Agnipurana 42
English (machine translation) 42
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Contents
42.1
Hayagrīva said: / I shall explain the temple common to all; listen: / A wise man should divide a squared ground into sixteen parts.
42.2
In the middle of it, with four [parts], he should make [the sanctum] endowed with breadth.
42.2.p1
[Footnote]
42.2.p2
1 "samaprāsādamānataḥ" is the reading in the manuscript marked ṅa.
[p. 122]
42.2_2
He should assign twelve parts for the wall.
42.3
The height of the wall-shaft is to be made equal in length to four parts; / a wise man should design the height of the spire to be twice that of the wall-shaft.
42.4
A circumambulatory passage is to be made properly with a fourth part of the spire; / an projection of that measure is to be made equal on both sides.
42.5
The breadth of the basal platform in front is to be made equal to the spire, / or it may also be made twice [that], in accordance with beauty.
42.6
In front of the pavilion, by two measuring lines of the sanctum beyond its width, / he should make [it] longer by one fourth of its length, adorned with central pillars.
42.7
Or he should make the front pavilion the measure of the temple's sanctum. / Having measured out the site with eighty-one squares, he should subsequently begin the pavilion.
42.8
In the placement of the east door, he should worship the deities situated within the parts, as well as the parrots; / likewise, in laying out the surrounding wall, he should worship those situated at the thirty-two limits.
42.9
This is the characteristic of a temple common to all. / Or listen to another [type of] temple [proportioned] by the measurement of the image.
42.10
An auspicious pedestal is to be made by the measure of the image. / The sanctum is [measured by] half the pedestal, and the walls are the measure of the sanctum.
42.11
He should design the height by the measure of the length of the wall; / and from the height of the wall, a wise man should design the spire to be twice [as high].
42.12
He should design the circumambulatory passage with a fourth of the spire, / and the front pavilion facing forward with a fourth of the spire.
42.12.p1
[Footnote]
42.12.p2
1 "caturbhāgeṇa vā yutam" is the reading in the manuscript marked kha; "caturbhāgeṇa saṃyutam" is the reading in the manuscript marked ga.
42.12.p3
2 "samyak kuryāt pradakṣiṇam" is the reading in the manuscript marked kha.
42.12.p4
3 "dvātriṃśadantare" is the reading in the manuscript marked kha.
[p. 123]
42.13
The projection of the buttresses is by an eighth part of the sanctum; / he should design the buttresses there by a third part of the perimeter.
42.14
Or he should make the projection of the buttresses by one third of that; / three recessed angles must always be placed on the three buttresses.
42.15
Indeed, for the sake of the spire, he should drop four plumb-lines; / above the antefix, he should drop a cord positioned obliquely.
42.16
He should then place a lion standing in the middle part of the spire; / having made the antefix firm, he should set it at the central joint.
42.17
And on the other side likewise, he should drop the cord in the same way. / Above that there should be an altar platform with a neck and a crowning capstone.
42.18
It must not be made with a broken shoulder, nor terrifyingly distorted; / and above the measure of the altar platform, he should design the pot-finial.
42.19
The doorway is to be made twice [the measure of] the breadth, very beautiful; / above the two threshold posts, he should place the doorframe with very auspicious [motifs].
42.20
Caṇḍa and Pracaṇḍa are to be made on the fourth part of the doorway, / holding staffs like Viṣvaksena; and above the lintel, [he should place] Śrī,
42.21
being bathed by the elephants of the quarters with pitchers, holding a lotus, of beautiful form. / The height of the surrounding wall should be one fourth of [the height of] the temple.
42.22
The height of the gateway-tower should be one quarter less than that of the temple. / For a deity of five cubits, the pedestal is one cubit.
42.23
In front, there should be a Garuḍa pavilion and a single multi-storeyed abode, / and on the image, he should place [deities] in the eight directions and above:
42.24
Varāha in the east, Nṛsiṃha in the south, Śrīdhara in the [direction of] water, / Hayagrīva in the north, and Paraśurāma in the south-east,
42.24.p1
[Footnote]
42.24.p2
1 "tatturīyeṇa" is the reading in the manuscript marked kha.
[p. 124]
42.25
Rāma in the south-west, Vāmana in the north-west, and Vāsudeva / in the north-east: the layout of the temple should be given by groups of eight, twelve, and so on; / discarding the eighth and first part of the doorway, an obstruction incurs no fault.
42.25.p1
Thus in the primary Great Purāṇa, the Āgneya, the forty-second chapter, entitled "Description of the Characteristics of a Temple."
42.25.p3
Now the forty-third chapter.
42.25.p4
Installation of Deities in a Temple
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit