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.c15.s2.14

v2.c15.s2.14

With regard to the names and the functions of the component parts of the column the variation is a little less marked. But these subservient parts, called mouldings and common to all orders, vary in number. Thus in the *Mānasāra*, which of almost all the treatises deals separately and exhaustively with the pedestal, the base, and the entablature, mention is made in connection with the pillar, of five mouldings² apparently of the shaft, namely, *bodhikā*, *mushṭi-bandhu*, *phalakā*, *tāṭikā*, and *ghaṭa*. The *Suprabhedāgama* describes two sets of seven mouldings,³ one set referring to the column of the main building and the other to that of the pavilion—*daṇḍa*, *maṇḍi*, *kaṇṭha*, *kumbha*, *phalakā*, *vīra-kaṇṭha* and *potikā*; and *bodhikā*, *uttara*, *vājana*, *mūrdhikā*, *tulā*, *jayantī*, and *tala*. These increasing number of mouldings have reached the significant number of eight in the *Matsya-Purāṇa*, the *Bṛihat-saṁhitā* and the *Kiraṇa-tantra*, and bears the very same eight names¹, to wit, *vāhana*, *ghaṭa*, *padma*, *uttoroshṭha*, *bāhulya*, *bhāra* (or *hāra*), *tulā*, and *upatulā*.