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.s53: Chapter LXVI: The Intermediate Type of the Daśa-tāla Measurement (Madhyama-daśa-tāla-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.s53
- Language
- English
Chapter LXVI: The Intermediate Type of the Daśa-tāla Measurement (Madhyama-daśa-tāla-vidhāna)
v2.c14.s53.2
The female deities of the higher order are generally measured in this system. The whole height of the image is divided into 120 equal parts which are proportionately distributed over the various parts of the body from head to foot. The details are minutely described.
v2.c14.s53.3
The face is taken as the standard of the *tāla* measurement, and is generally twelve *aṅgulas* or about nine inches in length. The face is stated to be of oval shape (*kukkuṭāṇḍa-samākāra*, lit., 'shaped like the egg of a hen'). The eye-brow is shaped like the bow (*chāpākāra*), the eyes like a fish (*matsyākāra*), the nose like the sesame flower (*tilapushpākṛiti*), and the nostrils (*puṭa*) like a bean (*nishpāva-bīja*).
v2.c14.s53.4
According to both Indian and European canons, a well proportioned male human figure is equal to eight times (*ashṭa-tāla*) the length of the face, and a female human figure is seven and a half times the length of the face. "The other rules arrived at by the Indian artist do not appear to be divergent from those evolved by the European artist, and if in Indian sculpture the results are not good in some instances, it is the fault of the artist and not attributable to the guide book."¹
v2.c14.s53.5
¹ T. A. Gopinath Rao, *Elements of Hindu Iconography*.