CROSS-SECTION OF A TYPICAL KALAN

 

 

 

 

The kalan is comprised, from bottom to top, of a square pedestal (the bhurloka) that symbolises the material world, a main body, also square (the bhurvaloka) that is the symbol of the premonitory world and a pointed roof (the svarloka), symbol of the spiritual world.

Inside the kalan is the main statue or linga itself, resting on a snanadroni, a very shallow recipient with a spout (or somasutra) which points north. The various liquids used for ablutions, of either the statue or the linga, run off into the snanadroni (called “yoni” in the case of a linga) and are carried by the somasutra out of the kalan where they are collected by worshippers who consider them sacred.