Sonic Architecture and the Creation of Space Approaches to Dīkshitarʼs Brhadīśvaram and the Brhadīśvara Temple in Tañjāvūr Alfred Vitale, 2004 Advised by D.R. Brooks, Ph.D. (Religion) and Robert Morris, Ph.D. (Eastman Composition Dept.)

Painting of Siva decorating the inner precinct Departments of Religion and Music gallery of the Brhadīśvara Temple.

ntroduction: constructed frames around these ineffable spaces. By I A Subject, An Object, A Relationship making such structures, we make the indescribable Musical forms, like architectural structures, can approachable. describe our experience of spatial relationships. Our But there is yet another important feature of study will demonstrate this through a particular architecture that is of utmost importance in our musical construction of the Carnatic (South Indian) examination of Dīkshitar’s composition. This feature, tradition that is further enhanced by the composer’s the relationship of perceiver to the perceived, is in fact religious perspective. The piece is a composition the very motivation of cognizable architecture and (“kriti”) by Muthusvāmy Dīkshitar (1775-1835) entitled defines its structural relationships. As the philosopher “Brhadīśvaram.” The title refers to a particular temple, Martin Heidegger wrote, “The bridge gathers the the Rajarajesvara Temple in Tañjāvūr, Tamilnadu, also earth as landscape around the stream…It does not just known as the “Brhadīśvara Temple.” Our purpose here connect banks that are already there. The banks emerge 1 is to consider Dīkshitar’s profoundly Tantric conception as banks only as the bridge crosses the stream.” of space and relationships in this kriti and see how In Heidegger’s view, it is the disconnected elements the musical structure both mirrors and embodies the of the natural world that is re-cognized (they “emerge”) creation of temple spaces delineated by the relationships as elements of the architecture when the architecture of the worshippers to the Divine. It is clearly reasonable takes its particular form. to perform such examinations through the windows of If we consider architecture not as the building of musicology, religion, or anthropology, but we should structures but as the creation of cognizable space, we also open up the possibilities for other disciplinary are also given a useful perspective in which to examine engagements that can perform comparative or Dīkshitar’s remarkable skills as both a performer and supportive functions. Among these paradigms there as a Tantrika. For, as we will see, the delineation of is a commonality: each seeks to reconcile, address, or space is a particularization of experience that is crucial otherwise elucidate on the relationship between the to the Tantric perspective. subject and the object; the perceiver and the perceived. Since this commonality aims at the heart of the matter, The Hindu Temple: Monument of manifestation… we will treat these paradigms as possible windows The gargantuan task of ascertaining the meaning through which to examine this composition. It is of the numerous aesthetic elements in and around the hope of this paper to make a reasonable case for the Hindu temple would not be productive here. such a comparative approach to understanding the Yet it should suffice to say that as with most aspects relationships and spaces within “Brhadīśvaram”. of Hinduism, there is very little that can be done to Let us begin our work with one of these models in extricate the religious from the mundane. It can be safely order to create a framework from which to place some asserted that the Hindu temple holds a prominent place useful ideas. in the social and religious milieu of , and that it is a regular feature of existence for Hindus. Creation of Space: The Metaphor of Architecture We can also assert that there would most likely be a Architecture is the creation of space. The physical deeper significance of Hindu temples to the devotees materials we think of when we think of architecture are whose lives were intertwined with its existence. only carefully formed metaphorical devices. For how Depending on the devotee’s particular understanding, else can we define space? When we look at a landscape, the Hindu temple fulfilled many roles on many levels. we see something versus something else; a duality Stella Kramrisch, in her book The Hindu Temple, between what we consider tangible and that which is touches on this idea: “The temple is the concrete shape everything else. The “everything else” is that which of the Essence; as such it is the residence and vesture of we notice but cannot describe. Architectural forms are God. The masonry is the sheath (kosa) and body. The

14 Volume 2 • Issue 2 • Spring 2004 temple is the monument of manifestation.”2 approaches and as the devotee exits. The philosopher This is an elegant passage that does not miss the Emmanuel Levinas said in an interview, “Human point that there is more to the Hindu temple than its experience is not some self-transparent substance or visible architecture; but the visible architecture is that pure cogito; it is always intending or tending towards which presents the means to appreciate its depth. Let something in the world which preoccupies it.”4 us look at an example of this approach in an article on a Humans, then, are perpetually motivated to re- particular sculptured element of Hindu temples. M.A. establish (re-cognize) their relationships with the world Dhaky writes that “…the bhutas (elementals) or, more around them (and as we will see, within them as well). precisely, bhutanayakas (captains of the elementals)… The temple establishes a useful model to examine just represent more than the five elements; they personify the what these relationships are and how they may be elemental fragments of creation, infinite in number.”3 