உடல் கோயில் · five working figures

Udal Koyil

உள்ளம் பெருங்கோயில் ஊனுடம்பு ஆலயம் The heart is the great temple; this body of flesh, its shrine. Thirumoolar, Thirumanthiram

Temples and the body, each drawn as a machine you can play with. Every figure has two lenses: what the tradition says, and what anatomy, physics or engineering shows. The point isn't to debunk or to preach. It's to see both models side by side.

The body

Fig 1–3 · Tradition and Anatomy

Fig 1 Tradition · Anatomy

ஏழு உடல் தாதுக்கள்Sapta Dhatu

Food refined pot by pot into seven tissues and ojas, against a bloodstream that feeds them all at once.

Fig 2 Tradition · Anatomy

ஐந்து வாயுக்கள்Pancha Vayu

The five winds and three nadis as an air tower, against the diaphragm, the breath and the nasal cycle.

Fig 3 Tradition · Anatomy

ஆறு ஆதாரங்கள்Chakras

Seven wheels on one shaft and the rising of bindu, against the glands and nerve plexuses beside the spine.

The stone

Fig 4–5 · Legend and Engineering

Fig 4 The legend · The engineering

கல்லணைKallanai

Karikalan's stone weir on the Kaveri: how unhewn rock stands on sand and divides a river.

Fig 5 The legend · The physics

இசைத் தூண்கள்Musical Pillars

Nellaiappar's singing stone: why a thicker or shorter colonette rings a higher note.