Like the yantras, Vastu-Purusha Mandalas are models of the cosmos. Used as the generating order for both sacred and secular buildings, each is a perfect square, sub-divided into identical squares, creating a series which starts from 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 ….. upto 1024. In temple architecture, the most commonly used mandalas are those of 64 and 81 squares, with the various deities allocated places in accordance with their importance and with the qualities inherent to the diagram. While the temple is an analogue of the cosmos, it is also modelled on Purusha, Cosmic Man, outlined in the mandala at right.
The mandala is not a plan; it represents an energy field. And, as in the case of the black holes of outer space, at the dead centre of the vortex is Nothing . . . which is Everything. It is both shunya (the Absolute Void) and bindu (the world seed and the source of all energy). In all mandalas, at this centre is located Brahman, the Supreme Principle.
Vistāra - The Architecture of India, Catalogue of the Exhibition, edited by Carmen Kagal, 36. The Festival of India, 1986.
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- "Fundamental Principles Underlying Indian Architecture." In Vistāra - The Architecture of India, Catalogue of the Exhibition, edited by Carmen Kagal, 116-119. The Festival of India, 1986.
- City plan of Jaipur. Jaipur State, Undivided India, 1734.
- Drawing and Thinking Space In inhabitations: Conference on Contemporary Practices of Space held in January 2018 at Jaipur Kala Kendra. (When Is Space? An Exhibition on Contemporary Architecture Commissioned by Jawahar Kala Kendra). sP + a, 2018.
- Vastu-Purusha Mandala In Vistāra - The Architecture of India, Catalogue of the Exhibition, Edited by Carmen Kagal. The Festival of India, 1986.