established and maintained. He then elaborates further on their meanings: In the fictional devotee story above, there appear The bhutas (or bhutanayakas) and ganas (or to be four distinct phases that occur in his perception. gananayakas) on Saiva temples transfer the perception Actually, there are only three. The fourth experience, of the subjective-objective reality of Creator-Creation when he re-emerges, is a continuation of the third phase or Causation-Causality to a tangible plane, through the and merely starts the process all over again. So how are symbolism of their concrete imagery.3a these phases considered? Let us examine them now in If there is this much complexity and depth to more detail. the consideration of a temple’s simpler elemental features, it is not difficult to see why philosophical Phase One: Unity and metaphysical elaboration might have be rightly Those who saw the temple from a distance relegated to the domain of the Tantric or Yogi. This is consensually perceived it as a Single Entity, the Purusa not to say that such understandings were out of reach or Universal Self who is reality (sat), Consciousness (cit), for everyone else, however. What we will now examine and Infinite Bliss (ananda); who is also beyond sky or is how a devotee’s conception of the divine is informed space…3b The temple in the distance is unobtainable; an by their relationship to the temple. impression. But it is a natural feature of the landscape, which is all one organic whole. The distant temple is a The Temple and Me: Approach and Consideration space where the seemingly infinite potential meanings of Relationships outweigh any particular assumptions. It remains Looking far ahead to the edge of the village; the ineffable and unreachable. rising sun causes a boldness of colors to burst from Phase Two: Plurality the natural landscape, and a devotee sees the familiar Those who viewed the temple at close quarters shape of the temple as it punctures the sky. The devotee saw in its organization and its stratified divisions, its apprehends the horizon and the shape made where details, voids, and masses, the embodiment of Prakriti the earth meets the sky. The temple is as natural and or Nature—Cosmos, Creation, Manifest, or Empirical evident as the trees and hills, and for the time they are Reality—with its interminable, though coherent, all one singular expression of Brahman. The devotee amalgam of tangible and intangible, seen and unseen, walks with a quick but focused pace, heading up the sensed and unsensed verities.3c road to the temple complex. It looms larger as he nears; It is in this phase that we come to understand his footsteps mingle with the other footsteps that dance bhakti. The distance between devotee and temple is no around his own. And soon he is standing in front of longer one of unity; it has become a duality. Here the confrontation with the temple emphasizes the issue of the entrance, as close as he can get before going inside. separation, because there is no synthesis of the inner He notices the tarnished statues of Śiva Nataraja and with the outer. There is always the distance between the TripuraSundari and many others, his eyes roam across subject and object, no matter how much contact there the contours of the temple and rise up with its many may be. In a sense, one can only get close to the temple; levels. The shapes and colors and textures are creating one cannot internalize the temple and thus a crisis an overwhelming sensation; they demand his action. occurs. The crisis forces one to negotiate a relationship He must enter the temple or else he must leave. As he with the Divine. crosses the threshold, the world of the vibrant sun and Consequently, it is only when one term of the of the temple shape have collapsed into a new set of dialectic is upset that the part usually played by both terms becomes visible, revealing simultaneously that experiences. The devotee is where he is supposed to be direct power which the world holds over our body and and doing what he is supposed to do. As he performs the reciprocal power which the body has in anchoring his puja, he is aware that he is truly inside and that it is itself in a world, in demanding ‘certain preferential here where he can experience the promises of the temple. planes’.5 His puja finished, he re-emerges from the temple and The temple’s entrance, as a threshold, is also seen as enters the world again, startled by the action around a boundary: “A boundary may also be understood as a him. He regains his composure and travels forth into threshold, that is, an embodiment of a difference.”6 And the outer; into the world of actions and people until as a boundary, it implies selectivity and further forces a at last he watches the sunset over the temple and how negotiation: “Perhaps the time/place of the templum is the time/place of a threshold that cannot be crossed or natural it all looks. erased: something like an invisible sieve…a filter that The above was included to illustrate something allows the eye to see.”7 important about the temple: it gains different Yet it is precisely the power of a boundary that creates consideration and different meanings as the devotee

