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Dear murugappan,
THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE AS A TOPOGRAPHICAL  MAP OF THE MENTAL SPACE:

From the 5th century to the 18th century the temples were constructed and maintained in the Agama traditions. Temple culture was a form, part and parcel of Tamil life. Even small villages had large fortified temple complexes. A few of them are the largest granite structures in the world till this date.
The gopurams are several storied with a flag post at the entry.
1.The sacrificial pedestal(palipeedam),பலிபீடம்
2. The bull (nandi), நந்தி
3. The lingam  (sivam), லிங்கம்
THESE THREE formed the core symbols of worship. The outer corridors too have various images and they all have agamic connotations. Each image has a story(purana) and each of them have a philosophical stage in the saivasiddhantha metaphysics.
The gopurams represent the mount meru , the mythological mountain often mentioned in the Vedas. It has lot of images on them but these idols in the gopuram are not meant to be worshiped. The gopurams mean only the worldly life and as we enter inside we leave the worldly body and enter the unconscious mind of our own self.




First we see the pali peedam and touch it. Then we see the Nandi (BULL)facing the lingam. Then on the right side of the Nandi we see the sakthi(MOTHER GOD) image. After this the karuvarai (garbagraham-hyst-uterus) is situated. It has the lingam(FATHER GOD).


Nandi, Nandin or Nendi (in khmer) ( Sanskrit: नन्दी, Tamil: நந்தி), is now universally supposed to be the name for the bull which serves as the mount (Sanskrit: Vahana) of the god Shiva and as the gate keeper of Shiva and Parvati, and in Hindu mythology. He is the chief guru of eighteen masters(18 siddhas) including Patanjali and Thirumular. Temples venerating Shiva display stone images of a seated Nandi, generally facing the main shrine. There are also a number of temples dedicated solely to Nandi.The application of the name Nandi to the bull (Sanskrit: vṛṣabha) is in fact a development of recent centuries, as Gouriswar Bhattacharya has documented in an illustrated article entitled "Nandin and Vṛṣabha". The name Nandi was earlier widely used instead for an anthropomorphic deity who was one of Shiva’s two door-keepers, the other being Mahākāla. The doorways of pre-tenth-century North Indian temples are frequently flanked by images of Mahākāla and Nandi, and it is in this role of Shiva’s watchman that Nandi figures in Kālidāsa’s poem the Kumārasambhava.


 The Hindu scripture Shiva Purana describes the worship of the lingam and  also describes the origin of the lingam as the beginning-less and endless pillar (Stambha) The Linga Purana also supports the latter interpretation as a cosmic pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva.Shiva is pictured as Lingodbhava, emerging from the Lingam – the cosmic fire pillar – proving his superiority over gods Brahma and Vishnu.




These  order are universal. They have  deeper psychodynamic meanings. In fact the entire temple complex is a representation of our mind(citha). It is a structural detail of human mind. Every agamic style temple is a mental graph with symbolic connotations at each step of worship. As one enters the temple he takes a journey deeper and deeper into his own mind. He searches his own mind for the ultimate truth.

As he approaches the lingam he perfects the journey and unites with god. This symbolic act is repeated every day till he realizes his devotion is truly his self realization.  In my opinion these temple topography are a symbolism akin to Freudian psychodynamics.
We shall see them one by one in this book later.
Affectionately,
Gandhibabu 

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