Payload Website Template

In his important study, '_Svayāmatrņņā: Janua Cæli_'[1], Ananda Coomaraswamy expounds the symbolism of the superstructure of the Vedic altar and, more particularly, of the three perforated bricks (_svayāmatrņņā_) which constitute one of its essential parts. These bricks, which can also be stones (_sharkara_), in principle and according to their designation, ought to be perforated 'of themselves', that is to say, naturally, even though in practice this perforation may have been artificial at times. In any event, it is a question of three bricks or stones of annular shape which, superposed, correspond to the 'three worlds' (Earth, Atmosphere and Heaven), and which, with three other bricks representing the 'universal Lights' (Agni, Vayu and Aditya), form the vertical Axis of the Universe. Furthermore, on ancient Indian coins (and similar representations are found on certain Babylonian seals) a representation of the 'three worlds' is to be found under the form of three rings linked together by a vertical line passing through their centres. Of these superposed bricks, the lowest corresponds architecturally to the hearth (with which the altar itself is identified, both being the place of manifestation of _Agni_ in the terrestrial world), and the highest corresponds to the 'eye' or the central opening of the dome; ^[3] they thus form, as Coomaraswamy observes, both a 'chimney' and a 'way' (and the similarity of the two words in French, _cheminée_ and _chemin_, is certainly without significance even if, as is possible, they are not directly connected etymologically)^[4], 'by which Agni proceeds and by which we must ourselves proceed towards Heaven'. Furthermore, inasmuch as they make possible the passage from one world to another, which is necessarily accomplished along the World Axis in the two opposite directions, they are the way by which the _Devas_ ascend and descend through these worlds, using the three 'universal Lights' as so many rungs, in conformity with a symbolism of which the best known example is that of 'Jacob's Ladder'.^[5] That which unites these worlds and is in a way common to them, though under different modalities, is the 'total Breath' (_sarvaprāna_) to which corresponds the central cavity of the superposed bricks;^[6] it is also, according to another mode of expression which is basically equivalent, the _sūtrātmā_ which, as we have already explained elsewhere, links all the states of the being with one another and with its total centre, generally symbolised by the sun, so that the _sūtrātmā_ itself is then represented as a 'solar ray', and more precisely, as the 'seventh ray' which passes directly through the sun.^[7]

It is actually to this passage 'through the Sun' that the symbolism of the upper brick more precisely refers, for as we have just said, it corresponds to the 'eye' of the dome or to the 'cosmic roof' (and it may be recalled in this connection that the sun is also designated as the 'Eye of the World'), that is, to the opening by which the exit from the Cosmos is accomplished (and, in fact, it cannot be accomplished except 'by the zenith'), whereas the Cosmos itself, with the diverse worlds it comprises, is represented by the entirety of the edifice in architectural symbolism. The correspondence in the human being with this upper opening is the _brahma-randhra_, that is, the orifice situated at the crown of the head, by which the subtle axial artery, the _sushumnā_, is in uninterrupted connection with the 'solar ray', also called _sushumnā_, which is nothing other than the _sūtrātmā_ viewed in its particular relation with that being. Thus the highest brick can be further assimilated to the skull of the 'Cosmic Man', if an 'anthropomorphic' symbolism is adopted to represent the totality of the Cosmos. On the other hand, in zodiacal symbolism, this same opening corresponds to Capricorn, which is the 'gateway of the gods' and relates to the _deva-yāna_, in which is accomplished the passage 'beyond the Sun', while Cancer is the 'gateway of men' and relates to the _pitri-yāna_.

by which the being does not leave the Cosmos; and it can be said also that, for the beings who pass through the one or the other, these two 'solstitial gates' correspond to the cases where the 'solar gateway' is respectively open or shut. As Coomaraswamy specifies, the two _yānas_, which are thus placed in relation with the two halves of the annual cycle, are connected with the north and the south insofar as the apparent movement of the sun is an ascent towards the north from Capricorn on the one hand and, on the other, a descent towards the south from Cancer.

