The paper is in three parts, 1.Abstrāct, 2.Summary and 3.Illustrations.
1.Temple is a visual image = Poetry is a mental image
2.Temple is Tantra = Poetry is Mantra
3.Temple is gross (Sthūla) = Poetry is subtle (Sūkṣma)
4.Temple is form (Rūpa) = Poetry is formless (Sarūpa)
5.Temple is expressive = Poetry is suggestive
6.Temple is outward = Poetry is inward
7.Temple is visual projection = Poetry is mental projection
8.Temple is Nivṛitti mārga = Poetry Temple is Pravṛitti mārga
9.Temple is Kriyā = Poetry is Yoga
10.Temple is symbol = Poetry fruition
11.Temple is Jñāna = Poetry is Ānanda
Temple and poetry are inseparable; however poetry is the culmination.3500 year old Indian Poetry forms the foundation of Hindu temples that in turn inspired several thousand poems. Poetry and Hindu temples are inseparable. The Vedic poems of the Ṛṣis, created enchanting imagery that are given visual form in temples, sculptures, processional images, paintings, rituals, music and dance. The Vedic poems, called the mantras, when employed symbolically in many ways in Temples and worship are known as Tantras. According to Tamil Bhakti poets, God is the embodiment of Mantra and tantra-mantiramum and tantiramum āṉān. While Mantra is a mental image, the Tantra is that which suggests various fields of knowledge (tanoti vipulān arthān) by symbolized entities, structures, images and rituals. The ritual treatises that deal with temple and worship are themselves called Tantra. One of the early Vaiṣṇava Āḻvar, Poykaiyār mentions five fold nature of temple worship as offering fresh fragrant flowers, offerings in altars (veḷvi- homa), Tantra, Mantra and Japa,nal itaḻt tāmattāl, veḷviyāl, tantirattāl, mantirattāl, nāmattāl ettutirel, naṉṟuAll these forms together constitute Temple culture, practiced to this day. Fresh fragrant flowers are no doubt offered symbolically to the Supreme but according to all the Bhakti poets they wither away in short time, but divine poems threaded as beautiful garlands are eternal flowers that never wither. They are called the mantra puṣpās, hymnal flowers, the deva-hāram,(Tēvārams) or Divya prabandham (Divine garlands) that are invariably offered in temple worship daily. The singing of Tēvaram and Prabandham poems have come down as offerings of mantra puṣpās of the Vedic tradition. That indicates the role of poetry in temple culture. As has been pointed out by some scholars, the Āḻvārs and Nāyanmārs have sung thousands of temples into existence. The temples that were sung by these poets in turn aquired sanctity and came to be called Divyadesās or Pāḍal peṟṟa sthalas. There are over 8000 poems of Nāyamāras, 3000 poems of Thirumantiram, about 2500 poems of Sekkiḻar and 4000 verses of Āḻvār making a total of nearly 20,000 poems, sung over thousand years ago in Tamil, centered around temples.The temples that include sculptures and other images are inert material given shape as gross body- sthūla bimba; assume divinity only by associating sacred poems with them as Mantra bimba. The temple architecture is visualized and given names like the human body as leg, body, shoulders, neck, head and ushniṣa so also the human body itself is visualized as a temple. deho devālayaḥ prokto jīvo deva sanātana. Saint Appar sings that the body is the temple and the mind in it is the crystal Liṅga that is to be worshipped.Among the natural entities, the Sun played an important role in Hindu temples and art. Sūrya is the celestial Agni. The rising Sun has caught the imagination of India poet’s from-Vedic poems. The rising Sun is extolled by a Vedic poet in a beautiful poetry. Sun as a king, riding on his Golden chariot, treading the righteous path, looking into the world, stimulating the mortals and immortals into activity, appears as Savita. He is the Swan of the sky. If poetry is sensitive, imaginative and highly suggestive form then this poem of a sage who lived several thousand years ago is sublime poetry, but what is more it has come down to this day daily sung by the people.I may cite another significant poem addressed to Savita that is virtually the soul of Hindu culture, that is a prayer to Sun God. What is that Prayer the Hindu recites daily? The prayer is “O Lord Savita, please stimulate our intellect to achieve greater knowledge”, “dhiyo yo naḥ pracodyat”. It is not a prayer to confer pleasure, power, wealth or miraculous cures or achievements.This poem to Savita is known to us as Gāyatri, considered the best of poems by ancient Indians. Kṛṣṇa says in his Gita that “I am Gayatri among poems” - gāyatri chandasām aham. Unquenchable thirst for knowledge is the religion of Hindus for the past three to four thousand years, recited daily by millions of people to this day which remains a unique poem in the history of the world.The third poem, I want to mention, is the Śrī Rudram that is recited in every ritual, domestic and temples, which also is addressed to Sun. An understanding of these immortal poems are essential for understanding the concepts of Śiva, Viṣṇu, Brahma, Devi and other manifestations, basic to temples and sculptural art. The Form created by Vedic poetry for the dual benign and terrific nature of Agni, is the root of Indian art. Temple form is brought into operation by a ritual diagram called “vastu pada vinyāsa” drawn on the ground, with the help of rising and setting Sun’s rays. The temple raises on this diagram which brings into operations the Cosmic powers, the powers of directions, the powers of celestial bodies, the planets (Grahas), stars, (Nakṣatras), and the twelve months (Dvādasa Ādityas). The space and time and are captured and invoked in the diagram with Vedic poetry, is a prerequisite for building temples. It is Sūrya the presiding Lord of all these luminaries (nakshtara graha tāranām adhipaḥ viśva bhāvanaḥ) who is visualized in Temple structure suggesting this cosmic poetry. So, be it in Viṣṇu temple or Śiva temple, Sūrya is offered worship daily first in the mornings. That the temple structure is poetry is further confirmed by the terms used for the ground plan and elevation that are called the Horizontal poetry (adaḥ chandas) and vertical poetry (ūrdhva chandas) denoting the plan and elevation. The use of the term poetry for the undulating contours and ground diagram clearly indicate that Indian saw the structure itself as Poetry. It must also be noted that various forms of the homa kuṇḍas, like square, circle, hexagon, octagon etc influenced different form of architecture.The sinuous lines, volume, evocative emotions and the colour found in sculptural art that abounds in temple are akin to different poetic compositions, aimed at realization of aesthetic joy – spiritual experience. Indian poets called the aesthetic joy as rasa-āsvādana experiencing the joy through suggestive mode, held identical with Supreme happiness –Ānanda and this itself is godhood – “raso vai saḥ”.The Indian Poets argued and experimented different traits, leading to “rasāsvādana” and came out with the theories like Vṛittis, Ritis, Alaṅkāras etc., but the most forcefull expression was given by Ānanda vardhana, a Kashmiri poet, (9-10th cent) who advocated the theory of suggestion as the most appropriate mode for realzation of rasa. The temples and sculptures in fact are suggestive of Supreme as a beautiful dhvani kāvya. The various theories that arose during different periods of Indian history had their impact on temple and sculptures. The dhvani and Rasa theories are essential to the undrstanding of Tample arts. One can not understand the temple ethoes – without a study of Bharata’s theory of Nāṭya. In fact Bharata does not stop with the classification of dance alone but includes all branches of knowledge, including composition of poetry and the appropriate selection of poetry for suited for each type of dance. Finally I may conclude that in temple worship the material symbol like the Liṅga or Viṣṇu images are psychologically transformed into what is called Vidyā deha - poetic body for final worshipIllustrationsThese points would be illustrated with over 60 colourful, appropriate, computerized slides .
