Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v1.c6.s32.603

v1.c6.s32.603

The column is also placed....only on a pedestal which is equal to half the height of the pillar, and which is one of the sorts called Mañcha-bhadra. The capital given to the first design of this pillar is taken from a model found at Tiruvottiyur, near Madras ; it is the same which Mānasāra and others call Taraṅga-Bodhika (?), and is one diameter high and projects equal to its height. Speaking of this sort of capital, Mānasāra says ' it should be decorated with Taraṅgas (projecting moulding employed in capitals, terminating by a number of undulating lines) and other appropriate ornaments ; the height of the capital being divided into twelve parts, let the form of Taraṅgas occupy three of them, let the Bodhika (capital), which should resemble the cobra de capello, occupy six, and adorned with flowers and the like, and let one part above this be given to........one to the cyma, and one to the listel. The projecting part of the Bodhika should be fashioned like the stalk of a plantain flower. At the upper extremity are the Taraṅgas of equal height or something more. The lower part of the head of the Bodhika is one-third on the upper in breadth, and a third of the former being divided into five parts, one of them is given to the cavetto, one to the fillet, two to the cyma and one to the listel : and the whole should be decorated with foliages, rows of gems, and the like.' In another place the same author says ' let the capital (Bodhika) be made to consist of one, two, three, four, five, six faces, according to the situation in which it is placed '."