Relationship Between Temple Architecture and Cosmology

[C.R. Selvakumar]

Mani,

Can you please clarify the source of these rather
interesting specifics ?

Can you or someone else in the list point to me the earliest
sanskrit work that refers to kshIrAbdhi and its details
such as whether it is southern production or eastern
or Kashmirian production, when it was composed  etc.

Thanks

Selvaa


*Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:
*> Yes. The Srirangam Ranganatha temple is said to represent Vishnu's abode
*> in Vaikuntha ...
*
*At least for Srirangam, this equivalence is more symbolic
*and metaphorical than actual.  Vishnu in Srirangam is reclining
*on the serpent AdiSesha (tiru-anantAzvAn), which corresponds
*to his pose in kshIrAbdhi (tirup-pArkaDal), not in Vaikuntha.
*Vishnu in Vaikuntha is said to be in a sitting pose, with one leg
*folded, one leg on the ground, with Lakshmi at his side.
*Typically, Vishnu is known in this form as parama-pada-nAtha.
*There is a shrine dedicated to the parama-pada-nAtha form in
*many large Vishnu temples.
*
*It is true, however, that Srirangam is known as bhUloka-vaikuNTha.
*
*Mani