a.k. coomaraswamy - eckstein
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Medieval cademy of merica
EcksteinAuthor(s): Ananda K. CoomaraswamySource: Speculum, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan., 1939), pp. 66-72Published by: Medieval Academy of America
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ECKSTEIN
BY ANANDA
K. COOMARASWAMY
IN a remarkable
ook,
Consider
he
ilies,
how
hey row
Matth.,
vi,28) published
by the
Pennsylvania
German
Folklore
ociety, 937,
Mr
Stoudt,
whose nterpre-
tation
of
Pennsylvania
German
rt
s
based
entirely
n
the
historical
manifesta-
tions ofmysticalreligion' with special emphasison JacobBohme,Dante, St
Bernard, nd
the
Bible), was for
longtime
puzzled bythe
diamondmotif; ntil
finding
passage
in
the
writings
f
AlexanderMach
where in
accordancewith
the Biblical textscited
below)
Christ
was
spoken
of as
the Eckstein
.
.
he real-
ised
that the
(German) word for
diamond was the
same as
for cornerstone'
(p. 76).
The device occurs
on
stove-plates, nd in this
connectionMr
Stoudt ap-
propriatelyitesthe
nstruction y
Clement f
Alexandria o the
earlyChristians
to
place
the
accepted
ymbols
f
Christ
n
their omestic tensils.
So
far,
o
good. We can,
however, o further,
nd enquire n
what senses
Christ
is thus referredo both as 'diamond' and as 'corner-stone,' r more literally
'angle
-stone).'1
n Ps.
ccxviii,
2
=
Matth.,
xxi,
42
=Luke
xx, 17,
we
have 'The
stone which
the
builders
rejected, he same is
become
the head
of
the
corner'
(Ke-aX)iv
yywvtas,
aput
anguli);
in
Eph. ii,
20, 'Himself he
chief
orner-stone'
(OvroS
&KpoywmvtaLov
vroo
xpto-rov1
I7o-ov,ipso
ummo
ngulari apide
ChristoJesu)
the
text
continuing:
in
whom
each
separate
building fitlyframed
together
(o-vvapJ.o8oLyo1o7'vrv,
onstructa=Skr.
aimskrta)
roweth nto a
holy temple
ets
vaov
&ytov)
n
the
Lord,
n
whom
ye
also
are
builded
together
coedificamini)
or
a
habitation
fGod in
the
Spirit ev
lveb4tart
Skr.dtmani).'The
evident
nten-
tion ofthe text s to depict theChrist s theunique principle ponwhich the
whole
edifice f
the Church
depends. The
principle f
anything
s
neither ne
among
other
parts
of
t,
nor
a totality f
parts,but
that
in
which all
parts
are
reduced o a
unitywithout
omposition. he
figure
s
parallel
to that ofmember-
ship
n
the
Mystical
Body ofChrist.
But a 'corner tone'
n
the
accepted
sense of
a stone
at
the
corner f
building,
owevermportant,
nd even f
an
uppermost
quoin
be
intended,
s
only
one of four qual
supports;we
cannot ogically
peak
ofthe
orner-stone;
nd
any one
corner
tonerather eflects han
s
the dominat-
ing
principle
f a
building.
We
begin
to
suspect
that the
meaning
of
corner-
stone'mayhavebeenmisunderstood:hatthat nwhichmen are all buildedto-
gether'
annotbe
thought fas a
corner-stonen the
ense
of
a
stone t the
corner
or
angle
of the
building.
To
know
what is meant
by the evidently
quivalent
expressions
head of
the
angle'
and
'chief
ngular -stone)'
we
must
ask firstwhat
s
meant
by
the
angle'
or
angular
-stone).'
To
speak
of a
'corner'
begs
the
question
because,
for
us,
a
corner s
always
one of
many, ypically
our:
angle,'
which
may mply
ither he
corner
or
the
peak
of
a
building
or
pediment,
s
intentionally
on-committal.
rwvtLa
ay
refer
ither o
position, s
being at
an
angle,
or to
shape,
as
in
'poly-
1
Cf.Wynkyn e Worde,Pilgr.Perf.183, The diamondemoostprecyous omankynde, hy swete
sone
Jesus.'
