Nagpur: Ancient Indian scholar Acharya Pingala described concepts related to the Golden Ratio and mathematical sequences nearly 600 years before Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci, said architect and temple architecture consultant Tanisha Dutta. She was delivering a talk on decoding India’s ancient temple architecture at Alag Angle in Hazaripahad.Dutta said Pingala, author of the Chandahshastra, is also credited with pioneering ideas related to binary numbers, combinatorics as well as poetic metre.She said ancient Indian temple architecture was a sophisticated blend of geometry, mathematics, symbolism and spirituality, designed to connect humans with the divine.Explaining the philosophy behind temple construction, Dutta said temples were conceived as spaces that establish a connection between the soul and the spirit.According to her, every element of a temple carries symbolic meaning while remaining open to individual interpretation, much like the Rig Veda. “The broad philosophical idea remains the same, but each person may interpret its symbolism according to their own state of mind,” she said.Highlighting symbolism in temple sculptures, she cited Lord Shiva’s Nataraja form, where the ring of fire represents the cyclical nature of time while the cosmic dance symbolises the destruction of ignorance, ultimately leading to moksha. She said journey from a temple’s entrance to garbhagriha symbolically mirrors the feet to head movement in a human body.Drawing parallels between sound and geometry, Dutta said cymatic representations of the sacred syllable “Om” resemble the Shri Yantra. When these geometric patterns are overlaid, they resemble the blueprint of a traditional temple. The point where these sacred geometries intersect is where devotees stand for darshan, which is believed to be zone of the highest spiritual energy. (Inputs by Rose Bachwani)
