Agnipurana 104
English (machine translation) 104
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Contents
104.1
The Lord said:
I shall speak to you of the general characteristics of a temple, O Śikhadhvaja.
When the site is divided into four parts, the wall is one part in width;
104.2
the sanctum should be half a part, and the pedestal a quarter-part in width.
When the site is divided into five parts, the pedestal is in the interior portion;
104.3
the hollow interior is one part wide, and the walls are one part in width.
There are two parts for the middle sanctum, and two parts for the largest;
104.3.p1
[Gap in text]
104.3.p2
[Apparatus note: 1 ‘jīrṇe prāpya yathā magnam’ in ms. kha]
104.3.p3
[Apparatus note: 2 ‘tatpramāṇataḥ’ in ms. gha]
104.3.p4
[Apparatus note: 3 ‘ardhabhāgena’ in mss. kha, gha, cha, and ja]
104.3.p5
[Apparatus note: 4 ‘pañcabhāgīkṛte vāpi madhyabhāge’ in mss. gha, cha, and ja]
104.3.p6
[Apparatus note: 5 ‘bhāgau dvau madhyamo garbho jyeṣṭho bhāgadvayena tu’ in mss. ṅa, cha, and ja]
104.4
with three [parts], however, the smallest sanctum [is made], and the remainder is the wall, according to some.
Or, when the site is divided into six parts, the wall is one part in width;
104.5
the sanctum is one part in width, and the pedestal is two parts.
The height is twice the width, or two and a quarter times,
104.6
or two and a half times; in some places, it is three times [the width].
The plinth should be half the width, or in some places one-third.
104.7
The circumambulatory path around the temple is three-quarters [of a part] in width.
Dividing the perimeter into three parts, one should construct projections in the middle;
104.8
upon them one should install Cāmuṇḍā, Bhairava, and the Lord of Dance,
or four, or eight deities, measuring half [the height of] the temple.
104.9
One should make a circumambulatory path outside, or nine [shrines] around the temple and other structures.
The Ādityas should be placed in the east; Skanda, Agni, [and others] in the realm of Vāyu (north-west).
104.10
Thus Yama and the others are to be deposited, situated in each their own direction.
Dividing the spire (śikhara) into four parts, the antefix (śukanāsā) is of two parts.
104.11
In the third [part] is the altar platform (vedikā) of Agni, along with the neck (kaṇṭha) and the crowning ring (āmalasāraka).
Vairāja, Puṣpaka, another called Kailāsa, as well as Maṇika,
104.12
and Triviṣṭapa—these five are situated upon the summit of Meru.
Among them, the first is square, and the second is an elongation thereof;
104.12.p1
[Footnotes]
104.12.p2
1 'tribhis tu kalaso garbha' in manuscripts kha and cha.
104.12.p3
2 'adhyardhadviguṇo vāpi' in manuscripts gha and ja.
104.12.p4
3 'pādena vistīrṇā' in manuscripts gha and ja.
104.12.p5
4 'prāsādād dikṣu' in manuscripts kha, gha, cha, and ja; 'prāsāde dikṣu' in manuscript ṅa.
104.12.p6
5 'skandognir vāmagocare' in manuscript ka.
104.12.p7
6 'sakaṇṭhomavasāraka' in manuscript ṅa; 'sakaṇṭhomavasādhaka' in manuscript cha.
104.12.p8
7 'kailāsya' in manuscripts ṅa and cha.
104.12.p9
8 The text from 'caturdhā' up to 'merumūrdhni saṃsthitā' is missing in manuscript ga. / [Page 353]
104.13
[the third] is circular, another (the fourth) is elliptical, and the fifth is octagonal.
Each one [is subdivided] into nine varieties, making forty-five [in all].
104.14
The first temple is Meru, the second is Mandara,
as well as Vimāna, Bhadra, and Sarvatobhadra,
104.15
Caruka, Nandika, Nandi, and another, Vardhamāna,
and Śrīvatsa: [these] have arisen in the lineage of Vairāja.
104.16
Balabhī, Gṛharāja, Śālāgṛha, Mandira,
Viśāla, Sama, Brahmamandira, and Bhuvana,
104.17
Prabhava, Śivikāveśma: these nine originate from Puṣpaka.
Balaya, Dundubhi, Padma, and Mahāpadmaka,
104.18
Vardhanī, or another, Uṣṇīṣa, Śaṅkha, and Kalaśa,
as well as Svavṛkṣa: these circular ones originate from Kailāsa.
104.19
Gaja, then Vṛṣabha, Haṃsa, Garutmat, Ṛkṣanāyaka,
Bhūṣaṇa, and another, Bhūdhara, Śrījaya, and Pṛthivīdhara:
104.20
these nine originate from the elliptical one named Maṇika.
Vajra, Cakra, and another, Svastika, Vajrasvastika,
104.20.p1
[Footnotes]
104.20.p2
1 'caturvṛttāyataścānya' in manuscript gha.
