VCA 4: The Vertical Dimension

Thus far we have discussed the plane of Bhū-manḍala, and we have largely confined our attention to the two-dimensional region of space that this plane defines. In addition to this plane, which we can think of as horizontal, Vedic cosmology also has a vertical dimension. We naturally tend to define the direction "up" as meaning "away from the earth's center," and when we speak of the distance of an object from the earth, we mean its distance from this center. In Vedic cosmology, however, "up" means "toward celestial north, in a direction perpendicular to the plane of Bhū-manḍala," and "down" means the opposite direction. The distance of an object from the earth in Vedic cosmology is the length of a perpendicular line from the object to this plane. As we shall see, this concept of distance is important for our understanding of the relative distances of the sun and the moon in Vedic cosmology.