The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s5.1

v1.c9.s5.1

The process of drawing the initial square is described in the same way throughout the Vāstu-śāstras. In the middle of the site the gnomon of a given length is fixed in the ground; attached to it is a string. A circle is drawn with a radius twice the peg. Where in the forenoon and the afternoon the shadow of the peg reaches the periphery of the circle, there lie the East and West points; the line which then is stretched between the two intersection points of the arcs, described from those two points, lies North to South. With the East-West and the North-South lines ascertained, the square should be drawn.¹ This cord or line is the Pramāṇa Sūtra. It comprises the co-ordinates of the Prāsāda. Outside, forming the perimeter of the temple, the circumscribing line, Paryanta-Sūtra, is stretched. The Vinyāsa-Sūtra comprises the lines which divide the Paryanta Sūtra; they assign their place to the ‘Pāda’-divinities (‘Kāmikāgama’, XVIII, 5-7; ‘Mayamata’, VI. 19-21) and to the buttresses of the walls.² These three groups of lines determine the rhythmical disposition of the plan (talacchanda) of the temple.