The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s3.10

v1.c9.s3.10

⁴⁰ It is crowned by the High Temple or the Āmalaka, and exceeded by the Stūpikā or finial. The latter is no longer part of its mass. The finial, Cūla ('Agnipurāṇa', CIV. 22) or Cūlaka (ib. LXI. 14, where the word is wrongly rendered as Vṛkala, Cubuka or Calaka) is above the Āmalasāraka (which is above the Kaṇṭha and the latter above the Vedi); above the Cūlaka—in a temple of Viṣṇu—is the Sudarśana Cakra, Viṣṇu's disc (ib.). This is one of the few passages which mention the emblem of the god to whom the temple is consecrated and which is placed on top of the finial. The 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra' enumerates in many passages the several parts of the finial, the Candrikā or Padmaśīrṣa, the Kalaśa or Kumbha and on it the Bījapūraka, Bījasvara, etc. (LVI. 153-154: LVII. 136, 425; 719). No comprehensive name is however given to the whole finial. The 'Tantrasamuccaya', I. II. 50, describes the finial, the Stūpikā, as consisting of a Padma, lotus; Kumbha, vessel and Kuḍmala, lotus bud, etc. In an Alpaprāsāda, the height of the Stūpikā is ¼ of the Mānasūtra or width of the Vimāna, and is equal to the height of the Adhiṣṭhāna ('Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati', III. ch. XXX, see chart I, Part VII; also note 40, ib.).