The Hindu Temple v1.c7.s2.22

v1.c7.s2.22

Various recipes for producing an ‘adamantine plaster’ were used in the millennium, from the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ and ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ to the ‘Śilparatna’ in different parts of India. Lime plaster particularly described in the ‘Śilparatna’, the ‘Mānasollāsa’, and the ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, IV, Ch. XXXIII, 66-69,—‘Vajrabaddha’, an adamantine plaster used as ground for paintings,—South Indian text books, is also briefly mentioned in ‘V. Dh.’ III, Ch. XCI, 15, as Sudhāsīlā, where its use is advised in temples, but not in houses. The same chapter (14) speaks of Vajralepa which is described in detail in the following chapter, as cementing material for baked bricks and stones, whereas mud cement is prescribed for unbaked bricks. Re. plaster, cement and the ground of wall paintings, see also ‘Mayamata’, XVIII, 92—115.