66
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Eckstein
67
gon,'
or
when t
meansthe
cutwater f bridge.'rcovtas thatwhich s prominent
orstands out, and is used
metaphoricallyn this ense n the Septuagint
,
Sam.,
xiv, 38);
'all
the chief
of
the
people,' Vulgate angulos
populorum;
he Hebrew
word renderedby angulos s pinnap, plural of pinnoth nrr). English'quoin'
or
coign,'the etymological quivalentof
ywvla,
ay be either
corner
tone at
any evel,or may be coping,
ccording o the context.'
The words meaning angle' or 'angular' are combinedwith
othersmeaning
'head' and 'extremity.' e-aX)i
'head,' and architecturallycapital,' can onlyap-
plyto whatever orms he ummit f nything.
AKPoS
mplies
xtremity,2
n what-
ever
direction,
s in
'acrolithic,' statue of which he
extremities, ead, hands,
and
feet,
re
of stone,but
oftenwith pecial referenceo the topor highest art,
as
in
acropolis.'
AKPOTrp
ov
is thepedestalfor figure r other
inial t the top or
corners f a pediment r ona coping or sometimes efers o pedestal and figure
together). uch
a
pedestal or finial, n the case of a stone
structure,mightvery
properlyavebeen alled
n
aKpo0ycvtLa?os Xt'os.
What
was
the shape of
the building mplied r taken forgranted y our texts?
It would be convenient o thinkof a domed or tent-roofed
uilding, ut a rec-
tangularbuildingwith a peaked roof s moreplausible, n view of
the probable
derivation f the form f
Solomon's emplefrom hat of the
Tabernacle, lso the
traditional
orm f
the
Ark.
The gable end view of such a building tates ts
es-
sentialsnvertical
rojection. f nowwe equate
&Kpo-ycovtaos
Xt0Os
with
KpoTJpLoV
it will surelybe to the uppermost ngle-stone nd not to eitherof the lateral
angle-stones hat the Christ
wouldhave beencompared.He is assuredly hepeak
of
the roof.Our view is
accordingly hat the real meaningof the
text
could
be
best conveyed n modern
English by 'is become the keystone f the arch,' or
'roofplate f the vault.' We see him, n otherwords, n that
position t the
sum-
mit
of a
dome which
s
regularly ccupied n Christian rchitecture
y
the
figure
of
the Pantokrator, r a
corresponding onogram r a solar symbol, r
even
by
an
architecturaleye' surmounted y a 'lantern.'"He is the
keystone, oping
stone,
or
roof-plate f the
cosmic structurewhich s also his 'Mystical Body,'
monument
nd
dwelling lace, and ofwhich he ndividualman
s
a microcosmic
analogy.
We
can now
advantageously all attention o some rather mpressive
riental
1
Just s
in
the typically rissan rchitecture, here he dmalaka orm s repeated s a corner-stone
at various evels of the tall spire, and also forms he coping-stone; he corner-stones eing
really
quarter-dmalakas,nd only the crowning tone exhibiting he whole form.The crowning
malaka
is here ndeed he head ofthe angle,' both nasmuch s the four nglesofthe spire onverge pwards
towards t, and inasmuch s their orm ubsists
n t more minently,
t the
same
time
more
ully
nd
on a higher evel of reference. or an example see my HIIA, fig. 16.
2
Skr. agra s generallytop,' but can also mean extremity'n any direction; t is also metaphori-
cally prior,' foremost,' tc.
I
See my Symbolism f the dome',
nd.
Hist. Gaz., xiv
(1938).
Special mention
s made
of
the
fact
that the roof-plates 'perforated': here an be no question hat t is the architectural quivalentof
the
Sundoor
hroughwhichone is altogether iberated; he perforation's the eye' of the
heavenly
dome,or in otherwords he Sun; 'I am the door,by me if any man enter n, he shall be saved,' etc.
(John, iv, 9).
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68
Eckstein
parallels.
n
J. , 200-201 and
DhA. i, 269 a 'rest-hall' vissamana-sala)'
s being
built. The building
annot be completed
without root-plate,
whichcannot be
made
of green
wood, but
only of seasoned.
The
woman
Sudhamma, Perfect
Virtue,'has prepared n advance a seasonedroof-plate. he builders,who wish
to
keep
the
meritof the
work for themselves,
re
forced
o use this
kanttika
against
theirwill: the
celestial
palace, for
uch it s in the
last analysis,
cannot
otherwise
e completed.
The
roof-plate f
hard wood
which the
builderswould
have rejected
becomes he
keystone
fthe roof.Because
Sudhamma
has supplied
the crowning
lement
f
the
structure,
er name is given to the rest-hall
tself.2
The name
sudhamma
s manifestlyhat
of principle,
nd is
identical n meaning
with he
kusala
dhamma 'efficient
owers fconsciousness,'
.e., perfect
irtues,'
but
not exclusively
n an
ethical
ense) of
Miln. 38 as cited
n the
nextparagraph.
As we have
shown
lsewhere, he
roof-plate
s the key piece
of the roof,
s the
roof
tself s
themost ssential eature f hebuilding, hich s aboveall a shelter.3
The
roof-plate r, n
some cases, the
roof-ridge,
ecomes ccordingly
he ubject
of numerous arables,
for xample
Miln. 38, Just
s
the
rafters f
a peak-roofed
buildingmove towards,
est upon
and meet
together n (samosaragd)
he peak,
and thispeak
is acknowledged
o be
the summit
agga
=
agra)
of all, ust
so each
and all
of he
efficientowers
f onsciousness
kusala
dhamma)4 ave
at-one-ment
1
Cf.vissamana-ffhdna
n
S..1O1,
Comm.,
nd vissameti
causative),
in J., II, 36
where thehost
'gives
rest' toweary ravellers.
Come unto me, ll
ye that abour
nd are heavy aden,
and I will give
you rest.. . .
How oftenwould
have gathered
hey hildren
ogether'
Matth., xi, 28 and xxiii,
7).
The root s vi-gram,o 'cease from oil.' The anagogicsignificances obvious; for t is precisely he
Wayfarer
parivr&jaka,
arsani)
that labours' gramati),
nd
hence he usual
designation
fthe
monk,
ascetic,
lmsman,
tc., as a 'Labourer'
gramana).
he Rest
House at the end
of the road,at worlds'
end,where he
burden
s laid down, s then
vigramana
n the sense
that whoever nters here
s no
longer
'Labourer,'
no longerunder rule,
but altogether
liberated'
fromhimself).
And
just
as in
the Vedic rite
the
sacrificern building
p' Agni s at the
same time
building p forhimself
'body
of
light,'
o whoever
ike Sudhamma builds
up' a rest-house
s at
the same time
building
up the
heavenly
mansion, nd
layingup treasure
n heaven:
A house was building,
nd yourbitter
ighs
Came
hither
s
toil-helping
melodies,
And
in
the mortar f our
gem-builtwall
Your tearswere
mingled
mid the rise and fall
Of golden
rowels
inkling n the hands
Of builders
gathered
wide from
ll
the
ands.
-
-
Is
the
house finished? ay, come help
to
build
...
William
Morris
2
Sudhamma
s
actually
the wife f Magha
(the
solar ndra), in the
same sense that
the Church
s
the
bride
of
Christ,
nd
the
Sudhamma Devasabha (of
whichthere
s a
representation
n relief
t
Bharhut,
ee
Cunningham,
tupa
ofBharhut, l.
xvi) is the palace of
ndra
and
analogue
of
the rest-
hall forwhich Perfect
Virtue'provides
he roof-plate.
3
A
material shelter
being needed
only by those
who are under
the
sun.' Liberation,
breaking
outofthe cosmosby theSundoor, s often escribed s a breaking hrough heroof r roof-plate,nd
the
Buddha as
being
hus
iberated
s
often
eferredo
as vivafa-chado,
he
whose
roof
has been
opened
up';
of
which,
moreover, he
abandonment f the household
ife
nd adoption
of
the
open-air
ife
of
a
'Wanderer'
s already a prefiguration.
4
These powers
f consciousness,
r virtues r
acts of the
practical ntellect
collectively
hammd,
herenearly quivalent
o
indriydni,
rdo&dh,
nd devdh) re
contact
of subject with
object), sensibil-
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Eckstein
69
(samadhi, etymologicallynd semanticallysynthesis') or heirhead
(pamukha),
rest upon and slope towards t-one-ment,' r in termsof a further omparison,
as
the fourwings
f
an army re related o the king, nvironing imand
depend-
ing uponhim as theirhead.
