city form
TRANSCRIPT
1
Ritual and City Form Temple Towns of South India
Aditya Barve
Theory of City Form 4.241
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Spring 2012
2
Cities are the products of social interaction, which also shapes them into finite urban forms. Rituals form a key part of social interactions. Rituals require communal participation and often appropriate the space in which they are performed. Rituals can be divided into two categories -- static or dynamic -- and they shape the urban form around them accordingly. This paper will examine the relation between the urban form and rituals by focusing on three historic cities in South India: Shrirangam, Madurai and Suchindram. It will focus on the changing nature of ritual and its corresponding urban form in order to arrive at conclusion as to how the rituals have shaped the urban patterns.
1. Temple Towns of South India
Shrirangam
Madurai
Suchindram
3
One can define a ritual as a specific social
action of symbolic importance requiring communal
participation. In every culture, rituals are a key part of
social interaction. An individual, group or community
can perform a ritual and invariably they are initiated
by demarcating the space in which it is performed.
Rituals sustain society’s equilibrium and strengthen the
solidarity among its members. Rituals can be political or
religious in nature; they can also be characterized based
on their appropriation of space. This appropriation can
be seen as either dynamic or static. Dynamic rituals like
processions or parades are linear in nature. In contrast
to, static rituals like fairs, festive gatherings, and even
games are central or nodal in nature.
Rituals influence the way urban form develops,
and they are the expressions of values that the particular
society holds dear. In the words of philosopher Henry
Lefevbre,“every society offers up its own peculiar space
[…] as an object for analysis and overall theoretical
explication.”1 For example, linear rituals like parades,
often force axiality on the urban form. Fairs and
1 Henry Lefebvre, The Production of Space (Cambridge: Blackwell,
1991), 47
gatherings give rise to open civic spaces like plazas and
squares. The scale of these spaces can also be linked to
the scale and importance of the rituals, which can play a
more important role in the size and shape of that space
than the built form around it. Both sociologists and
anthropologist have studied the role of ritual extensively;
however, less work has been done in the field of urban
design to understand the effects of rituals on the
production of space. This paper attempts to understand
the processes influenced by the rituals that are involved
in the creation of urban space. The understanding of the
temporal nature of space is meaningful for designers
and planners, for it enables them to design more humane
spaces.
This paper will examine the influence of rituals
on urban form, specifically in the case of Temple towns
in South India. In all cases the nature of ritual is similar
and has yielded an urban form that is commensurate
with it. In the temple towns of Madurai, Suchindram
and Shrirangam the religious ritual of circumambulatory
procession around the central shrine has produced
a city with concentric rings of development. Yet the
urban morphology of these cities is not the same. These
4
cities, with different urban morphologies but similar
societies, offer the opportunity to investigate some
aspects of rituals that shape the urban form. This paper
will try to analyze how the differing nature and type of
rituals produce differences in the urban fabric. It will
identify which components of built form are required
for particular ritualistic types; and it will trace how the
city adapts to the changing nature of rituals.
Ritualistic processes and their nature
Before we can study the examples of cities and
rituals, we need to define the scope of the word “ritual”
as it applies to the field of urbanism. The word “ritual”
has many subtle meanings and shades. It comes from
Latin word ritualis, which means relating to rites.2
The distinction between mere action and ritual is not
clear, for instance, eating a meal is a normal action, but
saying ‘grace’ or a prayer is a ritual. Ritual has been
discussed at length in anthropology and sociology.
British cultural anthropologist Victor Turner defines
ritual as “prescribed formal behavior for occasions not
2 Online Etymology Dictionary. (2012, April 27) retrieved from http://
www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ritual
given over to technological routine”.3 To explain this
further, tying one’s shoelaces is a routine, but tying the
laces of specific foot first can be a ritual. Rituals often
reveal the beliefs of a person or a society. They exalt
the participant beyond the everyday functional plane.
Time is also important a factor while considering ritual.
Ritualistic process is a cyclic process, and is performed
in specific cycles of time; for example, Olympic games
comprises of a sports ritual that takes place every four
years.