jur.rochester.edu 15 the motivational tension necessary discovered, space itself becomes temple, the is the point to experience something. Heidegger accessible to cognition.1b where the temple is entered and states: “A boundary is not that at So what we find is that the temple worship is performed. It is here which something stops but, as the is not just the external object, it is also that the method of experiencing Greeks recognized, the boundary is the very relationship between the the divine is shown to be personal that, from which something begins subject and the object, as well as the and particular. The space is now its presencing.”1a considerations of this relationship delineated from the inside out; and the roles imparted: from the inward experience to the Phase Three: Transcendence and Instead of a mechanistic outward. Re-Cognition deterministic relationship of Now that we have a simple There is an implicit relation causality, we have an organic understanding of this form, we can between revelation and concealment relation of motivation between examine the “Brhadīśvaram” kriti upon crossing the threshold, which subject and world, such that the in more detail in order to plunge becomes solidified as an explicit body possesses the world in a deeper into its meanings. relation when the temple is re- certain way while gearing itself to 5b considered by the devotee from that world…. Dīkshitarʼs Re-Creation of inside. Here, the duality between Space: The Metaphor of the inner and outer temple is resolved. The Kriti and Me: Approach and Brhadīśvaram Kriti However, once inside the temple, Consideration of Relationships The Rajarajesvara Śaivite Temple an even deeper negotiation of Turning to the structure of in Tañjāvūr, also known as the relationship between temple and the Kriti form, of which the “Brhadīśvara Temple,” is considered devotee occurs. What is at stake Carnatic composer and musician one of the greatest built during the is the experience itself, whereas in Muthusvāmy Dīkshitar was a Middle Chola period around the 11th Phase Two what was at stake was the master, we are confronted with century. The temple is of a massive, nominal form of the relationship. perspectives and considerations but unusual, design which seems The inner metaphors create that are analogous to those shown to emphasize the contemplation of particular experiences of space, in the previous section on temples. spaces. There are three perimeters and the devotee recognizes that the The kriti, in general, has three within the temple; the first is the temple, with its great immensity of parts (angas): , Anupallavi, outer temple entrance to the east, space, becomes metaphor in order and Charanam. A brief comparison next is the middle perimeter and to reveal its deepest secrets. It also may suffice to show how the finally to the great lingam itself in becomes fully tangible in order to relationships between devotee and the center. It evokes an experience resolve the problem of subject and the temple as expressed earlier are unlike any other temple. object. As Dhaky writes, “They found within the kriti structure. Dīkshitar certainly visited the seem inspired by a vision, directly The Pallavi (“sprout; bud”) temple, as is clear by the five perceived by the senses, of the is a simple statement usually which are named for this temple. prasada, or temple as a concrete introducing the contemplation of Of these four, one, Brahdisvaram, symbol of both the dualism and the supreme divine presence in the provides a rather elegant glimpse monism of all that exists and of the kriti. In comparison with perception into Dīkshitar’s Tantric play. And ultimate which subsists…”3d of the temple form, the pallavi though his compositions often It is vital that the devotee begins as the outward temple seen detail the theological and ritual realize the ineffable in the tangible from a distance and is oriented aspects of a temple, the physical form of the temple, but it is even towards a single, broad experience descriptions of its presiding deities, more important that the devotee of the Divine in a superlative form or the particular architectural form internalize this revelation. and within a broad space in which of the temple itself, an elaboration …the unity of experience can all is contemplated as one organic of those aspects are not the subject no longer be considered to lie whole. of this paper. ‘out there’ or ‘in here’ but must, The Anupallavi illustrates the In order to create an appropriate rather, originate in that dynamic relationship with the Divine; it tells analysis, we will need to examine relationship between body-subject us what is at stake and provides a number of important elements and world through which ‘objects’ the definition of a relationship that are relevant to the larger and ‘subjects’ come into being for between the worshipper and the understanding of this kriti and its us.5a worshipped. This is the temple play of creation. First, we will briefly The experience must be experience up close, when devotees discuss the concept of “sound” in personalized and particular, giving are recognized in the relationship, Indian theology. the devotee the full awareness of and we find an emphasis on the his existence both in the temple and plurality of temple details. There is Sound and Music: Nada outside the temple: a new delineation of space as being Brahman In itself, it is present in the the connection between the devotee Architecture is not about building inconspicuousness of things at and the Divine. The devotional structures, it’s about creating space. hand being taken care of by a contract is established. The “space” is always there, of circumspection absorbed in them Finally, in the Charanam, the course, and always has been there. for that circumspection. Space action is detailed and the instructions By “creating” it, we are actually is initially discovered in this are unfolded; it becomes the place “re-creating” it. In the process of spatiality with being-in-the-world. of real secrets and real revelation. delineating it physically, we are On the basis of the spatiality thus Returning to the perception of the materially manifesting everything

16 Volume 2 • Issue 2 • Spring 2004 Left: Granite Tower of the Brhadīśvara temple. Above Left: Perspective View of the portals of the Brhadīśvara Temple. Above Right: Monumental gateway of the Brhadīśvara Temple.

