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The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s7: The Norms of Proportionate Measurement

The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s7

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The Norms of Proportionate Measurement

(A) From the Sixth Century A.D. to c. 900 A.D.

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The relatively few preserved shrines, from the fifth century A.D. and prior to the eighth century A.D., are sufficiently varied in plan and elevation to suggest that among the large number of temples which must have decayed and vanished further types were represented. Their differences were due partly to the integration of sanctuaries of heterogeneous origins into the Hindu temple. Manifold solutions were arrived at while embodying the dolmen type or also the 'hall' type (see infra, pp. 281-85) and others. By the sixth century, twenty shapes of temples are recorded (Chart II), each has a name and specific features.¹⁹ They are variations of certain fundamental themes or norms, by which are regulated the symmetry of their horizontal and vertical proportions; five or six norms of proportionate measurement, of which some admit of alternative versions, are given in the early texts dating from the sixth to the ninth century approximately (Chart I).

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¹⁹ Sāmānya or Sarvasādhāraṇa are the terms in the 'Viśvakarmaprakāśa', 'Matsya' and Agni-purāṇas' (Ch. XLII) with reference to norm I of the Prāsāda. The 'Bṛhat Saṃhitā', the earliest datable text, lays down only one norm or set of rules for the Prāsāda (Norm V, in Chart I). The 'Agnipurāṇa', ch. CIV, includes under 'sāmānya lakṣaṇa' three norms of proportions (see Chart I) ; the prescription of one or several norms precedes in each case the enumeration and description of the 'specific features', (lakṣaṇa), that is of the 20 or 45, varieties of temples. The 'Viśvakarmaprakāśa' is the source of M.P., and the 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra' of A.P.

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The module of proportionate measurement is either architectural or it is taken from the main cult object. The architectural module is the outer width of the wall of the temple, the Mūlasūtra or Mānasūtra of the square Prāsāda (Norms I, V, and IV), and secondarily also (Norm III) the inner width of the Prāsāda which is equal to the Garbhagṛha. All the main horizontal as well as vertical proportions are referred to the Mūlasūtra, the basic width. This is differently expressed; the area of the Prāsāda is to be divided into 16 (Norm I) or 64 (Norm V) squares; its width is 4 or 8 units respectively and refers in either case to the Vāstumaṇḍala called Maṇḍūka. All the proportions here form octaves; the width of the Garbhagṛha being 2, that of the Prāsāda is 4, this is also its height; it is a perfect cube and from it rises the Śikhara to twice this height; the wall measuring 4, the Śikhara has 8 units in height. The geometrical progression : width of Garbhagṛha; width of Prāsāda or height of wall; and height of Śikhara—links the temple in its horizontal and vertical extent and interrelates their main parts. Analogous is the proportion between the thickness of the wall, its internal and external width. The ratio 2 : 1 or the Octave is the leading theme of the first norm as given in the 'Viśvakarmaprakāśa'; with it is interwoven the Fifth, as the total height of this kind of temple is three times the width of the Prāsāda, the height of the Śikhara being two thirds of it.²⁰

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²⁰ The 'Garuḍa Purāṇa', the 'Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra', and the 'Agnipurāṇa', ch. XLII,

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The ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ gives only one Norm of proportionate measurement (V) and this not in detail,²¹ whereas the ‘Viśvakarmaprakāśa’ and ‘Matsyapurāṇa’ convey wider information. The total height of the temple in the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ is double the width of the Prāsāda.²² The thickness of the wall, its inner and outer width are related in the geometric progression 1 : 2 and 2 : 4, and analogously proportioned are the inner and outer widths of the wall—the latter however is not equal to its own height nor is the Śikhara twice as high—and the total height of the temple. The height of the wall, the Kaṭi, is 1/3rd of the total height; steps lead to it. The base, the Jagaṭī (‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, III. LXXXVI. 4), is also 1/3rd of the height of the building; also the superstructure. A high base is not provided by the norms of the ‘Viśvakarmaprakāśa’, etc.; the superstructure dominates, is double or at least equal to the rest of the building. Two sets of proportionate measurement are combined by Varāhamihira. The proportions of the entrance however once more form a geometric progression. The width of

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²¹ The ‘Bṛ. Saṃ.’, LV. 11, says: “The height of the Prāsāda should be twice its width ; the Kaṭi of the Prāsāda should be one-third of its (the Prāsāda’s) height. That is called Kaṭi (=hip, above the Jagaṭī) where the temple starts from above the steps” (ib., comm.). In the commentary on śl. 16 however, Kāśyapa says that the Kaṭi is ⅓rd of the width of the Prāsāda. A plain stone wall (Kaṭi) or one of timber, having pilasters, etc. (Jaṅghā) and following in its division their structure, were described originally by different names. This led to discussions of the respective proportions. The Br. S. LV. 29-30, recounts a seeming discrepancy of measurements as given by Viśvakarman and Maya. The height of the storey (bhūmi) is said to be 84 aṅgulas by the one preceptor and 108 by the other. The difference however is accounted for: The height of the Kapotapālī (the ‘ūrdhvakṣetra’) is not included in Viśvakarmā’s statement.—A reconstruction of the temples on the basis of their proportions as given in Vāstu-śāstra, will be possible only when further sources are explored. The ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ describes temples which have found no place amongst the temples of the texts collected in charts I, II, etc. ‘Jagaṭī is employed in the ‘Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra’ and the ‘Agnipurāṇa’. Jagaṭī means ‘earth’ and covers the raised ground, platform or terrace from which the temple rises. In the later usage it is the name of a horizontal moulding only (Part V. note 50).

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²² Cf. N. K. Bose, ‘Canons of Orissan Architecture’, op. cit., p. 93.

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follow Norm I of the ‘Matsyapurāṇa’. The two latter texts use the term Jaṅghā (pillar) for the height of the wall, and Mañjarī (shoot) for Śikhara. In open, pillared buildings, such as are represented in Barhut the pillars (Jaṅghā) of the groundfloor support the second floor, etc. ; and no walls are there. Jaṅghā originally denotes the pillar and has its meaning—in some cases also its shape (Pl. XLIII) transferred to the wall.

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Jaṅghā, in the ‘Garuḍa Purāṇa’ denotes the vertically divided part of the wall corresponding to the ‘uprights’ or shafts of pillars. It is the lower part of the wall (bhitti), its upper portion or entablature with its horizontal mouldings is the Ūrdhvakṣetra ; this term however may as well connote the lower part of the wall, i.e., the Vedibandha, or the socle. The text not being explicit, the above rendering of Ūrdhvakṣetra is only tentative.—Cf. the Jaṅghā in Orissan architecture. The G.P. and A.P., ch. CIV, treat of the “45 Temples” (p. 277).

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The width (vistāra) of the Jagaṭī varies from one-third to four times the width of the Prāsāda. The two last named texts explicitly speak about the width of the Jagaṭī and give it as equal to or double the height of the Śikhara of the temple. The method of expressing the proportionate measurements of the horizontal parts of the temple with reference to the vertical ones and the vertical with reference to the horizontal shows that the building was regarded as a three dimensional unit interconnected in all its parts.

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Such wide terraces or plinths are in existence in the temples at Bhitargaon and Deogarh.

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the doorjambs being equal to the space or width of the threshold, the width and height of the door again form the geometric progression 1, 2, 4. This is given in detail in the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ with reference to the temple whose height is twice its width.

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Not only on the outside but also in the interior is the division by three fitted into the leading proportions. It is introduced at the very centre of the Garbhagṛha, by the height of the image. It is two-thirds of the height of the door, yet not of the complete height but of seven-eighths of it. Together with its pedestal which has half the height of the image it extends to seven-eighths of the door. Were it equal in height to the door, this absolute integrity would not appear so to the eye. The image would then not look as if framed by the entrance, and housed in the shrine, but it would touch the height of the lintle and seem to cut across it.

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The Prāsādas, built according to Norm I or V, in their horizontal and vertical proportions and the interrelation of these, are essentially based on the division of the area of the Prāsāda in 64 or 16 squares (pada) respectively. This principle laid down in the Maṇḍūka plan, of which the maṇḍala of 16 squares is a reduction, regulates the coherence of the building in the three dimensions.

