Vedas, the Hindu Scriptures do not speak of either Collective worship or of building temples.
This is a later development as prescribed by The Agamas.
“The Hindu temple typically involves a multiple set of ideas.
The temple is generally oriented to face East, the auspicious direction where the sun rises to dispel darkness.
The temple design includes the archetypal image of a Cosmic Person spread out yogi-like, symmetrically filling the gridded space of the floor plan, his
navel in the center, and it includes the archetype of the cosmic mountain, between earth and heaven, of fertility, planets, city of the gods, deities, etc.).
One encounters these simultaneous archetypal themes and meanings conveyed (and hidden) in the semi-abstract forms in many Hindu temples.
There are rules of shape and proportion in the authoritative texts of Hindu tradition, the Agamas.
The Vastupurusa pinned down on the ground by the gods12
The body of the Vastupurusa is supposed to be sensitive at a number of points called
marmas. The well-being of the Vastupurusa assures the well-being of the building and, by
implication, its owner. An important criterion for any building, therefore, is to avoid injury
to the marmas located on the body of the Vastupurusa. To ensure that this is achieved,
texts prohibit any direct construction upon the marmas themselves. The marmas are
specifically said to lie at the intersection of major diagonals, seen as the veins (siras or
nadis) of the purusa
Basics.
Selection of site.
Soil and location are examined by acarya and shilpi., The Bhupariksha.
Then the planning off Nagara/Grama nirmana. the layout of town, its size, breadth of different levels of streets, locations and sizes of facilities like water tanks are determined based on the size of town. There are different names for different sizes of towns, like grama, kheta, kharvata, durga, nagara.
Location of Brahma Sthana, the Location of the Temple in the town is decided.
Temple is usually in the center of village so that every one has easy access.
Grama Vinyasa is the name of the Process.
Then the size of temple is determined.
For this, size of the image of main deity is to be known, since the size of a temple is always a fixed multiple of the size of image of main Deity.
Then wood/metal/stone is selected for the image.
The icon has three parts, main icon (vigraha), pedestal (peetha) and platform (adhisthana or upa peetha).
The tests to determine quality of stone are prescribed by the Agamas.
There are three kinds of stone, male female and neuter.
When hit with an iron rod if the stone produces good sound and spark, it is male and should be used for the main icon.
If it produces sound but not spark it is female and should be used for pedestal.
If it produces neither, it is neuter and should be used for platform.
There are various standards for the relative proportions of image, gopura, prakara .
The Eleven Steps.
- Bhu pariksha: Examining and choosing location and soil for temple and town. The land should be fertile and soil suitable.
- Sila pariksha: Examining and choosing material for image
- Karshana: Corn or some other crop is grown in the place first and is fed to cows. Then the location is fit for town/temple construction.
- Vastu puja: Ritual to propitiate vastu devata.
- Salyodhara: Undesired things like bones are dug out.
- Adyestaka: Laying down the first stone
- Nirmana: Then foundation is laid and land is purified by sprinkling water. A pit is dug, water mixed with navaratnas, navadhanyas, navakhanijas is then put in and pit is filled. Then the temple is constructed.
- Murdhestaka sthapana: Placing the top stone over the prakara, gopura etc. This again involves creating cavities filled with gems minerals seeds etc. and then the pinnacles are placed.
- Garbhanyasa: A pot made of five metals (pancaloha kalasa sthapana) is installed at the place of main deity.
- Sthapana: Then the main deity is installed.
- Pratistha: The main deity is then charged with life/god-ness.
The Thirteen Procedures before Daily Worship.
- Anujna: the priest takes permission from devotees and lord Ganesha to begin rituals
- Mrit samgrahana: Collecting mud
- Ankurarpana: Sowing seeds in pots of mud collected and waiting till they germinate
- Rakshabandhana: The priest binds a holy thread on his hand to take up the assignment.
- Punyahavacana: Purifying ritual for the place and invoking good omens
- Grama santi: Worship for the good of village and to remove subtle undesired elements
- Pravesa bali: Propitiation of various gods at different places in the temple, rakshoghna puja (to destroy asuric elements) and of specific gods like Kshetra palaka (devata ruling the town)
- Vastu Santi: Pacifying puja for vastu (this happens twice and this is the second time)
- Yagasala: Building the stage for homas, along with vedika.
- Kalasasthapana: Installing kalasam
- Samskara: Purifying the yaga sala
- Kalasa puja, yagarambha: Woshipping the kalasa as god and propitiating deities through fire
- Nayanonmeelana, Pratimadhivasa: Opening eyes of the god-image, installing it and giving it life.
Then specific worship is done to deity, as prescribed. For instance in the case of Siva, this is followed by Astabandhana and Kumbhabhisheka.
Citations.
Ref for Image and for further reading.
Rules for Building a Temple pdf.
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