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) v2.c14.s51: Chapter LXIV: The Image (Pratimā-vidhāna)
Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v2.c14.s51
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Chapter LXIV: The Image (Pratimā-vidhāna)
v2.c14.s51.2
This chapter, which is missing in all the manuscripts but one, opens with the annoucement that herein will briefly be described the measurements from head to foot of the sixteen attendant deities of the Vishṇu temple. It will be remembered that in the 32nd chapter on 'attendant deities' (*Parivāra-vidhāna*) groups of eight, ten, sixteen and thirty-two deities have been mentioned, who are stated to occupy subsidiary shrines in the compound of a large Vishṇu temple.
v2.c14.s51.3
But the contents of the chapter, in reality, do not expressly describe any of the groups of deities in question. The first part deals with the various kinds of comparative measurements already discussed at the beginning of the 55th chapter on the Jain deities. The second part elaborately describes the rules of the *āyādi-shaḍ-varga*, which have been repeatedly mentioned whenever a variety of measurements was suggested for any particular object.
v2.c14.s51.4
The comparative measurement is distinguished into twelve kinds, according as it is compared with the phallus, the main Vishṇu image, the width of the sanctum (*garbha-griha*), the breadth of the main temple (*harmya*, *prāsāda*), the door, *vaṁśa*, basement, pillar; or is based on cubit (*hasta*) measurement, *tāla*-measurement, the measurement of the worshipper, and *aṅgula* measurement.
v2.c14.s51.5
The *angula* is further distinguished, as already pointed out, into three kinds, namely, *liṅga* or *berāṅgula*, the *mānāṅgula*, viz., *aṅgula* of eight *yavas* or ¾ inch, and the *dehalabdha-aṅgula*, viz., one of the equal parts into which the whole length of an image is divided. The measurement obtained from a comparison with the height of the main idol or the worshipper is of nine kinds, as it may reach the full length (of the idol or the worshipper), his eyes, nostrils, chin, arms, breast, neart, navel, and sex-organ.
v2.c14.s51.6
Other measurements obtained from a comparison with the phallus and various parts of the temple, such as the door, the pillar, etc., admit of many varieties and proportions.