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In Norm IV, of the ‘Matsyapurāṇa’ the width of the Prāsāda is to be divided into three parts; the outer width being 3, the inner width of the wall which is that of the Garbhagṛha is given as 2; with the introduction of the ratio 3 : 2 corresponding to the Fifth, in the ground plan, the main vertical proportion, *i.e.*, of the superstructure, the Śikhara, to the perpendicular wall remains that of the Octave, 4 : 2, while the ratio of the width of the Prāsāda and its height, is 3 : 6. This shows the two themes, the horizontal and the vertical, linked and combined. While the single parts of the temple are measured by the module of which they are a multiple or an aliquot part, they are also referred the one to the other and their proportions are expressed by each other. In Norm II, the Śikhara is divided into 4 parts of which the two lower are designated as Mañjarī; half its height is that of the Śukanāsā. Above the Mañjarī is the Vedi, its height is 1 part and so is that of Kaṇṭha and Āmalasāraka. Mañjarī, however, in the H.P., is a synonym of Śikhara; the Śukanāsā has half its height. This great height distinguishes the Śukanāsā of some of the earlier extant temples.

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In the Prāsāda, Norm III, the width of the Garbhagṛha being divided into three equal parts, the respective measurements of the ground plan form an odd series (viṣama) : 1, 3, 5. While the ratio of the widths of the outer to the inner square of the temple is 5 : 3, that of the width of the Prāsāda to its height is 1 : 3, the height of its Śikhara in relation to the wall is 2 : 1, and its total height to the Śikhara 3 : 2; this corresponds to the ratios of the Octave and the Fifth.

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In Norm II, finally, the module is not architectural; it is the height of the sacred object housed in the Prāsāda : the Liṅga, or the image. While the main architectural module is invariably taken from an horizontal extension this is vertical. The architectural module belongs to the lay-out of the Citi, the massive pile, which is the support of Liṅga or image. The vertical direction of the latter, however, which is that of ascent, is imparted as module to the building according to Norm II. Its main measures in the plan, the width of Prāsāda and Garbhagṛha, are also those of Norm IV of the ‘Viśvakarmaprakāśa’ and the ‘Matsyapurāṇa’ whereas the proportions of its vertical section agree with those of Norms I and III.

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The ‘Garuḍa Purāṇa’ gives different proportions which also have the height of the Liṅga as module (Norm IIA). They are 4:2, 4:8, 4:4; the proportions in the plan form the geometric progression 1:2:4 whereas the ground plan of Norm II does not yield any of the 14 classes of series (śreḍhī) nor the geometrically progressive series (guṇa saṅkalita) of Indian mathematics.²³

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²³ Gurugovinda Chakravarti in an article on ‘The Growth and Development of Progressive Series in India’, ‘Journal of the Department of Letters’, Calcutta University, vol. XXIV, states that “the Hindus were acquainted with the arithmetic and geometric series only. The harmonic series is purely a Greek contribution”. It is however “historically recorded that sacrificial altars were constructed in ancient India in accordance with the proportions of the root rectangles” (J. Hambidge, ‘The Parthenon’; Introduction by L. D. Caskey, p. XVI).

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The main architectural parts of the temple, in the horizontal and the vertical, form progressive series, arithmetical or geometrical in the ground plan, and geometric—or harmonic—in the measures of the plan and the vertical section of the temple.²⁴ The harmonic proportion is established between the width of Garbhagṛha and Prāsāda; the width or height of the wall and the height of the Śikhara (Norm I); or, between the widths of Garbhagṛha and Prāsāda, and the width of the Prāsāda to its total height (Norm IIA and V). In Norm III, the width of the Prāsāda = the height of its wall, the height of the Śikhara and the total height of the Prāsāda form the progressive series 5:10:15. With these series are combined as proportionate measurements, the ratios, 2:1, and 3:2 corresponding to the Octave and to the Fifth in music.²⁵

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²⁴ The measures of the ground plan, according to Norm II, which are 1, 4, 6 respectively, are the only exception.

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²⁵ These ratios in music, are between lengths of identical strings and at the same tension. Numerically these musical intervals correspond with the ratios of the proportionate measurements of the temple.

