By Swami Harshananda
Padmapiṭha literally means ‘seat of an icon shaped like a lotus’.
Building of temples and installing of images in them is done strictly in accordance with a well-developed science of architecture and iconography. Every murti or image ceremonially installed in a temple for worship, must have a pīṭha,[1] whose size is decided by the size of the image or that of the door of the sanctum. There are several varieties of them of which the padmapiṭha is also one.
This pīṭha or pedestal is of the shape of a padma or a lotus. There may be one or two. If there are two then they are abutted against each other, the lower one being inverted.
References[edit]
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore