Pilgrims stormed the Mandala - Pavillion to gather some of the precious leftover sand.

The Buddhist worldview sits in opposition to the European worldview of the Middle Ages, not centred on the world and mankind but rather on a "theocentric" outlook. Gods and their worlds, from corporal, fine materialistic to spiritual and shapeless beings, form the core of this world entity, while humans and other lifeforms eke out an existence at the edge of the centre. In Tantric visualisations and especially in the complicated Mandala ritual, it always revolves around reaching this godlike middle (again), that is to say purification through many intermediate stops which corresponds with reaching purer, higher layers to achieve godliness; and at the same time to ascend the middle and peak of the universe.