Have you dropped a pebble in a pond? Have you seen the ripples, appearing in concentric circles, one after another? This is how the ancient Indians imagined the mind responding to every new piece of information, or sensation. Thus arose the concept of mandala, which can mean disc, or circle, or concentric circles. It is the egg (anda) of the mind (manas). The word mandala, and the related concept of chakra or wheel, is an integral part of Indian design – shaping art, literature, and conceptions of spiritual and political realms.
The chapters of the Rig Veda are called mandalas — circles of hymns. This is because unlike a book, where one moves from chapter to chapter, the Vedic chapters are not really chapters. These were orally transmitted. Each mandala belonged to one family. When the last verse was chanted, you returned to the first verse. There was no movement from one chapter to another. Each mandala was a string of circular syllables. Only those who knew the secrets could split the syllables into words, phrases, verses, and poems.
The word Sama of Sama-Veda, draws attention to the practice in music of returning to the first note in music, creating a circular loop, a mandala. Words like sam-yaka (comprehensive), sam-rajya (empire), sam-vidhan (constitution) capture the concept of enclosing circularity – the mandala. The circle can be expanded or contracted. As one rises in wisdom, the circle of knowledge keeps expanding.
Mandala in Jain, Buddhist, and Mauryan traditions
In Jainism, when the Tirthankara attains omniscience (knowledge of everything and everyone), he rises in the air and appears to be facing all directions, and all creatures gather around him in concentric circles, and they listen to what he has to say. And everyone feels he is talking to them personally in their language at their level. This was the circular assembly known as sam-sharana (granting refuge to all).
In Buddhism, the Buddha’s relics were placed under a half-sphere mound that appeared like an overturned bowl and was called a stupa. Around the stupa was a circular path decorated with a circular fence, with disc-like decorations, which told stories from the life of the Buddha and other Jataka tales. The Buddhists would go on this path in a clockwise direction, the stupa always on the right. This movement in a circular way helped the mind expand as it helped focus on the words of the Buddha. The circular pathway was called pra-dakshina (towards the south) path. This was later adopted in Hindu temples too.
This brings in the idea of the Buddhist or Jain king known as Chakravartin. The wheel ‘chakra’ refers to his sphere of influence. The centre is his capital. The spokes of the wheel are the trade routes he controls. The circumference is the periphery of his reach. This way of conceptualising a kingdom became popular in the Mauryan period (300 BC) and in Buddhist and Jain societies.
Circles of power
From here, Kautilya, in the Arthashastra (300 AD) comes up with the idea of the Rajamandala, which is a circular way of looking at the kingdom. At the center is the king. Around him is the land for which he charges rent. Beyond that is land for which he charges taxes, in return of which he gives his protection. Beyond that circle are the lands that pay tribute, and if they do not pay tribute, he threatens to destroy them. Beyond that are the hostile people, the enemy state, who don’t give him tributes. Beyond that is the enemy of the enemy, with whom he exchanges gifts, in order to crush the enemy state in between.
This idea became popular in the Gupta period, and traveled to South-East Asian kingdoms which are called Mandala kingdoms. When the king is strong, the mandala expands. When the king is weak, the mandala contracts. The sphere of influence keeps changing. That is how the Indian model of kingship is established, through the idea of the circle.
In Tantrik Buddhism, the mandala system became more complex with multiple nodes. In the centre was Adi-Buddha, around him in the four directions were the Dhyan-Buddhas, around whom sat the Bodhisattvas. This was how Chanakya’s Raja-mandala became more elaborate with a wider sphere of influence: with the maharaja in the centre, his rajas around him, and around each of the rajas were his samantas. Each circle was part of a larger circle. A more complex state polity.
Evolution of governance
In Odisha, one finds the earliest Tantric mandalas (stupas arranged in circular formats) representing the spiritual realm which influenced the political realm. This design spread and shaped the great circular Borobudur design in Java, Indonesia around 900 AD. This design gave kings a model to design their kingdoms. The design influenced architecture as well as paintings. This model became popular in Tibet, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Java, wherever Buddhist and Hindu ideas spread. This model is how later Hindu temples were built – with major temples surrounded by minor temples which were surrounded by smaller temples.
In the Chakravartin system, control was restricted to trade routes. In the Raja-mandala power was exerted over agricultural lands to collect rent, tax, and tribute. The Tantrik mandala system created a complex cascade of control with the weaker kings controlling lands, but paying tribute to the stronger kings, who in turn paid tribute to the strongest king. The power centre kept shifting depending on how powerful a king was. The mandalas kept organically expanding and contracting. This model of governance was uniquely Indian.
This model changed with the arrival of Islam, where there was only one sultan, who distributed land (iqta) to those who were faithful to him and gave him military services in exchange. The circular idea was resurrected by Akbar (1600 AD), briefly, when he designed his Diwan-e-Khas, with him in the centre, on his lotus throne.