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The ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ gives the purest type in which the parts are related with each other and with the whole in a geometrically progressive series. The temple, moreover, is based on the Maṇḍūka-maṇḍala. The pure Octave prevails in the proportions of the plan and also of the plan and the height of the Prāsāda. The Fifth, the ratio 3:2 is introduced in the height of the image and its pedestal and a division by three is effected of the height of the temple. The ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ however is silent about the proportions of the Śikhara; the ‘Bhaviṣya Purāṇa’, at a later date, repeats the statement and omission of the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ in which two sets of norms appear to have been fused. They belong to different types of structures. The elevation of the one consists of three main parts of equal height: the socle, the perpendicular walls and the superstructure or roof (‘Viṣṇudharmottara’; see Appendix) whereas the other has two main parts, the walls and the superstructure, the latter equal in height to the wall or twice as high. The norms of the other set are given in the ‘Viśvakarmaprakāśa’, etc. (Chart I); they include the sections of the Śikhara. The Śukanāsā plays an important part.

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Śukanāsā means the ‘nose’ or beak of a parrot, its outlines are curved; Śuka-aṅghri means ‘parrot pillar’; the height and also the projection from the body of the curvilinear Śikhara, to which this ‘nose’ or ‘pillar’ belongs, are given. Another name for pillar is ‘Jaṅghā’ the latter being commonly used to denote the wall; ‘nose’ or pillar here denote the same, an antefix or wall-like projecting part of a particular shape, on the Śikhara of which it occupies, according to the early texts, ¼ or ½ of the total height. In later temples, (Pls. XLVII, XLVIII) the proportion of Śukanāsā and Śikhara are different. Śuka, in this combination, does not indicate the curvilinear shape of the Śikhara to which the Nāsā is attached. Nāsā, Mahānāsā and Nāsikā are terms widely used in later texts from South India ('Kāśyapaśilpa', XXII; 'Śilparatna', XXXV, 1-27, etc.) where they denote exactly the same shape as in the early texts; the structural function of the Śukanāsā is linked with the meaning of its curved, symbolical shape. As symbolic form it appears, repeated on the four sides of the Śikhara, on its body, but in South India Nāsās and Nāsikās flank the Śikhara or cupola of the high Temple of the superstructure; its Bhūmis are beset with them (Fig. h, p. 187) and small 'Nāsīs' are carved even at the base of the temple.²⁶

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²⁶ The 'Kāśyapaśilpa', XXII. 1-25, treats of varieties of the Mahānāsī and Kṣudranāsā. The 'Bṛhacchilpaśāstra' presupposes the 'Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra'. It is a later compilation and has a Gujerati Commentary. In Part III. 95, the Śukanāsā is assigned, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 parts out of the 21 parts of the Śikhara, from the flat roof or ceiling (chādya) to the shoulder course (skandha) ; it is about half the height of the Śikhara. Re. Kṣudranāsā, or small Nāsā, see also 'Mānasāra', XIV. 236, etc. ; Śukanāsā does not designate the curvilinear Śikhara, as assumed by R. P. Chanda, 'Rūpaṃ', 1. c.

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Sukanāsā or Śukānghri is a projection from the main body of the Śikhara; it has ¼ or ½ its height, and one third or one fifth part (Norm VA) of its own height is the proportionate measure of the projection (nirgama) of this compact, shield-like antefix to the body of the Śikhara. Its width is equal to that of the Garbhagṛha ('Garuḍa Purāṇa', I. XLVII. 3). Its outlines are curvilinear, its shape is that of the 'sun-window' proper or Gavākṣa (literally "ray-eye"); its archivolt is filled with many figures and augmented by further images; it generally wells forth from the mouth of a Kīrttimukha (Pls. XLIII. ff.).²⁷ The original position of the Śukanāsā is on the front of the Śikhara. Amongst the preserved temples, some in western India, the Pāpanātha temple in Paṭṭadakal shows the Śukanāsā about half as high as the Śikhara; in temples built subsequently, for instance in Gwalior (Pls. XLV-XLVIII) or Orissa, its replica, diminished in size (Śukanāsikā) is combined with the central offset ('latā'; or also 'pāga') in the three remaining cardinal points on the Śikharas. Incorporated in its bulk it retains the symbolic value of the original position. Its 'place value' accompanies it, as it does also other architectural forms whose original structural function is remembered, in its symbolic suggestiveness even where it is no longer put to any practical use. This refers also to the doors which have become massive doors (ghana-dvāra) or niches, in the four main directions at first, and then at regular intervals on the walls and to all kinds of the equally solid 'Sun window', the Gavākṣa or Nāsikā. This, from being the 'eye' or curve (akṣa) through which pass the sun's rays into the temple—as is seen in the rock-cut Buddhist temples where this early Indian architectural form is preserved, in its petrified state—was converted into a paradoxical shape, a solid window, symbol of the radiance of the Light from within the temple. Repeated in its reverse function as unit of form, the Gavākṣa became a lace-like pattern of indefinite extensiveness made to fit any shape to which it was applied (Pls. XLIII, LXXI, etc.). Such proliferations carry in each of their units the original meaning or function including that of their place.

