Puja

Performance

2012

The chapters on planning in the vastu shastras describe a sequence of 32 mandalas, a set of grids of increasing complexity. The 3 x 3 grid design of Jaipur converges with the four corners of a Muslim garden in the courtyard of Kriti Gallery in Varanasi. Nine squares, nine planets before the partitioning of astronomy from astrology.

The script for performing Puja is a flowchart of implied circles and rectangles articulating the boundaries of an action. The garden becomes a site of pilgrimage, and the body is marked by each gesture.