Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

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.s7.29

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) v6.c40.s7.29

Language
English

v6.c40.s7.29

The third variety of the funerary monuments, the *prajñānam*, implies the monumental pillars (or slabs of stones). In the *Vedas* (*R.-V.*, X, 18, 3; *A.-V.*, XVIII, 3, 52) a pillar (*sthūṇa*) is stated to have been set up the grave, and a *loga* (clod, pole, also pillar) is erected after the earth is piled up from about the grave. On the *sthūṇa* (pillars) ‘maintained by the Fathers, Yama makes seats for the departed’ (*R.-V.*, X, 18, 3; *A.-V.*, XVIII, 3, 52). Seats on memorial pillars, like lion capitals of Mauryan age, may imply some sort of effigy or bust of the dead person. In the time of the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XXX, 8, 4, 1; IV, 2, 5, 15; *Kāt. Śr. Sūt.*, XXI, 3, 31) ‘a stone-pillar (*śaṅku*) was set up along with three timber ones at the four corners of the *śmaśāna* (grave or cemetery).’²

Linked texts (4)