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²⁷ See Part VIII; Gavākṣa, Kīrttimukha, etc.

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The original place of the Śukanāsā is above the architrave or entablature of the temple, in front, where the entrance is. There the weight, above the architrave, of the superstructure, the Śikhara, is lessened, especially in brick structures, by a large corbelled opening. Stone permits of deeper corbelled projections than brick; the vertical opening in the front face need not be as high as in a brick temple.²⁸ The closing stone fixed like a protruding shield in front of this opening is the Śukanāsā; it has the shape of a blind window or massive Gavākṣa. Its thickness is given in proportion to its height. The ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’, III. ch. XXIX, 3, a later text dealing with the South Indian type of the temple, gives to the Mahānāsī corresponding to the Śukanāsā in front of the building, in its original position, a projection which has half the width of the Garbha.²⁹

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²⁸ In certain stone temples, within their Śikharas, a second and sometimes even a third chamber, etc., are placed above the Garbhagṛha. (See part VI).

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²⁹ In the Virūpākṣa temple in Paṭṭadakal, Cousens, op. cit. Pls. XXXVII, XL, XLV, the Śukanāsā almost answers this description. The height of the Śukanāsā of this Drāviḍa temple exceeds however half the height of the superstructure.

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Vedi is the attenuated portion of the Śikhara; it is half as high as the lower part of the Śikhara having the Śukanāsā and just above it. The lower half of the Śikhara, in the V. P., VI. 66, etc., is called Mañjarī. The two, the part of the Śikhara thus designated and the Vedi form its body or trunk and lead from the vertical wall of the Prāsāda in an ascending curve toward the highest point of the finial. They do not reach it though, for the Śikhara being truncated, the Vedi is topped by a flat horizontal surface (skandha). Mañjarī is also used as a synonym of Śikhara.

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Kaṇṭha, the ‘neck’, is the narrow, tubular portion above the Vedi or ‘altar’ (Pl. I) and it holds up the Āmalaka (=Āmalasāraka), the cogged ring-stone which is also known as Aṇḍa. Kaṇṭha and Āmalasāraka are the crowning portions of the Śikhara, above its truncated body whose curves lead towards the highest point of the finial, above the Āmalaka.

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Corresponding to the sections and parts of the Śikhara, the perpendicular walls of the more elaborate temples too are described in their horizontal structure; its main portion is the zone of the pillars and is thus also appropriately called Jaṅghā. The zone above this corresponds to the entablature, having an architrave, cornice (Kapota)³⁰ and other corresponding mouldings, etc. It may be called the “upper region” (ūrdhvakṣetra). This name however may also be applied to the zone below the pillars where it would denote the lowermost part of the wall, above the ground,—the socle projecting by an aliquot part of its height.

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³⁰ The shape of the Kapota or roll cornice is derived from the edge of the thatch and the primitive dripstone cut above cave dwellings to prevent the rain from running in (Coomaraswamy, ‘Indian Architectural Terms’, l.c. p. 260). Its name means ‘dove’; but, far from being a dove-cot, its function is not only to prevent the rain but also the doves from various misfortunes should a dove enter a Prāsāda; propitiatory rites have to be performed for the pigeon is the image of Kāla (Kālamūrti), of Time and Death; it is the repository of the root-evil. The bird of Aphrodite, in India is the bird of Yama.