104.20.p3
2 'rucakā' in manuscript ka.
104.20.p4
3 'viśālaś ca mano brahma' in manuscripts kha and gha; 'viśālaś ca tathā brahma' in manuscript ga.
104.20.p5
4 'paṇava' in manuscript ja.
104.20.p6
5 'mahāpadmaś ca' in manuscript ka.
104.20.p7
6 'śakunī cāsya uṣṇīṣa' in manuscript ja.
104.20.p8
8 The text from 'vardhanī' up to 'kailāsasambhavā' is missing in manuscript cha.
104.20.p9
9 'vṛṣaṇa' in manuscript ṅa.
104.20.p10
10 The text from 'khavṛkṣaś ca' up to 'pṛthivīdhara' is missing in manuscript ja.
104.20.p11
11 'maṇikākṣayāt' in manuscript ja.
104.20.p12
12 'vajrahastikam' in manuscripts kha, ga, and cha; 'vajramuṣṭikam' in manuscript ja. / [Page 354]
104.21
Citra, Svastikakhaḍga, Gadā, Śrīkaṇṭha,
and by name Vijaya: these originate from Triviṣṭapa.
104.22
These are the names of the Nāgara [orders], and likewise these of the Lāṭa and other [orders].
The finial (cūla) is elevated by half the neck, and broadened according to proportions.
104.23
Dividing the platform (vedikā) into ten parts, the width of the shoulder (skandha) is five [parts];
the neck (kaṇṭha) should be made of three parts, and the dome (pracaṇḍaka / aṇḍaka) of four.
104.24
Doors should be made in the cardinal directions, never in the intermediate directions.
The pedestal is said to extend to the corner, ending at the center.
104.25
In some cases [it is] by a fifth part, [or] from the fourth part of the interior of large [temples].
Their heights are double [their widths]; or it is described otherwise:
104.26
beginning from sixty digits (aṅgula) up to one hundred digits here,
there are four superior doors, decreasing by ten [digits] each;
104.27
there are three intermediate ones, and then three inferior ones.
The width is half the height; the height is increased threefold,
104.28
or by four, eight, or ten digits thereafter.
The doorposts (śākhā) and lintel/sill (udumbara) are wide by a quarter of the height.
104.29
The thickness of all of them is declared to be half of the width.
104.29.p1
[Footnotes]
104.29.p2
1 'vijayo nāyakaś caite' in manuscript ga.
104.29.p3
2 'naṭādīnām imās tathā' in manuscripts kha and ṅa; 'nāṭyādīnām imās tathā' in manuscripts ga, gha, and cha; 'nādādīnām imās tathā' in manuscript ja.
104.29.p4
3 'pṛthulaṃ sva-tribhāgata' in manuscripts kha, gha, and cha; 'pṛthu-samudra-bhāgata' in manuscript ṅa.
104.29.p5
4 'caturbhis tu tad-aṇḍakam' in manuscripts kha and ga; 'caturbhiḥ kṛta-daṇḍakam' in manuscript ja.
104.29.p6
5 'ṣaṣṭy-adhikāṃśam ālabhya aṅgulānāṃ śatādhikam' in manuscript ja.
104.29.p7
6 'uttamāny api catvāri catvāri daśahānita' in manuscript ja.
104.29.p8
7 'daśabhir vā guṇaiḥ śubha' in manuscript cha.
104.29.p9
8 'viśākhāsthe tv aḍumbare' in manuscript cha.
104.29.p10
9 'viśuddhena tu vāhulyam' in manuscript kha; 'vistarārdhena vā hanyād' in manuscript jha;
104.29.p11
'vistarārdhena bahulyam' in manuscript ja. / [Page 355]
104.29_2
A door with two, five, seven, or nine jamb-bands (śākhā) grants desires.
104.30
On the lowest fourth part of the jamb, one should place the two door-guardians;
one should decorate the remainder of the jambs with couples (mithuna) and foliated scrolls.
104.31
If [the doorway is] obstructed by a pillar, servitude will result; if obstructed by a tree, lack of prosperity;
if obstructed by a well, danger at the door; if obstructed by a field, loss of wealth;
104.32
if obstructed by a temple, house, stones, or a road, imprisonment;
if obstructed by an assembly hall, poverty; if obstructed by [a person of low] caste, exclusion;
104.33
by a mortar, poverty; if obstructed by a stone, enmity;
if obstructed by a shadow, poverty: [yet] the defect of obstruction does not arise
104.34
by cutting or uprooting, or by the characteristic of an enclosure wall;
by leaving a space twice the boundary, the defect of obstruction does not arise.
104.34.p1
Thus ends the one hundred fourth chapter, entitled 'General Characteristics of Temples', in the great Agni Purāṇa.
104.34.p3
Now begins the one hundred and fifth chapter.
104.34.p4
Account of the site architecture of cities and the like
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit