4 I § The Symbolism of the Dome
IN an article in The Indian Historical Quarterly (March 1938), Ananda K. Coomaraswamy has studied the symbolism of the dome, which is too important and too closely linked to certain considerations that we ourselves have previously developed for us not to examine the chief aspects more closely. The first essential point to note in this respect, in connection with the symbolic and initiatic value of architectural art, is that every edifice built according to strictly traditional rules, has in its structure and in the disposition of its different parts a 'cosmic' meaning which can be understood in two ways in conformity with the analogical relationship between macrocosm and microcosm. It refers, that is, both to the world and to man at the same time. In the first place, this is naturally true of temples and other buildings that have a 'sacred' purpose in the most precise sense of this word. But beyond this, it is true even for ordinary human habitations; for it must not be forgotten that in reality there is nothing 'profane' in wholly traditional civilisations, so much so that it is only as the result of a profound degeneration that houses have come to be built with no more in view than the purely material needs of their occupants, and that the occupants, for their part, should be content with dwellings conceived according to such narrowly and meanly utilitarian preoccupations.
It goes without saying that the above mentioned 'cosmic' signification can be achieved in many ways, corresponding to as many points of view, which thus will give rise to different architectural 'types' of which some will be especially linked to this or that traditional form. But for the moment we need only consider a single one of these 'types' which, moreover, appears to be one of the most fundamental and which, for this very reason, is also one of the most widespread. The structure in question consists essentially of a square base (it is of no importance in the present context whether this lower part is cubical or more or less elongated), surmounted by a dome or a cupola that is more or less rigorously hemispherical in form. Among the most typical examples, we may mention, with Coomaraswamy, the Buddhist stüpa, and also the Islamic qubbah, the general form of which is exactly comparable. [1] Likewise to be mentioned are those Christian churches in which a
cupola is raised above the central part, [2] as well as other cases where this structure may not be so clearly distinguishable at first sight. It is to be noted also that an arch, with its two rectilinear pillars and the soffit which rests on them, is really nothing other than the vertical cross section of such a structure, and in this arch, the keystone at its summit obviously corresponds to the highest part of the dome. We will come back later to the real significance of that point. [3]
It is easy to see, first of all, that the two parts of the structure we have just described represent earth and heaven, to which in fact the square and circular forms respectively correspond (or the cubic and spherical forms in three dimensional construction); and though it is in the Far Eastern tradition that most stress is laid on this correspondence, it is far from belonging to it exclusively. [4] As we have just alluded to the Far Eastern tradition, it is not without interest to note in this connection that in China the attire of the ancient Emperors had to be round at the top and square at the bottom. This attire, in fact, had a symbolic meaning (just as did all the actions of their lives, which were ritually regulated) and this meaning was precisely the same as the one we are now considering in its architectural realisation. [5] Let it be added at once that if, as regards building, the entire construction be
considered as hypogean or underground as in fact it sometimes is, literally in certain cases and symbolically in others, we are brought back to the symbolism of the cave as image of the entire cosmos.
To this general meaning another yet more precise is to be added: the whole edifice, viewed from top to bottom, represents the passage from principial Unity (to which the central point or summit of the dome corresponds, and of which the whole vault is as it were only an expansion) to the quaternary of elemental manifestation; [6] inversely, from below upwards, it is the return of this manifestation to Unity. In this connection Coomaraswamy recalls as having the same meaning, the Vedic symbolism of the three Ribhus who, from the single cup (pätra) of Twashtri made four cups (and it goes without saying that the form of the cup is hemispherical, like that of the dome). The ternary number, intervening here as intermediary between Unity and quaternity, signifies in this case that it is only by means of the three dimensions of space that the original 'one' can be made 'four', which is exactly represented by the three dimensional cross. The inverse process is likewise represented by the legend of the Buddha who, having received four bowls of alms from the Maharajas of the four cardinal points, made of them a single bowl, which indicates that for the 'unified' being, the 'Grail' (to use the Western traditional term which obviously designates the equivalent of this pätra) is once more single as it was at the beginning, that is, at the starting point of cosmic manifestation. [7]
Before going further, let it be noted that the structure in question can also be realised horizontally: to a rectangular edifice a semicircular part is added by the projection of the foundation plan at one of its extremities, the one that lies in the direction to which a celestial influence is ascribed. In the most widely known cases, at least, this will be the direction from which the light comes, that is, the East; and the example that comes most immediately to mind is that of a church ending in a semicircular apse. Another example is provided by the complete form of a Masonic temple: it is known that the lodge, strictly speaking, is a 'long square', that is, really a double square, the length (from East to West) being the double of the width (North to South); [8] but to this double square, which is the Hikal, the Debir is added at the East, in the form
of a semicircle; [9] and this, moreover, is exactly the plan of the Roman basilica. [10]
Let us now return to vertical structure: as Coomaraswamy remarks, this must be considered, in its entirety, in relation to a central axis; it is obviously so in the case of a hut with a dome shaped roof supported by a post joining the summit of this roof with the earth; it is also the same in the case of certain stupas in which the axis is represented inside the structure, sometimes being prolonged upwards even beyond the dome. Nevertheless, it is not necessary for the axis always to be represented materially, any more than the World Axis, of which it is the image, is in fact materially represented in any place whatsoever; what matters is that the centre of the ground space occupied by the edifice, that is, the point situated directly beneath the summit of the dome, should be always virtually identified with the 'Centre of the World'. This, in fact, is not a 'place' in the topographical and literal sense of the word, but rather in a transcendent and principial sense; and consequently it can be realised in every centre that is regularly established and consecrated, whence the necessity of the rites which make the construction of a building a true imitation of the very formation of the world. [11] The point in question is therefore a true omphalos (nābhih prithivyāh). In very many cases it is at this point that an altar or a hearth is placed, according to whether the edifice is a temple or a dwelling. The altar, moreover, is really also a hearth; and, inversely, in a traditional civilisation, the hearth must be regarded as a true domestic altar. Symbolically, it is there that the manifestation of Agni takes place; and in this respect, we will recall what we have said of the birth of the Avatāra at the centre of the initiatic cave, for it is obvious that the meaning here is again the same, and it is only the application that is different. When an opening is made at the summit of the dome, it is through this that the smoke rising from the hearth escapes to the outside; but far from having only a purely utilitarian reason, as men of today might imagine, that likewise has on the contrary a very profound symbolic meaning which we will now examine, making still clearer the exact significance, both macrocosmic and microcosmic, of the summit of the dome.