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The ‘Matsyapurāṇa’ gives variations of the pure norm of the ‘Bṛhatsaṃhitā’. Norms V and I are the primary alternatives when the height of the temple is twice or thrice the width of the Prāsāda.

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The ‘Agnipurāṇa’, ch. CIV, appears to be later than ch. XLII although it also adheres to the division of the Śikhara as given in the ‘Garuda Purāṇa’, but it admits four alternative proportions of the total height and the width of the Prāsāda; the height is twice, two and a quarter, two and a half, or three times the width.³¹ In these less pure proportions, a concession is made to the contingencies of buildings; an increasing number of possible alternative proportions and further varieties in the division of the square plan of Norm I (Chart I), etc., belong to an age when adjustments were made on the basis of the pure proportions in the house of God in all parts of India, and in each place according to the special local facilities.

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³¹ The chronological sequence of the texts is indicated in Chart I from the ‘Viśvakarmaprakāśa’ and the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhita’ of the 6th century A.D. to the later chapter of the ‘Agni Purāṇa’ which corresponds to mediaeval structures (10th century). The ‘Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra’ precedes the ‘Agni Purāṇa’ which has copied it. Chapters I-XIV only of the ‘Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra’ are referred to. See Appendix.

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Proportionate measurement, it has been shown, is meted out by means of an architectural module or else the Liṅga or the image is the module. In the latter instance the ‘Matsyapurāṇa’, CCLXIX. 26, speaks of Liṅgamāna³² whereas Rūpabheda denotes the divisions (bheda) of the building by a modification (bheda) of its form (rūpa), referred to the architectural module. Each of the norms of proportionate measurement comprises three classes of temples, best, middle and least.³³

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³² The height of the Liṅga is equal to the width of the Pīṭhikā, the ‘pedestal’ of the Liṅga, which forms the central square of the Garbhagṛha. The border-space is called Piṇḍikā, in the ‘Matsyapurāṇa’, whereas it is called Garbha in the ‘Hayaśīrṣapañcarātra’ and in the ‘Agnipurāṇa’. In the last-mentioned texts, Piṇḍikā denotes the central square whose width = the height of the image or Liṅga. Garbha and Piṇḍa (Piṇḍikā) on the one hand; Pīṭhikā and Piṇḍikā on the other, are synonyms, the first pair signifies the germ, the expanding ‘embryo’, and the second the pedestal.

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³³ ‘Matsyapurāṇa’, ib.; no clearer explanation of these three terms, ‘Jyeṣṭha, Madhyama, Kaniṣṭha’ is given there; later texts (‘Agnipurāṇa’, ch. CIV), etc. however give all the details of this classification in terms of measure.

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To which type of extant temples do these norms refer? Some of the names of their parts appear to be a more definite view than their proportions alone would enable us to hold. Mañjarī, as part of or equivalent to Śikhara, appears to imply the curve of a young shoot; it is a curvilinear superstructure. Vedi, in more recent texts, is the name of exactly the corresponding portion of the Śikhara in Orissa, where the Gaṇḍi of the Bara Deul is curvilinear, and Āmalaka is the cogged ring-stone above the neck (kaṇṭha) of the curvilinear Śikhara.³⁴ These names taken together with the proportions seem to refer to type II, covering its varieties and development from the sixth to the ninth century approximately.

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³⁴ The Āmalaka is also the crown of certain varieties of the rectilinear Śikhara (Part VI).

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(B) PROPORTIONATE MEASUREMENT ABOUT 1000 A.D.

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In the ‘Samarāṅganasūtradhāra’, a standard compendium on Indian architecture of the early eleventh century, can be seen modifications in the proportionate measurement of the Prāsāda. The pure proportions of the early texts are no longer observed in the vertical dimension (unmāna) but they remain binding in the plan. The Śukanāsā which extended originally to half the height of the Śikhara is now given various commensurable height in the different temples (S.S. LV. 91-93).³⁵

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³⁵ Excepting the ‘Viśvakarmaprakāśa’ the earlier texts are not full treatises on architecture but form part of large compendia; it may be objected that the pure proportions given there formed only the general rule and that many variations were implied. While this may have been so, chapter CIV of the ‘Agnipurāṇa’, shows that this great compendium is aware of less pure proportions in one of its later chapters while the pure proportions are known to it in an earlier context (chapter XLII).

