Temple of the Four Worlds

The Temple of the Four Worlds (Tsounya: Ssínu Llùw̄ was the principal temple in the Tsounya Kingdom, built around a sacred tree called Nyanu Lluw ("four-worlds tree"), also known as Nya Rien ("first tree"). It was located in Ttsaf Ttsar.
Over time, the Temple was expanded and more buildings were built on the temple grounds, forming a temple precinct that served not only as a religious center but also as a center of education, commerce, celebration, and social gathering.
The Temple, with Nyanu Lluw towering from its center, has a distinctive appearance, and its image is associated with Ttsaf Ttsar, as well as with the Tsounya Kingdom and the Tsounya people's religion.

Purpose / Function

The purpose of the Temple was to enshrine the legendary tree Nyanu Lluw, the cornerstone of the Four Worlds (the mortal world, the hidden world, the Underworld, and Heaven), as well as to honor the gods and creation. It also served as a place where people could request aid and guidance from the gods. Over time, it grew to include a funerary chapel, an offertorium for the dead, facilities for departed spirits journeying to the next life, and more. It also developed a surrounding precinct including a library, school, monastery, marketplace, and housing for priests and religious pilgrims, among other buildings.

Design

The original temple, made of cypress wood, was a rectangular building built around Nyanu Lluw, with the sacred tree housed in a peristyle inner courtyard. This courtyard was only accessible to the high priest, who was required to ritually bathe and change into fresh linens before entering. An unbroken square-circuit corridor surrounded the courtyard; there was an ablution chamber (for bathing) connecting the corridor to the entrance to the courtyard. In addition to the ablution chamber for the high priest, there was a small fountain near the entrance for those entering the temple to wash their hands and face.
The outer edge of the corridor was connected to more rooms. The Hall of Idols ran along the entire south end of the building (the opposite side from the entrance). This room housed idols representing every god except the Divine, whose presence inhabited the inner courtyard and whose existence was believed to transcend iconicity. The idols were washed, clothed, and fed daily. Lay people could enter the Hall of Idols to request aid or guidance from the gods, though the high priest had to ask permission from the Divine (whom the other gods served) before allowing any lay person to see or interact with the idols.
At the north end of the temple, on either side of the entrance, were three more rooms: the kitchen/dining room, the storage room, and the high priest's office. In the kitchen, priests prepared food for the gods in the morning; at midday, they brought the food back to the kitchen and ate it (the gods were believed to consume only the spiritual essence of the food). All the northern rooms were off-limits to the public.
The temple saw multiple expansions over time. In its ultimate form, it spanned three floors and had sections representing each of the Four Worlds. It was designed to be traversed in a clockwise direction, from the mortal world, to the hidden world (the Unseen), to the Underworld, through the hidden world again (the passage from the Underworld to Heaven), before finally reaching Heaven. This path represented the transmigration of the soul.
The original temple represented the mortal world. Surrounding it was the hidden world. This section of the temple was accessible from outside via an entrance at the back, intended for use by spirits of the dead on their journey to the afterlife. This entrance opened into an ablution chamber where spirits could wash themselves free of impurity to help ensure favorable judgment. Clockwise from the ablution chamber was a dining room where food was laid out for any hungry spirit to partake of. This food was not prepared by the priests but donated by the public, often those who had recently lost family members or friends and wanted to ensure their loved ones would not be hungry during the journey to the afterlife. Continuing clockwise, a corridor decorated with images of tengy Swr (psychopomp angels; lit. "angels of Swr") stretched along the entire western side of the temple, ending in a descending staircase at the northern end. This corridor was accessible both from the spirits' dining room and from the inner circuit corridor, from an entrance near the Hall of Idols. (Going counter-clockwise from the back entrance was possible, but this led only to a second storage room.)
The basement represented the Underworld. Beneath the courtyard was a funerary chapel. Like the courtyard, it was surrounded by a square-circuit corridor. At the south end, beneath the Hall of Idols, was the Hall of Judgment. This room was a representation of the Hall of Judgment in the Underworld. There was an entrance at one end of the hall; at the other, an idol of Swr, the god of the Underworld and judge of the dead, situated between two of his angels (tengy Swr). No living person was allowed in the Hall of Judgment, except for the priest who tended the idol. There was no exit, since it was believed that Swr, once invoked, would send his angels to bring the spirit to the Underworld (priests, who were not yet dead and thus not due to face judgment, exited through the entrance).
The north end of the basement contained two more rooms. One was a room for meditation, prayer, and remembrance, focused on death and the afterlife. It was a "last stop" for spirits to repent from sins and meditate on righteousness; a place to meditate on one's mortality, the afterlife, and the journey of the soul; and a place to remember and pray for the dead. Across from the meditation room was an offertorium where visitors could leave gifts for the dead. Each gift would be left with a message attached (or, at minimum, a note indicating the intended recipient), though messages could also be sent without attached gifts. These gifts and messages were spiritually delivered to the dead by the tengy Swr; the physical offerings were later collected by the temple.
The eastern staircase of the basement led to the eastern outer corridor on the ground floor, a long passage mirroring the western one. This passage was also decorated with images of tengy Swr, but rather than (symbolically) leading the way to the Underworld, they led the way from the Underworld to Heaven. This corridor ended in a staircase leading to the upper floor.
(I'll fill in the Heaven part later. I've used up all my creative juice.)

History

The construction of the Temple was ordered during the Bronze Age by King Ru Chyk after learning that the mythological Nyanu Lluw had been located. In Tsounya mythology, Nya Rien ("first tree") was the very first thing to exist, along with the Divine. The Divine used Nya Rien as the foundation for the Four Worlds, and so it is also known as Nyanu Lluw ("four-worlds tree"). When a strikingly large cypress tree was discovered in Ttsaf Ttsar (then not yet a part of the Tsounya Kingdom), it was identified with Nyanu Lluw, and Ru Chyk had the city captured and a temple built around the tree.

Founding Date

Bronze Age

Type

Temple / Religious complex

Parent Location

Ttsaf Ttsar

Owning Organization

Tsounya Kingdom