The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s2.13

v1.c9.s2.13

The ‘Agnipurāṇa’ passage speaks only of the four Sūtras, which are to be separately drawn—from the base of the Śikhara up to the other end, the Skandha,—for the ‘purpose of the Śikhara’ (śikharārtham hi sūtrāni catvāri vinipātayet). These vertical parallels are intersected at certain regular intervals by horizontals (Figs. on p. 209 f), of which only one is given in the ‘Agnipurāṇa’ at the height where the Śukanāsā is to end. There a lion’s figure should be carved. In the ‘Agnipurāṇa’, its position marks the middle of the Śikhara. A lion’s figure, carved in the round juts out from above the ‘Śukanāsā’ of the temples in Orissa. The later texts make it clear that the shoulder course of the Śikhara is generally assigned 6 parts in width, the base of the Śikhara measuring 10 such parts (‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, LVII. 664 b; ‘Bṛhacchilpaśāstra’, III. 81). The height of the trunk of the Śikhara being given should be divided by geometrical progression into a certain number of parts, three, four, five or six according to the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’.⁶⁰ A line parallel to the height is drawn from one end of the Skandha to the base of the Śikhara and one more parallel from the end of the base of the Śikhara. The width of this rectangle is 2 parts and its height is equal to that of the trunk of the Śikhara (Figs. on pp. 209 f). Into as many parts as the height is to be divided—in a geometrical progression—into so many parts also is the narrow side of the rectangle divided. The texts always speak of ‘tri-guṇa, catur-guṇa’, etc., ‘sūtra’. This, no doubt, implies that the division of the height should be in a geometrical progression (guṇa saṅkalita).⁶¹