Our
roof-plate een from elow hangs n the vault of the roofnot obviously
supportedfrombelow, but it is nevertheless irtually he capital of a central
pillar; ust as a king-post lthough upported y a cross beam is virtually he
upperpart of
a
column xtending ownwards o and supported y the floor. he
central
illar hus mpliedmay be compared o thecentre-polef tentorthehan-
dle
of an umbrella; he equation of roofwithumbrella s explicit. uch a central
pillarcorresponds lso to the trunk f the Tree of Life and to the vertical f the
Cross,
Gk.
stauros, kr. skambha; nd it is the central rinciple fthe wholecon-
struction, hichdepartsfrom t below and returns o it above, as can be
readily
seenifwe consider building n its simplest spect, which s that of a tepee or
pyramid.
he
actual employment f such a centralpillar s implied n an earlier
form fthe
parable quoted above, viz., in AA.iii.2.1,where Just s all the other
beams (vamsa,
literally bamboo') are unified n
(samdhitda)
in the hall-beam
(gala-vam?a), o
in
this Breath
(prd#a)
he powers indriydai)of eye, ear and
mind,
the
body
and
whole self
(sarva dtmd) re unified.'Here, as usual, the
'Breath' n the singular efers o the Brahman nd Atman, he Spirit.'
The building tself s the cosmos n a likeness, nd therefore likeness f the
'body'
of
the cosmic
lokdvati, U.vi.6) Man, the 'mysticalbody' of
Christ
of
whichye are members'
2
the roof-plate n which the rafters,whichare also
'beams'
(in
both
senses
of the
word)
meet
as the angles of a pyramid,
r
ribs of
an
umbrella,
r radii of a circlemeet n
a point),
s
the Sun of
Men
(suiryon.rn,
RV.i.146.4),
the one
lotus of the sky' (BU.vi.3.6). The pillar expressed
r
im-
plied, about whichthe whole building s constructed nd of which ts four
or-
ners
or
quarters (represented y other pillars or by vertically uperimposed
series fquoins)
is
the centre r heart'3 f he building n any floor, ircle cakra,
loka)
or
level
of
reference
howevermany the storeysmay be):
and
cosmically,
the
Sun-pillar' xtending
rom
he centre f
the sky
to the
navel
of
the
earth,
nd
pillarofFireextended onverselyrom henaveloftheearth othecentre fthe
ity, recognition,
ill, awareness,counsel,
habit' (phassd,
vedand, anad, cetand, inadna,
vitakka,
vicara).Whenthesehave
been unified ekatobhavd),peration
o longer
nvolves temporal equence
of cts, but
becomes single ct of being
Miln.63).
1
For detaileddiscussion
f all the architecturalymbols
discussed n
the preceding aragraphs ee
my Symbolism
f the
Dome'
(loc.
cit.), Usni sa nd Chatra'
(Poona Orientalist,
ii
[1938],
Inverted
Tree'
(Q.
J. Myth.Soc., xxix [1938]),
and
'Svayam&trpU:
Janua Coeli'
(appearing
n Zalmoxis);
Rene Guenon, Le symbolisme
u dome'
and Le dome et la roue,'Etudes
raditionnelles,
LIII [1938],
and Mus,
Barabadur, arts v and v.
2
Cf.
Mund.
Up.ii.1.4,
Fire is his
head;
His
eyes,the
moon
and
sun;
the airts
His
ears;
His voice
therevealedVedas; the galeHis breath;His heart heall; from is feet heearth;He is indeedthe
Spirit
mmanent
n
every eing' sarvabhuttntaratmd).
3
The axial
pillarof a Japanesepagoda
(stfipa),
roundwhich herewinds spiral
tair,
s
actually
called the
heartpillar' shinbashira)
nd thus distinguishedrom he
four guardian
pillars'
shiten-
bashira)
f he corners.'
4
AB.v.98.1,
ddityah
apahi,
rthivt
edih.AB.ii.1, vajro
vai
yuipa.