that space is not. Yet, in doing so, the approach to the divine in each A SriVidya tantrika (as we will we can impart the experience of anga of the kriti: learn later) would also find mantric what space may be. In the same (the recitation of sacred words/ way, music can be seen as creating Pallavi sounds) significance with these a cognition of the Nada-Brahman In the pallavi, Dīkshitar presents names, though that is best left to (The Divine or Causal Sound, which space that is untenable, infinite, initiates in their particular cult. One is the source of all). But Nada- and ineffable. It is, like the distant other possible significance comes Brahman has always been there. temple, undifferentiated. He from the use of Indra in the passage By “creating” music, Dīkshitar is implores, “O Mind”, though he and may be making a reference to “re-creating” it. He is describing seems to be implying the Mind that the so-called talu-cakra in Hatha- everything that Nada-Brahmin is at One with the great lord. For he Yoga, which is the birthplace of is not by delineating it through a immediately invokes the superlative: Indra and resides in the upper limited, impermanent form. Yet “great lord” (Brhadīśvaram), palate, where the tongue is placed in doing so, his music can impart worshipped by deities (i.e., out of to prevent energy from spilling the experience of Nada-Brahman. the realm of human experience). out.9 This would further enhance According to Lewis Rowell: The text of the pallavi reads: the idea that the pallavi relates to Sound, according to the testimony Oh Mind! Sing the praises of the head. of Sarngadeva, is manifested, not Lord BRHADĪŚVARA, who is Finally, we might also note caused, and the sounds that are worshipped by BRAHMA, INDRA that the first word of the Sanskrit uttered represent only one category and others. lyrics, “brahdisvaram” is broken up among its many manifestations. By The pallavi begins at the musically as “brhadi” and “svaram”. sound the gods exist, with sound beginning of the kriti, but what else? The “brhadi” is interesting because they are worshipped, and the The temple is called “Brhadīśvara” it also contains the name of the tala, entire world process of continuous as is the great linga in the center which is adi (which means “first”). creation and dissolution subsists by of this vast temple. Dīkshitar The “svaram” are the notes/sounds means of sound.8 approaches the temple in two ways of the song. One could speculate The musician, who is not an here: it is both the outer temple that Dīkshitar is beginning the object in this cognitive field but heading inward and the inner linga, song from the infinite Great Lord is undifferentiated from this field the bhija, heading outward. The (Brahma) by opening up the sonic (hence the anonymity aspect of reference to Brahma and Indra (and component of (referring to the ), does not create others) is also dual. First, they are svaram) and tala. music, music creates itself through among the images in the central him; through his pulsation. Music portion of the temple which houses Anupallavi is subsumed within the causal the linga, the garbhagrha, and In the anupallavi, we are vibration of the universe. may indicate an outward heading presented with space that creates Again we refer to Rowell: perspective from the point of view the immediate need for choice; “Sound…is one, universal, eternal, of the linga center. But they may enforced plurality through intimacy. causal (but not caused), permeating also refer to the inner reflection of There is a determined space that both personal and transpersonal the great lord from the outer world identifies nominal relationships. consciousness, and manifested of bhakti and worship; Brahma, Space determines what you have along the human pathway from Indra and others reflect the outer and do not have/and what you inner to outer space.”8a world where the gods and men are can have or ca not have (hence Dīkshitar’s idealization of separated until united inside. The the reference to Samsara). As E. spatiality in the kriti is evident in spaces and relationships are pulsing Valentine Daniel asserts, quoting the relationships he presents and inwardly and outwardly. from Peirce, “Doubt is ‘an uneasy

jur.rochester.edu 17 and dissatisfied state from which by distinguished sages, is adroit architecture”, a manifestation of the we struggle to free ourselves’”.10 in bestowing on His devotees divine just as the temple architecture Simply put, the crisis of approach both ephemeral and eternal joy is a manifestation of Śiva’s desire to in the anupallavi (where the temple simultaneously; worshipped experience himself? Our defense requires negotiation) is the crisis of by the King of the serpents; is rests on the composer’s religious samsara. The anupallavi text reads: established in the NAGADHVANI, path, which above all informs his He, who delights the heart NADA, BINDU and KALA. He musical compositions: the path of of BRHANNAYAKI, is adept at is adored and attended on by the SriVidya tantrika. annihilating the fear of SAMSARA GURUGUHA and is the creator of Although a simple