It is therefore the sun, or what it represents in the principial order (for it goes without saying that it is the 'Spiritual Sun' that is really in question),^[9] which, as the 'Eye of the World', is truly the 'gate of Heaven' or _Janua Cæli_, described also in such varied terms as a 'hole',^[10] as a 'mouth',^[11] and again as the hub of a chariot wheel; the axial meaning of this last symbol is obvious.^[12] Nevertheless, there is room to make a distinction here, in order to avert what might, for some at least, cause confusion. On other occasions, in regard to the lunar symbolism of Janus (or, more exactly of _Janus-Jana_, identified with _Lunus-Luna_), we have in fact said that the moon is both _Janua Cæli_ and _Janua Inferni_. In this case, instead of two halves of the annual cycle, ascending and descending, it is naturally necessary, in order to establish an analogous correspondence,^[13] to consider the two halves, waxing and waning, of the lunation or monthly cycle. Now if the sun and the moon can both be regarded as _Janua Cæli_, this is because in the two cases heaven is not really taken in the same sense. Generally, in fact, this term can be used to designate everything referring to the supra-human states; but it is obvious that there is a great difference between those supra-human states which still belong to the Cosmos,^[14] and that which, on the contrary, is beyond the Cosmos. As for the 'solar gateway', it is a question of Heaven in the supreme or 'extra-cosmic' sense; but as for the 'lunar gateway', it is a question only of _Svarga_, that is, of that one of the 'three worlds' which, even though the highest, is nevertheless included within the Cosmos as well as the two others. To return to the consideration of the uppermost of the three perforated bricks of the Vedic altar, it can be said that the 'solar gateway' is situated on its upper face (which is the true summit).

Footnotes

[1]In Zalmoxis, 11, 1939 [and republished in Coomaraswamy: Selected Papers, 1].

[2]In Islamic architecture three globes one above the other, surmounted by a crescent, are very often placed at the summit of a minaret or of a qubbah (dome, or its Western pyramidal equivalent); these three globes likewise represent the three worlds, which are 'alam al-mulk, 'alam al-malakut and 'alam al-jabarut, and the crescent that dominates them, symbol of the Divine Majesty (al-Jalal), corresponds to the fourth world, 'alam al-'izzah (which is 'extra-cosmic' and therefore beyond the 'gate' which is in question here). The vertical shaft which supports the whole is obviously identical to the mast of the stupa as well as to other axial symbols of which we have spoken on other occasions.

[3]See 'The Narrow Gate' [43 above].

[4]In this connection, Coomaraswamy points out the case of certain characters in 'folklore', such as St Nicholas and the diverse personifications of Christmas who are represented as descending and ascending by the chimney—which, in fact, is not unconnected with what is in question here.

[5]See 'The Symbolism of the Ladder' [57 above].

[6]This obviously relates to the general symbolism of respiration and to that of the 'vital breaths'.

[7]All this symbolism must be understood simultaneously in a macrocosmic sense and in a microcosmic sense, since it applies both to the worlds taken all together as a whole, as one sees here, and to each of the beings which are manifested in these worlds. It is naturally by the heart, that is by the centre, that this connection of all things with the sun is established; and, of course, the heart itself corresponds to the sun and is its image in each particular being.

[8]See 'The Solstitial Gates' [37 above] and 'The Symbolism of the Zodiac among the Pythagoreans' [38 above].

[9]Coomaraswamy often uses the expression Supernal Sun which seems to us impossible to translate exactly into French.

[10]See 'The Eye of the Needle' [57 above].

[11]We will return to this point more particularly [see the next chapter, 'Kala-mukha].

[12]The two wheels of the cosmic chariot, located at the two extremities of its axle (which is then the Axis of the Universe) are heaven and earth [see 'The Dome and the Wheel', 42 above]. It is naturally the 'celestial' wheel that is in question here.

[13]We say analagous, but not equivalent, for even in the case of the _pitri-yāna_, one can never say that the sun is _Janua Inferni_.

[14]These are strictly the states of supraformal manifestation. The Cosmos must be considered as comprising all manifestation, supraformal as well as formal, while that which is beyond the Cosmos is the unmanifested.

60 § Janua Cæli

Footnotes