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70
Eckstein
sky, he
pillarof
ife
t the
parting nd
meeting f
the ways'
RV.v.5.6,
v.139.3,
etc.),
Branstockor
fiery
runk f
the Tree of Life
and
Burning
Bush,
the
Shaft
of
Light
or Bolt
that at
once divides and
connects
ogether eaven and
earth,
and
with
which he
Dragon
was
smitten
n
the
beginning,
he vertical f
he
CrossofLight
stauros nd skambha. n
this omniform
illar
xtending
rom loor
o
roof f
the
cosmosall
things
nhere n one
form,
he
single
form
hat
s
the form
of
very
different
hings: There
inheres
his
all, there
whatever
tirs,
whatever
breathes ..
that
concurrently
sambh'uya,
"assembled,"
"combined,"
etc.)
is
one
simply' ekam
va,
AV.v.8.7-1 )
corresponds o
Eph.,
ii,
20 'in
whom
ye
also
are
builded
ogether,'
nd
apocryphalActs
of
John,
8-99: 'a crossof
ight et
up,
in
whichwas
one
form
nd
likeness,
nd in it
another
multitude
fdiverse
forms
...
This
cross,
hen,
s that
which
fixed ll
things
part and
joined all
things n-
to itself
.. and
then
also,
being
one, streamed
orth nto
all
things."
Vajra
as
'bolt'coinciding ithSkambha s AxisMundi,similar octrine an be recognized
in
Heraclitus,
xxxvii,
the
thunderbolt
Kepavv0s)
governs olaKt1Et) all
things,'
or
as
mighthave
been
said, OIKLEL,
builds all
things."
The
'head' of
his
pillar s
the solar
nd
man-regarding
nr-caksus)
ace
of
God,
the
omniform
nd
omniscient
un, who is
also the
Spiritwhose
kiss
endows
ll
things
with being
(SB.vii.3.2.12-13), and
connects ll
things
o himself
n
one
con-spiration.
is
Orb s
moreover
ot
only
he
roof-plate
fthe
cosmos,
ut
the
door
of the
worlds,
hrough
which
one is
altogether
iberated,
breaking ut
of
the
cosmos
'No man
cometh
o
the
Fathersave
by me
.
.. I am
the
way
.
.. I
am thedoor' (John, iv,6 and x, 9). Architecturally,he head oftheangle' is
our
roof-plate,
oping
tone,
nd
acroter, he
capital of an
axial
pillar,
which
s
really
neof
pneumatic
ight, nd
ifnot
structurally
ealized s
nevertheless
deal-
ly present.
Macrocosmically,
his
head of
he
angle' s
the Sun
in
the
zenith; nd
whoever
eturns
o
thisSun,
the
Truth, s
like to
like,by
an
ablatio
omnis
lte-
ritatis,2
ecomes
Mover-at-will nd
for
him t is
'evermore
ay.'
In
various
countries
he
hardest
nd
brightesttone
or metal
knownhas
been
the
symbol f
ndestructibility,
nvulnerability,
tability,
ight, nd
immortality.
The
North
American
ndian
preserves
o this
day
what
was
probably
lready
a
Paleolithicuse of flint' n this"sense;3he Egyptianpyramidionwas made of
granite
polished
ike a
mirror'; he
adamant
diamond)
of
he
classical
world
was
probably f ndian
origin;
he
Chinese
had their
ade,
but
also derived rom ndia
with
Buddhism
he
symbolic
alues of
vajra,
which
they
rendered y
the
char-
acter
chin
Giles
2032) of
which he
primary alue
is
metal,
especially
gold, and
also
weapon.
Skr.
vajra
is
not
only
the
lightning,
hunder-bolt,haft,
r lance withwhich
'
For
the
skambha,
xis
Mundi, as
Brahman,
nd
single orm f
all
things, ee
the
wholeof
AV.x.7
and 8.
The
doctrine s of
fundamental
mportn the
wholeof
the
Vedic
ontology.
2
For Nicolas ofCusa, the condition ffiliatio nd theosis s thusdefined.Cf. If any man come
unto me and
hate
not
..
.
yea, and
his
own
soul also,
he
cannot be
my
disciple'
(Luke,
xiv, 26);
'The
word of God
...
piercing
ven to
the
dividing
sunder of
soul
from
pirit'
Heb., iv,
1P, cf.
Dionysius,
De
div.nom,
x, 3).