definition of from the hearts of devotees. this marvelous, diversified world of Tantra, and of SriVidya, would be The reference to Brhannayaki, the names and forms. He, established beyond the scope of this paper as great crowd of captains and queens, in the VISUDDHICAKRA, is the well, we can provide some general may serve to reinforce the position primordial cause of the creation of statements so we have somewhere of devotees’ relationship to the the universe. The whole of creation to start. It should be noted that temple. It is interesting that samsara is a sport for him. our elaboration of the theological is rooted in longing for something We can contemplate the implications of this particular kriti that you do not have (or having conspicuous elements of will provide a much better way to what you do not want) and in the “Nagadhvani, Nada, Bindu, understand the Tantric perspective. anupallavi we are surrounding the and Kala” by considering their Tantra comes from the verbal temple, which serves as the “heart”. meanings first and then discerning root “tan”, meaning “to expand.” The Nayaka were also members of what relationships they denote. In the words of Georg Feuerstein, the 17th century dynasty in Tanjevur Nagadhvani is the name of the raga the word “Tantra” can be seen as who were known as patrons of the used in the kriti (dhvani means “the expansive, all-emcompassing arts.11 Could Dīkshitar be referring “poetic expression”, and naga may Reality revealed by wisdom” and to them as well? For a patron of refer to the “ascetic”).13 This raga denotes the pulsation between the the arts is usually not the one is rare and is appropriate with this revealed and the concealed as a play performing the art; that is, they unique (rare) temple. Nada is the by which liberation is experienced.12 support what they can not have source (from the word for “river”) Tantras will argue for a God that themselves. and can be seen as the central is exactly your experiences. After channel. The Bindu is the seed, the “realization,” you still wake up to Charanam point from where it all begins. Kala, the world! Epiphanies are forgotten; In the charanam portion time, may refer to the manifestation tantrikas want to be able to keep the of the kriti, Dīkshitar sings of action outward. What the text awakened insight. of the particular methods for seems to be saying is that the Great What is SriVidya? It is the apprehending the divine, but the Lord manifests in the raga through living embodiment of Goddess- last two lines narrow the methods the channel leading from the bindu, oriented Tantra otherwise referred into his own personal experience set forth by the plurality created to as Sakta Tantra. According to and culminate in the Viddudhi by Sakti. All of this manifestation Douglas Brooks, “Sakta Tantrism cakra, the cakra of purification and comes about through the Vissudhi can be imagined as a river of of sound, and finally explode back Cakra, and thus it becomes concepts and practices formed by outward towards a re-conception personalized, for it is Dīkshitar’s (as the convergence of tributaries.”13a of the universe as manifestation Siva) Vissudhi Cakra which holds SriVidya is one of those junctures of the play of Siva. Here we find this property and then propels it where Shaivism and Sakta space as experience (object) and outward through song. Tantrism converge. It is a Goddess- space that is experienced (subject) worship tradition known to be simultaneously; all things are only Theological Implications: Tantric the cult of Lalitha Tripurasundari one particular thing that converges Creations (“Beautiful Goddess of the Three to this point. The charanam text What is our justification Cities”, a reference from the reads: for declaring that Dīkshitar’s Puranas). The “Tripura” has deeper, He, whose feet are worshipped compositions create a form of “sonic triadic implications that are evident in Dīkshitar’s compositions. There Below: Access to the Brhadīśvara Temple. Right: The is a focus around the image of Linga gallery of the Brhadīśvara Temple. the Sri Cakra as representing the expansion and contraction of the cosmos. SriVidya, which places paramount emphasis on mantra, relies on initiation to continue its lineage and its deeper wisdom. It is considered the living link to the Trika traditions, whose practice and philosophy is to be found in Abhninavagupta’s “Tantraloka”, written around 1000 c.e. The central realization of this philosophy is the experience of freedom that is the play of Śiva. Śiva

