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) v6.c40.s18.30

v6.c40.s18.30

The height of the image is determined by comparing it with the height of the worshipper (*yajamāna*). It may be of nine kinds, according as it extends from the foot of the worshipper to his sex-organ, navel, heart, breast, arms, chin, tip of the nose, hair limit (on the forehead), or to his full height. The *tālamāna* admits of many varieties; the ten-*tāla* measurements vary from one *tāla* to ten *tāla*; each of these is again divided into three types, the *uttama* or the largest, the *madhyama* or the intermediate, and the *adhama* or the smallest. Thus an image is of the *daśa-tāla* measurement when its whole length, is equal to ten times the face. In the largest type of the *daśa-tāla* system, the whole length is divided into 124 equal parts, which are proportionately distributed over the different limbs of the body; in the intermediate type, the whole length is divided into 120 equal parts and in the smallest type, into 116 equal parts. In the *nava-tāla* system, the whole length would be nine times the face; in the *ashṭa-tāla*, eight times; and so forth. Several of these *tāla* measures are described in detail in the subsequent chapters.