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.c30.s5: Chapter XXXVIII: The Doorways
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) v4.c30.s5
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Chapter XXXVIII: The Doorways
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1. The situation and the characteristic features of the doorways will be described now.
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2-4. In all kinds of temples of the gods, and the dwelling houses of the Brahmans and other castes, in (all kinds of) palaces (*harmya*) of the kings, and in the courts (*prākāra*), and pavilions (*maṇḍapa*) four main doors should be constructed on the four sides, and there may be as many smaller (minor) doors as one likes.
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5. In the region of the corridor (lit., interspace) doors should be opened at the middle.
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6. Doors should be constructed suitably at (the middle of) the walls; there is no restriction (hard and fast rules, lit., no defects) about it.
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7. Doors (i.e., dormer-windows) should be suitably opened at the north-east of the roof (*prachchhādana*) of an edifice (*harmya*).
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8. The water-door (or gutter) should be suitably constructed at the bottom of the wall.
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9-10. In the main building (*mukhya* quarter?) the entrance door together with two panels (*kavāṭa*) should be constructed in the south; a straight line should be drawn exactly across the middle, and at the bottom of that should be constructed (the door).
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11. Of (the temples and the dwelling houses of) gods and men the great (entrance) door should be furnished with two panels.
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12. The main doors should be furnished with symmetrical steps (in the front).
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13. In this way, the expert (architect) should construct the doors of the edifices of the gods and others.
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14. The doorways in all kinds of civil (lit., human) buildings are described (below).
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15-17. The length and breadth of a house should be divided into nine parts (each; and) the great doors at the *Mahendra* quarter (in the east) of an edifice should be constructed (at the middle one of these parts); as an alternative, the (entrance) door may be constructed on the left of the middle line.
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18-19. The smaller doors with lattice work should be constructed at the *Īśa*, *Parjanya*, *Aditi*, *Udita*, *Jayanta*, or *Mṛiga* quarter.¹
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¹ For the precise position of these quarters see the diagrams given under chapter VII.
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20-21. The large gate should be constructed in the south at the *Gṛihakshata* quarter of the *Dvāra-śālā* (first) gate-house²; as an alternative, this door may be constructed on the left of the middle line.
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² See chapter XXXIII.
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22-23. The small doors, etc., (i.e., including windows) should be constructed as before at the *Vitatha*, *Pūshan*, *Pāvaka* (*Agni*), *Antariksha*, *Mṛiga*, or *Satyaka* quarter.
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24-25. The large gate should be constructed in the west on the left of the middle line in the *Pushpadanta* quarter of the *Dvāra-harmya* (second) gatehouse.
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26-28. The smaller doors and those (latticed) windows should be constructed at the *Sugrīva*, or the *Dauvārika* quarter, or in the south-west, at the *Mṛiga Bhṛiṅgarāja*, and *Gandharva* quarters, or in the north-west.
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29-30. Of the *Dvāra-śālā* (first) gatehouse the main door should be constructed in the north at the *Bhallāṭa* quarter, or on the left of the middle line across the length.
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31-32. The smaller doors should be constructed at the *Mukhya*, or the *Nāga* quarter, or in the north-west, or the *Roga*, *Śesha*, or *Asura* quarter.
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33. The four (corner) doors, namely, the *Īśāna* (north-east), etc., may be conveniently constructed in the four directions.
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34-35. In all kinds of kitchens, the front (main) door should be constructed at the middle of the front side, but according to some (such) doors may be constructed on the left of the middle line.
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36-38. Two, four, six, eight, ten, or twelve (large) latticed windows together with smaller lattice-work should be constructed at the region below the architrave (or beam, *uttara*)¹ for the upward passage (of the kitchen smoke).
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¹ See the writer's *Dictionary*, page 79.
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39. The latticed doors may be opened at the middle or on the left side of the middle line.
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40. The latticed doors as well as doors in rows may be constructed (*for the kitchen*).
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41. A pair of lattices should be constructed in the kitchen of the gods (i.e., refectory).
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42. The doorways opened for the upward passage (of the kitchen smoke) may be, otherwise, constructed at the south-west or the north-east.
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43-44. The lattices may be otherwise opened at the back of all houses as well as the central courtyard (*raṅga*); (in such cases) the lattices should not be constructed at the middle, but on the left side of the middle line.
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45. The wise (architect) should construct the latticed doors in place of (lit., like) the minor doors stated above.
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46-49. In human (civil) dwellings the (entrance) door should be constructed at one of the nine parts in the length of the edifice, between the four parts on the left and five parts on the right.
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50-54. In the houses of the Brahmans and the kings (Kshatriyas) the entrance door should be constructed on the left of the middle line across the length (of the house); similarly doors should be constructed in the houses of other people also; but in the edifice (temple) of the gods, the doors should be constructed at the middle of the house, (i.e., not on the left of the middle line across the length).¹
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¹ In temples, the front doors are constructed just at the middle of the front wall so that a full view of the deity in the interior may be received by a visitor from the outside. But in residential buildings, such openness was not desired, owing to, perhaps, the eastern seclusion; and, therefore, the doors were constructed on either side of the middle line across the front.
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Thus in the *Mānasāra*, the science of architecture, the thirty-eighth chapter, entitled:
Linked texts (1)
- Mānasāra — Sanskrit