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) v4.c29.s5.112

v4.c29.s5.112

The component parts of the column, which are common to all orders, vary in number. Thus in the *Mānasāra*, which of almost all the treatises deals separately with the pedestal, the base, and the entablature, mention is made in connection with the pillar proper or the shaft of five mouldings. The *Suprabhedāgama* describes two sets of seven mouldings. The increasing number of mouldings reached the significant figure of eight in the *Matsya-purāṇa*, the *Bṛihat-saṁhitā* and the *Kiraṇa-tantra*, and bears the very same eight names. It will be noticed that the component parts of the Græco-Roman orders are also eight in number, most of which are, however, given more than one name. It will be further noticed that mention is made in the *Mānasāra* in connection with the pedestal, the base and the entablature, of some forty-seven mouldings, and that such comparative measure of the pedestal, the base, and the entablature and such elaborate classification and description of them as are given in the *Mānasāra* are to be found neither in the *Purāṇas* nor in the *Āgamas*. Thus in respect of the names of the columns, the number of their subservient parts called mouldings, also the pedestal, the base and the entablature, as well as their comparative measure, the *Mānasāra* will occupy the first place among the avowedly architectural treatises and the architectural portions of the *Purāṇas* and the *Āgamas*.