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.c16.134

v2.c16.134

“If nature, therefore, has made the human body so that the different members of it are measures of the whole, so the ancients have, with great propriety, determined that in all perfect works, each part should be some aliquot part of the whole; and since they direct that this be observed in all works, it must be most strictly attended to in temples of the gods, wherein the faults as well as the beauties remain to the end of the time.” This is all about the defects, to which in the *Mānasāra* practically a whole chapter (LXIX), one of the two concluding chapters of the work, is devoted. It is called *Aṅga-dūshaṇa*, literally, ‘defects of the limbs.’ In both the authorities the subject is discussed in connection with sculptural objects, but curiously enough, defects and consequent penalties concerning images and idols have been entirely left out both by Vitruvius and the *Mānasāra*. Both the authorities have referred to the subject as concerning buildings only. This sort of similarity can hardly be due to mere coincidence.