been the

subjectof somuch erratic archaeological conjecture,

is onlyan

application ofthewater-lilysymbol to the roofing

of the cell which

contained

the

deity's image in any of its

sectarian forms—Buddhist, Jain,

Vaishnavaite, Saivaite, etc.

It is a

square cell covered by the

"

four-petalled lotus with

turned-down

petals" and surmounted by the amalaka, the

fruitoftheblue

nymphaeawhichisVishnu'sensign. Obviously

itbecomesabsurdtoclassify

Vishnu'sshrinesas

"

Indo-Aryan"

and

Sivashrines as

"

Dravidian,"

whenboth have a common

origin

as symbols of Indo-Aryan religion.

The coincidence

thattheareaofthe

distributionofSivashrinesinIndia

followed

closelythatofthe

Dravidian languages istotallyirrelevant

as

an

explanation of architectural

style. BothVishnuandSiva

shrinesare

"

Indo-Aryan." This being

the case,the wholeof

Fergusson'selaborate

classificationmustbe

abandonedasbeing

unscientificandbased upon

historicalfallacies.

Thetechnical

questions

relatingto the sikhara and

the pyramidal roofs

of

Sivashrineswill be

dealtwith inanother

chapter.

The

antithesis of the

lotus and

water-lily, which were

always

symbols of creation or life,

was the white

trumpet-

shaped

flower of the

deadly datura

plant, sacred to

Siva.