18 Volume 2 • Issue 2 • Spring 2004 is completely free from bondage be experienced in many ways, achieved unless the composer had and is all “One.” But without the tantrika can experience the been a Tantrika. It is not simply a bondage, there can be no way for temple as himself. To re-experience composition about a temple, though Śiva to experience freedom and so himself as the temple, he must the temple becomes the metaphor he manifests through Sakti, who draw on his inner shakti energy to realize that our experience is a is his consort and the energy of all into manifestation. Dīkshitar’s kriti pulsation between the inner and creation and action. Thus, music places Dīkshitar in the fluctuating outer temple that exists in the is Sakti and the keepers of music role of temple and Śiva, or music and micro- and macrocosms. Finally, it (i.e., gurus) are mimetic to Śiva; the Shakti. This hints at why his mudra- is not simply a song about the Great dynamism of Sakti gives them their signature is Guruguha, for there Lord; it is the very way in which the re-cognition as Śiva. We will return is the subversion of roles within Great Lord experiences freedom. to this concept later. himself as tantrika; he is the guru, The “Brhadīśvaram” kriti exists The compositions of Dīkshitar, but he is also the manifestation. But for no other reason that as “sport an initiative of SriVidya, cannot we might also take this further, for if for Him.” The models we utilize help but present themselves as both Dīkshitar is Śiva, then he is causing to appreciate this process, whether inviting and yet full of obstacles, his own recognition. In a sense, architecture, literature, or theology, for paradox creates power and then, the temple causes Dīkshitar are the reverberations from the this is crucial to Tantra. We should to create the music to experience pulsation of Śiva and Sakti and, as be cautious about dismissing his itself! The temple was always such, are no less manifestations of music as unnecessarily complex or there (satkaryavada)—its physical the divine. overly religious, for the theological manifestation just “happened” as a principles are not compromised matter of play by Śiva. The matter Alfred Vitale will graduate in Spring by his Tantric approach, nor is only formed around it to re-cognize 2004 with a B.A. in Religious Studies. the aesthetic beauty of his music Śiva’s freedom. This article is the result of a seminar in Carnatic music and religion, attended at compromised by its apparent We can therefore say that Dīkshitar the Eastman School in Spring 2002. His subservience to Tantric philosophy. creates the temple sonically because current Honors Research, supported in part The complexity of his kritis is a as we have ascertained, the temple by a Barth-Crapsey award in 2003, focuses complexity of particularities, for the is not the physical matter but the on the evolution of modern esoteric religious music always appears at the precise spaces and relationships it creates. traditions in the west and methodologies point where secrets are revealed only Dīkshitar recreates these in his for their study. In June 2004, he will be to conceal more secrets. Suspension composition. The kriti manifests as presenting a paper at an academic conference of paradox is the hallmark of an impression of the temple itself, on American Esoteric Religions at Michigan State University. Alfred will be applying to Tantric philosophy. Further, even through metaphor, and we have to graduate programs in Religious Studies to in the form of the kriti itself and in wonder whether the temple we see continue his research. the purely musical virtuosity of his and the temple we hear are actually compositions Dīkshitar manages any different from each other. to re-create the experience of the Finally, it might also be said that divine. As Harold S. Powers states experiencing the divine through in his article on “Musical Art and music requires the participant to Esoteric Theism:” become instrumental; that is, to …however much one’s attention become an instrument. Dīkshitar’s may focus on the outward “Brhadīśvaram” recreates an meaning of the songs, thence on experience of the particular to their esoteric allusions, soon divine through metaphor, though enough the semantics begins to the metaphor is the particular be overshadowed by the pure construction of his virtuosity as a sound of the words, which take tantrika and as a performer. on independent life as carriers of musical rhythms and shapes…14 Conclusion: “The whole creation is a In a Tantric sense, Dīkshitar is also sport for Him.” aware of the mimetic relationship As we reconsider the of the kriti and such cosmological dimensionality conveyed and ideas as the phases of the moon, present in this one particular kriti, it the qualities of the planets, and is important that we remember why even on the more practical nature and how this kriti exists. It is not of meditative breathing and simply a musical creation, though it contemplation. Therefore, it is is the metaphoric qualities of music probable that he would also be that create signification. It is not aware of the mimetic nature of the simply a prayer by a devotee to the kriti and the architectural form of divine, though it is the establishment the temple for which he composed. of relationship with the Divine The temple is a physical that provides its theological embodiment of outward dualism implications. It is not simply an and inward monism; in other esoteric instruction by a Tantrika for words, Brahman (in other words, achieving transcendence, though Śiva). Although the space can such depth could not have been

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