The word “ritual” is often used interchangeably
for religious, ceremonial or customary actions. Rituals
almost always serve to revive the memory. Thus, as
Turner puts it, rituals and symbols are storage systems
where memory and the past are linked and stored.4
Ritualistic processes often serve to revive myths by
recreating symbolic actions that are linked with the
mythical setting. Rituals in a society can then be
categorized based on the intent or on the form of their
space appropriation. Rituals can be political like parades,
religious such as processions or civic, such as Olympics.
3 Victor Turner, The forest of symbols: aspects of Ndembu ritual (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967), 19
4 Ibid ,
5
Generally most rituals fall in-between the spectrum of
being political or religious with varying degrees of either
condition. Rituals that need community participation
are often guided with some authority and controlled by
some belief system. The Political side of ritual then acts
as a control system of social behavior. This aspect of a
ritual is important for sociologists and anthropologists;
however, for urban designers and planners, the second
nature of ritual, its appropriation of space, carries more
promise.
Ritual, be it political, religious or civic,
appropriates the space in some or the other way.
Festivities, political rallies, parades, and religious
processions mark the spaces in which they are performed
in one or more ways. This space appropriation can be
categorized as linear, circular or nodal. Furthermore,
there is a strong link between the ritual, which revives
memory, and architecture, which acts for its appropriation
of space. It is important to note that memory, as
intended here, is distinctly different from history of the
place; moreover, memory can even be mythical and
carries some enshrinement of the act. Architecturally
this act of claiming the space is often signified with the
monumentality. This link between space appropriation
and memory is reflected in the works and writings of
architect Aldo Rossi. He makes interesting linkages
between monument and ritual:
(…) The importance of ritual in its collective nature and its essential character as an element for preserving myth, constitutes the key understanding (of) the meaning of monument, and moreover the implications of the founding the city, and of the transmission of ideas in an urban context. (…) If the ritual is the permanent and conserving element of myth then so too is the monument, since in the very moment that it testifies to myth it renders ritual forms possible.5
Thus, monument is a built equivalent of the ritual.
But ritual is far more than just a memorial service. It
constitutes festivities and fairs; and the spaces in which
those take place are of extreme importance; moreover,
the nature of the ritual dictates the nature of the space.
This relation of ritual and space can be observed at
all scales, from the scale of a small shrine to the scale
of an entire city. During rituals, the most mundane of 5 Aldo Rossi, Architecture of the City ,(Cambridge : MIT Press) 24
6
urban spaces can be transformed to an unrecognizable
degree and elevated to the place of the supernatural. The
processional streets of all the Temple towns discussed
here are a perfect example of this.
The diagram of the city and its importance.
At this point it is important to understand
the roots of south Indian temple towns. These towns
were founded in pre-industrial times; thus, as with all
pre-industrial cities, religion has been central to these
cities. Many have religious symbolism embedded in
their design. These cities emerged in medieval ages as
declaration to the political power of the king, backed
by the religion. One can trace the beginnings of this
process in the adoption of the king as the mediator
between divinity and his subjects. This divine kingship
with throne, palace and royal temple as its attributes
were then enclosed in a holy city. As a symbol of his
power, the king built the city with the central shrine;
often according to the ritual formulas in the sacred texts
like Mayamatam or Shilpa Shastras. The City thus
became a tool to connect the divine to the earthly.
In ancient India, religion and architecture
evolved in parallel, often influencing each other.
Traditional texts on architecture state that the towns,
especially capital cities, require a major temple to house
the protective god or goddess. This divine connection
was responsible for the well-being of the citizenry. The
layout of these cities was guided by a strict geometrical
system known as ‘Vastu Purush mandala’. The word
mandala literally means “circle” but can imply any
enclosed and symmetrically divided figure of ritual
and religious significance. A vastu purush mandala,
often a complex subdivision of a square, is a diagram
representing the divine connection of architecture. It is a
way to define space through means of a cosmic diagram.
The relationship of the square and the circle can be
explained in the interpretation of the circle as a cyclic
representation of time and square as an unequivocal and
absolute form. If one considers just the bare earth, it is
represented as a circle but when the earth is regarded as
the manifestation of the supreme principle, Brahmān, it
is rendered as a square. Man and earth correspond to each
other in this diagram.6 Ancient Indian architecture and
town planning was based on this idea of the mandala.