'Whoso
cleaveth
o God
becometh ne
spirit
withhim'
I Cor.,
vi,
27).
3
The
Navajo
conception
f flint
rmour' s
the
equivalent
of
Milton's 'in
a rock
of
Diamond
arm'd'
(Paradise
Lost,vi,
364),
and
Buddhist
vajra-kdya.
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Eckstein 71
Indra
smote
he
Dragon
in the
beginning,
nd Axis
Mundi
and
Sacrificial illar,
skambha
nd
-rcavp6s
Skr. sthavara4,firm'), ut also 'diamond,'
nd in the atter
sense with
special reference o the
qualities
of
hardness, ndestructibility,
nd
intellectual rilliance.We have, for
xample,
uch
expressions
s
vajrasana, dia-
mond throne" onwhich he Buddha andall formerMunis have been seatedat
the Navel
of
the
Earth),
and
vajra-kaya,
diamond
body,'
an
immortal
ody
of
light. kr.
agri, ngle, orner, nd a*9a, part, orner, dge,
point, tc., re related
to
aKpoS,
acer,
cies.2
The
vajra
as
weapon
or sacrificial
ost
is
constantly poken
of as
'angular,'
for
example
four-edged' catur-agri)
n
RV.iv.22.2;
in AB.ii.1
and KB.x.1
the sacrificial ost (yuipa=
oravp6s)
nd the
bolt vajra) are dentified,
and
the one s to be made eight-angled'
astagri)
ike
the other.3
t is evident hat
vajra as 'adamant' or diamond s a
naturally ight-angledtone.
n the same way,
Pali
attanisa,eight-edged,'s both
diamond,' nd 'pillar,' ypically fa heavenly
palace (forreferencesee PTS, Pali Dictionary, .v.). Chinesechin Jap.kong&,
Skr.
vajra)
in
combinationwith other
charactersgives us such
expressions
s
'golden
crow'
(Sun),
and 'diamond
pivot,
or axis'
(Moon).
The
characterfor
'axis,' shu
Giles 10092) implies lso
'centre,' nd whatever s fundamental: 'ien
shu s the pole or axis on which he
skyturns; hu yii Giles 13626) is controlling
power,guidingmind,
yeixv.
Withoutgoingfurthernto the analysis of these
expressions
t will be sufficientlyvident hat the complex f deas in
which he
notions f
adamantinequality and
of the polar or solar axis of the universe re
inseparably onnected s part and
parcel of
a
universal nd widelydistributed
tradition,n the lightofwhich our Biblicalphrases discussedabove should be
envisaged.
We shall concludewith
a
reference
o the notion
of
a corner-stone
r
angular
stonewhich
s
also an extremity
n
terms fEgyptian rchitecture.
o
architec-
tural
unit
that can
be
thought fwould better han
a
pyramidion the crowning
member f pyramid) it he phrase
head of he angle,' or simply angle'
as
used
in
OT.
to
mean chiefor leader. The pyramidiaof Weserka-ra
tenthdynasty)
and ofAmenemhat
ii
(twelfth
ynasty) are described n Ann.
du Servicedes
Antiquites, xx, 105 ff., nd iII, 9206 f. he
characteristic
f
these pyramidia
s
their solar symbolism.Of the first,une grande pointede pyramide n granit
noir,'we are toldthat Au hautdechacunede ses
faces,
e
disque
solaire tend
es
1
'As
a
rockof Diamond, stedfast vermore' Spenser, airy Queen,, 6, 4). For values of
vajra
see
also my Elements fBuddhist conography,p. 14-15.
2
Of the two ndian (Pali) wordsku(a and
kaitika
whichdenote he peak or roofplate
f a
house
to which he rafters onverge, he formers from rootkuJ(,o bend (from
n
angle), whence lso
kfii cf.Eng. 'cot' and hut'), a smallhouse with n edgedor domedroof, r even a large hrine
with
a spire; nd the atter diminutive f
kanna
(skr.
karna),
of which he primarymeaning s corner,'
and
relatedboth to
agri,
tc. and to
srnga,
'horn,' nd architecturallyspire.' Thus the
kannika
the
'roofplate') ejectedby thebuilders n the Sudhamma tory p. 68 above) wouldbe quite iterallycor-
ner tone' but for he factthat t is made not of stonebut of hard wood; the symbolisms,ofcourse,
unaffected y this material ccident.