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The different height at which the Śukanāsā may terminate however is not an arbitrary nor an isolated measure on the body of the temple for it regulates the height of the Maṇḍapa; its finial must end below it. The Maṇḍapa is now established as a separate hall in front of the Prāsāda;³⁶ preparatory and subservient to the purpose of the Prāsāda. The walls of this semi-detached hall are extended from those of the Prāsāda (Figs. on pp. 255 f) and are regulated in their proportions and theme by those of the Prāsāda.

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³⁶ In the early temples of the ‘Bṛhat Saṃhitā’ etc. and the Gupta age the Maṇḍapa was a broad porch of the Prāsāda; subsequently a separate building became added to the Prāsāda which did not harmonize with it from the start as can be seen in the Paraśurāmeśvar Temple at Bhuvaneśvar, Orissa. Within the tenth century however the Maṇḍapa had become part of the temple and was regulated in its dimensions by the proportions of the Prāsāda; it always conforms with its architectural theme and within it appears frequently as a prelude or else as a counterplayer to that of the Prāsāda. The separate ‘early’ Maṇḍapas are described in V.P. 124-136.

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The Garbhagṛha or Jaṭhara,—"the womb"—as it is also called (S.S. LIX. 29) retains in principle its original proportions as given in the early texts. In a temple with one set of walls only its width is half of that of the Prāsāda or Sīmā which may be assumed to have 10 equal parts. The Śukanāsā, at its bottom, has the width of the Garbhagṛha (LV. 94-100) or 5 parts; one and a half time the width of the Grabhagṛha (garbhasūtra) is the height of that part of the Śikhara which is called its chest (uras); above it is the head (śiras); the height of the latter is half of the height of the chest (uras) or it may be one quarter only of its height (S.S. LV. 88-101). In other words, if the Mūlasūtra is divided into 10 parts, the height of the body of the Śikhara 11¼ or 9⅜ such parts.

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The height of the Śikhara however exceeds, as a rule, its width at the bottom, or the Mūlasūtra. If the width be 6, the height is 6½ in one type of temple, 7½ or 1¼ of the width in another variety (see below). In the temple called Vimāna, the width at the bottom of the Śikhara is 8, its height is 9½, whereas in yet another temple, the height of the Śikhara is one and a quarter its width at the base.³⁷ Such variations are made in view of the physiognomy of each individual variety of the temple; they are in consideration of its Lakṣaṇas or specific features which adorn the underlying rules (S.S. LVI. 114).³⁸

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³⁷ S. S. LVI. 161; 165; 175; 176-181. This is its proportion in the ‘Bṛhacchilpaśāstra’, III. 82.

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³⁸ “Yathārhaṃ tu yathāśobham”; ‘Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati’; III. ch. XXVIII.

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The trunk of the Śikhara or Mañjarī which is referred to here is curvilinear.³⁹ Its curvature varies not only with the height of the Skandha, the shoulder course, from the base of the Śikhara but depends also on further factors. The name of this curvilinear shape is Padmakośa or Veṇukośa and means a sheath, which is compared to the petals of the lotus flower (padma) around the pericarp, or as Veṇukośa, describes the curvilinear shape as a sheath of that reed (veṇu) or channel which itself encloses the vertical axis of the Prāsāda and exceeds the trunk of the Śikhara in the shape of the shaft or neck (kaṇṭha, grīvā) on which rests the Āmalaka.

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³⁹ Re. the construction of the curvilinear superstructure of the Prāsāda, i.e. the Śikhara, see Part VI. In the drawings on pp. 209-10, the base is assumed to have 10 and the height 11 parts.

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In the early texts, in the 6th century etc., the total height of the temple including the Āmalaka was twice or else thrice its width. The general rule half a millennium later, as given in the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’ however is that the height of the temple to its shoulder-course (skandha) is twice, two and a half times, and “2 small parts (kalā)”—or two times and a quarter the width of the Prāsāda (S.S. LVII. 122; 329; 455; 492, etc.). Above the shoulder-course of the curvilinear Śikhara are the neck (kaṇṭha, grīvā) and the Āmalasāraka or Aṇḍaka, which yet form part of the Śikhara. Above the Āmalasāraka, i.e., above the Śikhara, is the finial which is composed of several parts; the Candrikā also called Padma-śīrṣa, has the shape of an inverted flat bowl. It supports the jar, Kalaśa or Kumbha and on it is placed the Bījapūraka, the shape of the citron, or an Uṣṇīṣa ( S.S. LVI-LIX, passim).