6 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian , 44
2. Vastu Purusha Mandala 3. Conceptual city plans prescribed in Mayamatam based on Vastu Purusha Mandala
7
The mandala diagram was a symbolic representation
of the ideal pattern of cosmic order. This cosmic
connection is woven in the city through placement of
religious markers at specific points in the mandala.
Cardinal points in the square grid were assigned to a
protective god or goddess.
The more detailed use of these diagrams is
prescribed in Śhilpa Śhaāstras— the traditional texts
on architecture. A mandala can be drawn in 32 ways
according to scriptures and besides myths and ritual,
architecture is most pronounced representation of this
cosmic order. The mandala is further defined by the
presence of the vāstu purusha – the spirit of the site. Art
historian Stella Kramrisch in her monumental treatise
on Hindu architecture argues that the central shrine is
the vertical realization of the vāstu purusha mandala.
Because of the purely diagrammatic nature of mandala
it can be used in any scale, without loosing its symbolic
integrity. A ritual procession through the city traces the
same mandala, which in its miniature scale is traced
by circumambulation around the central shrine. This
representation even goes down to the scale of ritual
diagrams – Kolam, drawn by women in front of houses
every morning.7
Rituals: Temple Towns of South India
In India, the relationship of ritual and space is
nowhere as pronounced as in the temple towns of Tamil
Nadu. These cities were least affected by the Muslim
invasions compared to cities in northern India, and that
is why they offer undisturbed connection with traditions
of Hindu architecture. In the words of art historian
George Michell “the interaction between sacred space
and urban space is a prominent feature of Tamil Nadu’s
temple towns”8. In these temple towns, the mandala
diagram is palpable in the city plan. It is also important
to note, that these temple towns follow the exact same
rituals since the early medieval ages. These rituals are
thus distilled in their respective urban patterns. While
this paper focuses on three towns, scores of other towns,
small and large, exhibit the relation of the characteristic
diagram formed by ritual procession in their plan.
One can find two typologies of religious order
in the city plan. First and most prominent is the regular
geometrical configuration, governed by a mandala with 7 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian, 458 Michell George, Temple Towns of Tamil Nadu, 7
8
a central shrine. The other is a street layout, dominated
by independent shrines, which forms the focal points
of city fabric. The towns of Madurai and Shrirangam
are examples of the first, whereas Kumbhakonam and
Kanchipuram are examples of the second. To understand
the effects of ritual and space in Temple towns, we must
first understand the nature of ritualistic procession in
these towns.
Temple rituals may be characterized as private
and public. Pūjā, which is daily, is performed in front
of the deity and is generally more private in nature. On
the other hand, festivals, which are occasional, form the
most visible and public events. Festivities -- tiruvilā
royal feasts in local Tamil language -- are based on the
lunar calendar. The most important of these is the great
feast (Bramhōstsava), which takes place in the month of
cittirai (April-May) over ten days. On each of the first
nine days, two daily processions take place in mornings
and evenings. For these processions, a smaller version
of the deity is placed on a wooden chariot. This chariot
then is taken on a prearranged route; the route involves
visits to specific temples outside the city boundary and
circumambulates the city in specific directions.
Another important factor that links the diagram
of the city and the ritual is the identity of the deity. In
Hindu belief, the god triad of Brhāma, Viśhnu and Shivā
is related with the generation, regulation and destruction
of the world. The worship of last two, Shivā and Viśhnu
evolved in specific cults of Shaivites and of Vaishnavites,
based on veneration of specific god. Each god also
commands fixed number of circumambulations.9 Often,
one can link the plan of the temple town and number
of its concentric rings with the deity of the city. The
Majority of the towns with central shrine dedicated to
Shivā have one concentric ring; those dedicated to the
Viśhnu have three. This observation, though helpful in
symbolizing the deity in town-plan does not always hold
true and the exceptions like Kumbhakonam, Uttiramerur
or Kanchipuram can be attributed to different historic
models.
