The Chains of Verekna Configuration

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Week 46 brings us The Chains of Verekna Configuration, also known as The Elegy Yantra. The Chains of Verekna is LeMarchand's reproduction of a Indonesian Yantra created by unknown craftsmen in the late bronze age (2500 BC). LeMarchand had a fascination with artifacts of antiquity and it's no secret that he "borrowed" many of his designs from already infamous sources. A Yantra is a hinduistic religious instrument said to have a life of its own, they are Deva/Devi in geometrical or patterned form. LeMarchand studied these devices during the time of his first puzzle box creation, The Lament Configuration. The influence of the yantra can be seen in nearly all of his puzzle box creations. LeMarchand's earliest entries in his journal mention a artifact simply known as the Sri Yantra ("the beautiful instrument"). It is believed that he had this yantra shipped from India to Paris sometime previous to his work on intricate "singing bird" music boxes (1747). It was the study of the patterns found inscribed upon this yantra that prompted his search for other geometrical art, including the long lost yantra of antiquity - Elegy. He wrote the following entries in his personal journal concerning the birch wood cube - Sri Yantra. "...Yantras are the geometrical form of a divinity in the tantrik tradition. The point or bindu at the center, generally represents the deity. The triangles represent the active and passive aspects of the deity. Triangles are often surrounded by enclosing circles and a group of petals, in which are the attendants of the Devis or Devas. Finally, the whole is often enclosed in a bhupura, a word which means earth-city. These are the enclosing walls, fenced by the guardians of the directions and the intermediate directions (dikpalas)." "...A Yantra is only truly vitalized when it is engraved with the bija and other mantras and surrounded with the matrikas, or letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. Before use, it must be instilled with life." "...the Yantra should be placed on a pedestal (pitha), and bathed with the substances previously described, whilst the appropriate root mantra is recited. One should then offer scent and flowers, and should worship the appropriate Devi in the usual form within the yantra. This all should be done at night." - The Journal of Philip LeMarchand - In 1748, after completing his study of the Sri Yantra, LeMarchand began research on the "Elegy Yantra" whose origins dated back some four thousand years. This yantra was designed to hold the essence of Verekna - "Prince of the mind", a powerful Deva of Indonesian origin who held the principle power of deception.