3
Indian
pillars
n
architectural se are typically although ot always) both
four-
nd
eight-angled
at the same time, .e. square in section bove and below, nd sometimes lso in the middle,but for
the
restchamfered
o as
to
be
eight-angled
n
section.
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72
Eckstein
ailes protectrices,'
he
four olar
symbols eing
those of the divinites es
quatre
points
ardinaux,
Ra, Ptah, Anubis t
es astresnocturnes.'
he
second est taille
avec une regularite
inguliere
t
il a
ete
poli a miroir....
La face est est
occupee
par un beau disque aile flanquedes deuxUraeus: entre es deux ailes est grave
un groupe forme
.
.
des deux yeux,
des
trois
uths
et du
disque non aile'
(in
which
the
centre
of the
circle s marked):
'Chaque
face,
repondant
une
des
maisons
u monde,
st consacree
a
a
divinite
ui protege
ettemaison.'
The
nor-
mal
arrangement
f
central oint,
urrounded
y
four uardians f
the
quarters
will be recognized
mmediately.
he legends
engraved
on the
four ides
of the
pyramidion
re
dialogues
betweenthe
deceased
or his
priest and
the
guardian
deities
of the
respective
houses':
on the East,
for xample
"Soit ouvert
a face
du roi Nimari
(name
of the king
as
child of Ra,
the Sun) pour
qu'il donne
au
roiAmenemhatte se leveren dieu mattre e l'1tternitet indestructible." insi
parle e pretre,
t e dieu
armakhis, gardien e
la maison
st
repond,
"Harmak-
his a
dit: J'ai donne
l'horizon
excellent
u roi
du Sud
et du Nord
qui prend
l'heritage
ex
deux terres"
ici il s'addresse
directement
u
roi, "pour
que
tu t'unisse
a
lui;
ainsi
m'a-t-il plu."
Et l'horizon
prend
a parole
a son
tour.
"L'horizon a dit que
tu te
reposes ur
ui; ainsi
m'a-t-il
plu".' And
similarly
n
the other
ides.
To this t
must
be added that the
hieroglyph
or pyramidion,'
ubn t (also
the
'point
ofan obelisk'),
n
the combination
nbn. j
becomes
n epithet
f
the
Sun-
god,
He of
he
pyramidion."
The deceasedking s thus at the sametimeacceptedby thefour aces orfour-
fold
aspect2
of
the
Sun,
and identified
iththe
Sun;
while the two
kingdoms,
north nd
south,
are analogically
Heaven
and
Earth, of
whichhe receives
he
inheritance;
he
pyramid
tself
epresenting
ot merely
he tomb,
ut at the
same
time the cosmic
embodiment
r dwelling lace
of
the
resurrected ing,
now
be-
comes member f he
mystical ody'
of he
Sun. The
apex of hepyramid,
hich
is also
the Sun,
is architecturally
he
unique principle
n which,
s
one may
say,
all the
rest
s
builded
together
nd exists
more
eminently.
f
bnbn.
t
is also the
'point
of n
obelisk,'
which orresponds
o the Sunpillar'
ofother raditions,
ven
thispillarmaybe said to be representedy the tenonwhichprojectsfrom he
lower urface
f the pyramidion
nd
holds t fast
when
set in place.
And
if
now
Christ
s the
angle'
or head
of
the
angle,'
t
is
clear
that
this
could
have
been
stated
n
Egyptian
rchitectural hraseology
y saying
nstead
of
is
become
the
head
of the corner,'
is become
the
bnbn.t.' t is
not
absolutely
mpossible
hat
the
Hebrew
expression
tself
was
ultimately
f
Egyptian
origin,
nd
ought
o
be
thus
restored.
BOSTON MUSEUM
OF
FINE
ARTS.
1
Cf. also in Greece, this earlieraspect of the Sun-God as a pyramidalpillar' (ArthurEvans,
'Mycenean Tree
and
Pillar-cult,'JHS.,
1901,
p. 173.
2
On
the ultimate
ignificance
f the fourfaces
of God see
P.
Mus,
'Has Brahma
four
faces?'
in
JISOA,
v (1937).
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