Spatial manifestation of Processions
In these cities, the role played by the deity is
singular; the god here is not just an idol or a symbolic
presence but is considered as a person and a sovereign
9 Arun Ganpathy, “Why We Circumambulate,” Times of India, Aug
11,2011,http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
9
extending his power over the city. Presence of the deity
as a person in these cities is further strengthened by their
entitlement to the most human of things-- marriage,
desire to take holidays, willingness to engage in playful
quarrels and conquest with other temple deities in the
region10. The rituals make little sense unless viewed with
the perspective that they are homage to a sovereign. With
this symbolism center of the cosmic diagram becomes
the most sacred place, and is assigned a temple. This
symbolism generates essential elements for the city that
is based on strong geometry, and is directed inwards to
the center.
The ritualistic movement in the form of
processions is in turn governed by the city’s cosmic
diagram. According to architectural historian Andres
Volwahsen, this tradition is analogous to Vedic rituals
of venerating the altar by carrying it in the clockwise
direction in the procession.11 This evolved into the
chariot processions of south Indian temples. Processions
are also the way to extend the religious and ritual
presence of the divine outside the temple walls. These
1� �ppadurai �rjun and Breckenridge Carol, The south Indian temple: �ppadurai �rjun and Breckenridge Carol, The south Indian temple:
authority, honor and redistribution, 19�11 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian, 44 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian, 44
processional rituals follow prescribed routes, which
depend upon time, season and the nature of a ritual. Not
only do gods follow these cosmic diagrams but the ritual
path is also traversed at the time of last rites on the dead.
The body is carried out on certain specified paths tracing
the mandala diagram in space and time. Cast and rank
of the dead decide the path that this procession takes;
thus it even anchors the deep structure of society to
the diagram (see fig.6). It also governs the habitation
patterns; prescribing the location for specific casts to
live in specific parts of the diagram.12
Water in the form of tanks with ‘Kulam’ --
shrines and other smaller temples -- is also an important
part of formal repertoire of urban elements. In most
cases it forms the boundary of a town. There are usually
eight tanks in eight cardinal directions with one in the
center. These tanks not only play important role in ritual
bathing but also are the meaningful components of a
ritual as once a year the deity travels on water in an
important festival ceremony. For this ritual, the temple
towns have at lest one large tank. Square in shape, this
tank is often located at one end of the main axis, and is
12 Piper �an, The spatial structure of Suchindram, AARP 17 (London, 19�0) Piper �an, The spatial structure of Suchindram, AARP 17 (London, 19�0)
10
aligned with the temple gates.
All the temple towns were and still are market
towns of importance. Kanchipuram, dealing in exquisite
textiles, provides an example of this growth pattern. It
also highlights the simultaneous rise of political power,
trade, and religious pilgrimages. Religious rituals in the
form of festivals are also beneficial to trade. George
Michell, in his analysis of Kumbhkonam, describes this
phenomenon as:
Processions take place in the street,
in full view of crowds of visitors,
who pay homage to gods and
goddesses before proceeding to the
business of buying and selling. (…)
Each of the religious complexes
of Kumbhakonam, for instance, is
approached by a long colonnade that
functions as market.13
With this overview we can now look at examples that
best represent some of these characteristics of a temple
town shaped by ritualistic movement. There are scores
of temple towns but we will consider Shrirangam,
Madurai and Suchindram and will focus on how they
13 Vivek Nanda, Anna Dallapiccola, Michal George: The Ramasvami Vivek Nanda, Anna Dallapiccola, Michal George: The Ramasvami Temple (South Asian Studies 13:1, 1997) 1-15
confirm and differ with the prescribed model. For the
purpose of this analysis we will ignore the specificities
of rituals in those cities and relay on the similarities.
Shrirangam and Madurai
Cities of Madurai and Shrirangam share many
of the same ideals. In the case of Shrirangam, the spatial
manifestation of the mandala diagram and its ritualism
appears in its purest form. Shrirangam’s urban fabric is
composed of seven concentric rings. Out of that, first four
constitute the temple zone, while others are residential.
In the regional scale, Shrirangam is the first of the four
Viśhnu pilgrimage sites. By visiting each of them in a
prescribed sequence, one can circumambulate the entire
Tamil region. Situated on an island, Shrirangam is also
a part of the string of holy places along the Cauvery
River.
