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.c47.7019

v7.c47.7019

‘The pillars at Tiruvannamalai are estimated to be about 30 feet high, with proportionate thickness, diminished at the top by a twelfth part of the lower diameter. There are three kinds of them. The first is placed on a high pedestal and base; the whole shaft is divided into ten compartments, each being equal in height to the hypotenuse of the diameter of the pillar; and on all the four sides of these compartments are sculptured, in relief, four small pillars or pilasters supporting an entablature. The second pillar differs from the first in having two, instead of four, small ornamental pilasters in relief, on each side of the ten compartments, into which the shaft is divided, with an ornamented niche in the middle, which in the third specimen is flanked by two small pañjaras or ornamented cages on both sides of it. The second sort of pillar is placed on a base without a pedestal, and the third on a pedestal without a base.’—(Rām Rāz, p. 37.)