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) v7.c47.7013

v7.c47.7013

‘There are other columns,’ says Rām Rāz (p. 38), ‘in the Indian architecture, not only one diameter lower than the Tuscan, but from one to two diameters higher than the Composite.’ ‘The first sort is a column six diameters high; it is rarely made but upon a high base and pedestal. The entablature is more than half the altitude of the column, and the inter-columniation generally four diameters. The pedestal is of the Prati-bandha kind (*see* under UPAPĪṬHA, and there it is called Pratibhadra) : and its height is equal to that of the base which is one-third of that of the column itself, or two diameters. The base is called Mañchabandha (*see* under ADHISHṬHĀNA) and is divisible into thirty parts. The capital is equal in height to upper diameter of the shaft, and its projection is equal to its height. The form of the capital is called Pushpa-bandha.’ ‘The height of the capital,’ says *Mānasāra*, ‘may be either equal to the breadth of the shaft, or one-half or three-quarters of it, according as it may appear proportionate to the size of the column. Let the breadth of it be either one, one and a quarter, half, or three-quarters of the diameter.’ The entablature placed on this column does not differ from that placed on other pillars, except perhaps in the height. On this subject *Mānasāra* observes generally: ‘The whole height of the entablature may be either three-quarters, one, one and a quarter, one and a half, one and three-quarters, or twice that of the base. The height of the entablature may be a half, one-fourth, or three-quarters of that of the shaft, or the height of the pillar, being divided into eight parts, six, five, three or two may be given to that of the entablature. The height of the entablature is measured from the architrave up to the corona.’—(Rām Rāz, p. 30.)