The Urban fabric of the town, with its several
concentric zones, consists of specific markers like ritual
bathing tanks, sites where three temple chariots are kept,
and the temple proper. The figure of the city is fixed in
relation with river by series of ghats or cremation and
religious spaces. The ghats are linked by a north-south
axis to the main temple and the axis mundi of the city
Shrirangam SuchindramMadurai
4. Plans of three temple towns showing the temple proper at
same scale
11
diagram. The city diagram is oriented around two axial
streets that cross at right angles. Ritualistically, all these
elements form the experiential space of the town. Nine
tanks mark the innermost zone; eight are placed on the
periphery and the ninth is at the center. By performing
ritual baths in a specific sequence in all of these, pilgrim
circumambulates the town three times, three being
the number of circumambulations prescribed for lord
Viśhnu.
The concentric streets are named after the months
in the Tamil year, according to the month when the
deities were taken in procession around the city. Another
dimension of the diagram of the city is its control of
social structure. Brahmin or priestly cast exclusively
inhabits the first two rings (Uttira and Chittira). They
also take up the northwest and southeast corners of the
city, leaving opposite corners for lower classes. With
certain exceptions no car festival is allowed on this third
street; circumambulation is limited to only Uttira and
Chittira streets and has to be done in clockwise direction.
Madurai is the most multifaceted example
amongst the three. Architect �ulian Smiths discusses it 9. one of the processional charriots in Shrirangam
�. View of Shrirangam Temple Complex with a Gopura in foreground
5.The symmetric principal that dominates Shrirangams plan, walls and concentric zones
6. The social strcuture controlled by diagram with higher cast in NE-SW Diagonal
7. Shrirangam
12
at length for its relation with processions14. Due to lack of
archeological evidence, the correct founding date of Madurai
is unknown. The earliest mention of Madurai comes from
Koutilya’s Arthashastra. It was the capital of the Sangam
dynasty from 300 B.C. to 200 A.D. Thus, Madurai presents
a clear case as a divine connection between the God and the
King. The city diagram, though not as precise as Shrirangam,
still holds the same principals. It has five concentric streets,
named after the months in Tamil calendar. Each month there
are processions that correspond to specific street and thus by
the end of the year deities trace out the map of the city. The
main difference between Shrirangam and Madurai is that
Shrirangam is a direct translation of prescribed diagram,
and its concentric rings suggest the heightened importance
to the pilgrim rather than to the city dweller.
The concept of time is important in this ritual; it
is not reproducible anywhere else in the same form. By
tracing the city diagram in space and time, ritual acts as a
mnemonic device. It is also infused with local conditions
as the calendar on which it is based is related with seasons,
and is thus associated with timings of agrarian, commercial
activities.
14 �ulian Smith, “Madurai : the Architecture of a City” (SMarchS Thesis, �ulian Smith, “Madurai : the Architecture of a City” (SMarchS Thesis, MIT,1969)
11. Tracing the sacred diagram : Sequence of procession throughout the year in madurai.
10. Madurai
13
The town of Suchindram is slightly different from
the above-discussed temple cities model, where the role
of axiality and water are more pronounced.
Suchindram
Suchindram is a small town, located in southern-
most part of Indian peninsula. Nayaka kings founded it
in the 9th century A.D. Irrespective of its small size, kings
of Travancore dynasty made Suchindram as their family
shrine, and a major religious center. The functions of the
city are limited to serving the temple and hence the urban
elements are directly related to the religious activities.
The temple of Suchindram is oriented off the cardinal
axis by a few degrees. It orients towards the direction of
the sunrise and sunset, as on the day of its foundation.
This alignment is also a tool to evoke the memory in
the subtlest way. In terms of urban fabric, the town
consists of the temple, one processional road around it,
ceremonial path that runs east to west, a water tank and
related religious structures. This is the assemblage of
most essential elements in temple town. All the above
elements are laid out to form a specific movement pattern
13. Main religious elements in Suchindram 1: Main Temple 2: Ganesh Temple 3:Water Tank
14. Four secondary temples in cardinal points fixing the �xis Mundi
12. Suchindram
14
in urban space. They are either to be circumambulated,
moved through, across or out from. All the elements
form markers in the space that is then appropriated with
rituals.
