Singly and cojointly, they are the themes of sacred architecture in India, as they have been in Mediterranean and Near East civilizations since the days of megalithic art. It is not the themes themselves that are exclusively Indian but their elaboration in specific materials and forms. Mukteshvara Temple, Bhuvaneshvaka c. The various materials are employed for definite purposes, and each component has its own particular meaning. Brick, for instance is the substance of the sacrificial altar, and therfore signifies the sacrifice itself.
Baked brick is earth purified in the fire.
The name persisits even though the substance is different. The Vedic altar, made of piled up bricks, was not intended to last for more than three generations. Its form, dating from the first millenium B.C. in the country north of Delhi, was laid down in strict accordance with spiritual rites. Such monuments were pure, solid geometry, imbued with magic power and bare of any figures. In its extremely logical form, the Vedic altar could dispense even with extension in space and exist in the mind alone.