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.s54: Chapter LXVII: The Plumb-Lines (Pralamba-lakshaṇa-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.s54
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Chapter LXVII: The Plumb-Lines (Pralamba-lakshaṇa-vidhāna)
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The plumb-lines, as has already been pointed out, are lines drawn through the body of an image in order to find out accurately the perpendicular and the horizontal measurements of the different parts of the body.
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This is done by means of an instrument, called *pralamba-phalaka*. which is a square plank of four, three, two, or one *aṅgula* in thickness, with the sides equal to three-fourths or one-half of the length of the image. Another plank of the same size is used as the stool on which the image is placed. The first mentioned plank (*pralamba-phalaka*) is fixed to the crown of the head of the image. The planks are kept parallel to each other. Holes are male in the upper plank, wherefrom are suspended strings at the other end of which are attached small balls of iron or stone. The number of holes and strings suspended from them, by which the plumb-lines are determined, varies from five to eleven, according to the different postures and poses of the image. The five principal plumb-lines consist of one drawn from the centre of the upper plank corresponding to the crown of the head, and four on the four sides of the body. Two other lines drawn adjoining the right and left sides of the face make the number seven. Another two lines drawn on the right and left sides of the back of the head make the number nine, and two lines drawn from the two arm-pits make the total of the lines eleven.
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The line drawn from the crown of the head (*śikhā-maṇi*, lit., crest-jewel) passes by the diadem and the head-dress, the middle of the forehead, the eye-brows. the nose, the chin, the neck, the chest (*hṛidaya*), the navel, the sex-organ, the thighs, between the knees, the ankles (*nalakas*), the heels, the soles of the feet and the two big toes. This is evidently drawn along the surface of the body in a perfectly erect or straight posture of the image. The other plumb-lines too touch different parts of the body; but they are not particularly mentioned here.
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Very minutely are described the comparative and the absolute measurements of the perpendicular distance between different parts of the body by a plumb-line, as well as the horizontal distance from one line to another. The distance, say, between the two big toes, is said to be eight *aṅgulas* The variation of these measurements in different postures and poses is carefully considered.
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The three postures of images, namely, erect or standing (*sthānaka*), sitting (*āsana*) and recumbent (*śayana*), are frequently mentioned in the *Mānasāra*.¹
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¹ Each of these three, of course, admits of a variety. The sitting posture (*āsana*) is in particular distinguished into various forms in Indian literature and sculpture, such as the *padmāsana*, *bhadrāsana*, *vajrāsana*, *vīrāsana*, *svastikāsana*, *yogāsana*, etc. In some books, even eighty-four postures are enumerated. These manners of sitting form part of the eight-fold observances of ascetics.
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In the present chapter a special reference is made to the three *bhaṅgas* or poses which are distinguished in Indian sculpture They are known as *sama-bhaṅga* or equipoise, *ābhaṅga* or a slight flexion, *ati-bhaṅga* or an excessive flexion, and *tri-bhaṅga* or of three flexions.²
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² The expression *tri-bhaṅga* (and *tri-bhaṅgin*) is applied to Kṛishṇa in his aspect of the divine cow-herd (Gopāla) playing the reed-pipe Cf. *Een onbekend Indisch tooneelstuk* (*Gopālakeli-chandrikā*) Tekst met inleiding door W. CALAND. (Verhand. Kon. Akad. v Wetensch. te Amsterdam N. R. Dl. XVII, No 3 Amsterdam 1917, p. 46, l. 1 (*marakata-vibhaṅgojjvala-tri-bhaṅgāṅga-gopālena*) and p. 124, l 32 (*tri-bhaṅgin*).