The symbolic role of water in Suchindram is
slightly different from Shrirangam or Madurai. Instead
of eight cardinal tanks, Suchindram has one large tank.
�ust like chariot circumambulating a temple, a ritual
circumambulation by the ceremonial float is associated
with this tank. This highlights an analogy between the
tank and the temple. Anthropologist �an piper portrays
this particular aspect as juxtaposition of the solid and the
void, of male ‘upper town’ of Shiva around the temple
and a female ‘lower town’ with a temple of goddess
parvati, in tank facing north.15
Another element that defers from Madurai
and Shrirangam is the east-west street that forms an
axis. This axis is ritualized in a procession that marks
the end of almost all festive days. This is the path
through which the idol returns to temple after the ritual
15 �an piper, “Spatial Structure of Suchindram” AARP 17(London, 19�0), 75
circumambulation. On its way out, the procession halts
before every household, it halts at corners and almost
as a spatial response corners become wider than the
street. During three major festivals there are 72 grand
circumambulation and 216 less important ones16. The
chariot procession takes place on the ninth day of grand
festival. The fact the chariot takes more than 1000 men
to move is significant of the space needed for this ritual.
Dragging this seemingly immobile structure is the most
haptic of urban rituals.
16 Ibid., 76
15
Inferences
The main aim of this paper was to understand
the relation between the built form of the city and the
ritual practices that generate it. The case of South Indian
temple towns is a remarkable example for this study as it
presents a clear cohesion between a prescribed theory of
architecture, religion and the sociol pattern. While Looking
at these examples from a modern viewpoint, it is difficult
to fully acknowledge the intertwined nature of religion,
built form and the myth; nonetheless in these towns,
the presence of a strong bond that links the space with
the beliefs of a society is palpable. These are the places
where religion is still the dominant force and despite the
impact of modern day changes, most of the rituals are still
carried out with same orthodoxy, as they were centuries
ago. Some of these cities however have expanded outside
the boundaries prescribed by the original city diagram; the
new growth has no relation with rituals of the old part and
it reflects the aspirations of a newer generation.
This paper discusses three towns in some detail but
the same ideals are present in well over seventeen towns;
it will be useful to examine these in more detail. Further
studies also could be done focusing on effects of these
ancient rituals on newer and modern parts of these cities.
Old temple towns present a very clear case of rituals and
its appropriation of form, modern day rituals however are
more difficult to pinpoint and so are their effect on urban
form. It is yet to be seen how these “cosmic cores” will
respond to the new market forces, but even in their present
form, they hint towards the possibility of a design process
that strives to pull together all the strands of social life
into the mythical and ritualistic realm and gives it a finite
urban form.
16
Appadurai, Arjun, and Carol Appadurai Breckenridge. “The South Indian Temple: authority, honour and redistribution.” Contribution to indian sociology (Sage) 10, no. 2 (1976): 1�7-211.
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Kanekar, Arati. “ Shaping of Settlements: Temporal Events and Spatial Form in South Indian Temple Cities.” 1992.
Kohane, Peter. “Louis Kahn’s Theory of ‘Inspired Ritual’ and Architectural Space.” Architectural Theory Review 6, no. 1 (2001): �7-95.
Kostof, Spiro. The City Shaped. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
Levy, Robert I. “The Power of space in traditional hindu city.” International �ournal of Hindu Studies 1, no. 1 (April 1997): 55-71.
Lynch, Kelvin. Good City Form. Cambridge: MIT press, 19�1.
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Pieper, �an. “A Pilgrims’ map of Banares.” Geo�ournal (Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft) 3, no. 2 (1979): 215-21�.
Pieper, �an. “Ritual Movement in Architectural Space.” AARP : proceedinggs of an international symposium on urban history of South and East Asia 11 (1977).
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Vivek Nanda, Anna Dallapiccola, Michal George: “The Ramasvami Temple” (South Asian Studies 13:1, 1997) 1-15
Volwahsen, Andres. Living Architecture - India. London: MacDonald and Co, 1969.
5,6,13,14 : Pieper, �an, ed. Ritual Space in India: Studies in Architectural Anthropology. Vol. 17. London: AARP, 19�0.
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