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.c41.s3.14

v6.c41.s3.14

With regard to the names and the functions of the component parts of the column, the variation is a little less marked; but these subservient parts, called mouldings and common to all orders, vary in number. Thus in the *Mānasāra*, which of almost all the treatises deals separately and exhaustively with the pedestal, the base, and the entablature, mention is made, in connexion with the pillar, of five mouldings,² apparently of the shaft, namely, *bodhikā*, *mushṭi-bandha*, *phalakā*, *tāṭikā*, and *ghaṭa*. The *Suprabhedāgama* describes two sets of seven mouldings,¹ one set referring to the column of the main building and the other to that of the pavilion—*daṇḍa*, *maṇḍi*, *kaṇṭha*, *kumbha*, *phalakā*, *vīra-kaṇṭha*, and *potikā*; and *bodhikā*, *uttara*, *vājana*, *mūrdhikā tulā jayantī*, and *tala*. These increasing number of mouldings reached the significant number of eight in the *Matsya-Purāṇa*, the *Bṛihat-saṁhitā*, and the *Kiraṇa-tantra*, and bear the very same eight names,² to wit, *vahana*, *ghaṭa*, *padma*, *uttaroshṭha*, *bāhulya*, *bhāra* (or *hāra*), *tulā*, and *upatulā*.