ABSTRACT
In Kholagaun Chhetri houses, the yantric and mandalic are two ever-present, mutually-entailed configurations of the domestic mandala, like figure and ground, each always implying the other. In the previous two chapters, the yantric configuration, with its emphasis on the demarcation of terrestrial space and harmonious alignment to the cardinal directions, was in the analytic foreground as I described how it is built into houses through the orientation of the main entrance, the location of the worship room and the rituals accompanying construction. Now it becomes the auspicious background against which mundane activities of domestic life-preparing and eating food, performing household rituals, entertaining relatives and other guests, supervising people working within the compound, and processing grains and other foodstuff for storage-are in the foreground. Through these engagements with people and things that for Heidegger are the essence of human existence, world-building and knowledge, Kholagaun Chhetris dwell in their houses. Their dwelling is practical: in domestic activities, ideas about the cosmos are transfigured into everyday concepts and activities about purity, impurity and danger and incorporated into their lifeworld. Their dwelling is spatial and world-building: through inclusions and exclusions from specific areas of the domestic compound based upon purity, impurity and/or danger, people and things are brought into particular spatial relations that configure the domestic compound into a mandala consisting of concentric spaces around a centre, a map of the cosmos and a coherent world. Finally, their dwelling is revelatory: through these practical engagements and spatial inclusions and exclusions within the domestic mandala, Kholagaun Chhetris gain tacit and embodied knowledge of the cosmological foundations of their lifeworld as Householders.