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The proportions of the various parts above the shoulder course are now taken from the width of the Skandha; the height of the Āmalasāraka for example is given as one part, according to the number of parts, into which the Skandha is divided. If for instance, in the temple Nandīśāla (S.S. LVI. 148-155), having a Mūlasūtra of 12 parts, the Skandha or Skandhakośāntara, the inner sheath of the Veṇu—the latter being the vertical column of the Prāsāda—is divided into 3 parts, the height of the Neck has ½, the Āmalaka 1, the Kumbha 1 and the Padmaśīrṣa ½ part.

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These vertical proportions are fractions of the width of the Skandhakośāntara; this again is referred to the width of the field (kṣetra) of the Prāsāda or Mūlasūtra; being, as a rule, three-fifths of its extent. The height of the portions above the Skandha of the temple called Nandīśāla in units of the width of this Prāsāda is 7 1/5 out of its 12 parts.⁴⁰

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⁴² With an increasing latitude in the selection of the correspondence of forms on the basis of the rhythms underlying the entire structure, beauty becomes the regulating factor. Beauty is an outcome of the response by the Sthapati to the given theme and to the fundamental rhythms.

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⁴⁰ The ‘Agnipurāṇa’, LXI. 13-14, enumerates the Vedi, Kaṇṭha and Āmalasāraka; the Cūla and Sudarśana : in CIV. 22, the height of the Cūla (=Cūḍā, crest) is given as half the height of the Grīvā, the neck. The base (pīṭha ; adhiṣṭhāna, etc.) is but rarely (cf. the temple Rucaka) referred to. The Vedibandha, the horizontal mouldings at the base of the wall however are specified (cf. note 41).

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If the Garbhagṛha has one wall only, the temple is Nirandhāra and has no internal circumambulatory; if the Jāthara is ensconced by two walls and an ambulatory the temple is Sāndhāra (S.Ś. LVI. 21.). The general proportion of a temple with one set of walls only (nirandhāra) of which the temple Rucaka is the prototype is that the basic square, the Kṣetra, having a width of 4 parts, the Garbhagṛha has 2 and the thickness of the wall has one part (S.Ś. LVI. 44-50). The height of the lower part of its perpendicular wall, the Jaṅghā, has 2 parts and rests on a socle or base (pīṭha) half its height. The entablature above the Jaṅghā consists of Mekhalā and Antarapatra, the former a roll cornice or eaves shaped moulding and the latter a recessed course or ‘inner blade’; it has ½ part in height; and the moulding, its name is generally Mekhalā, the ‘girdle’, but also Varaṇḍī (verandah), is given 1 part; these are synonyms for and variations of the Kapota, the roll cornice (S.Ś. LIX. 133; LVI. 119; 133). The perpendicular part of the temple is thus 4½ parts high and is not a perfect cube, as in the earlier temples. The mouldings of the entablature or crowning part of the walls have different names and shapes, similarly also the mouldings at the foot of the wall (Vedikā or Vedibandha),⁴¹ such as the Antarapatra and Mekhalā, so that the same profiles belong to mouldings of the wall at the base and also to the wall portion above the Jaṅghā. From this entablature or upper portion (ūrdhvakṣetra) of the wall, from the Mekhalā, rises the Śikhara up to a height of four and a quarter parts of the Mūlasūtra (LVI. 48).

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⁴¹ S.Ś. LVII, 25-26 describes the mouldings of the Vedibandha as: Kumbha 4/9; Masūraka 2/9; Antarapatra 1/9 of its height. LVII. 61-67; divides the Vedibandha differently, not into 9 but into seven parts; of these Kumbha has 3½ parts, Kalaśa 1½, Antarapatra ½ and Kapotālī 1½ parts.

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In front of the temple Rucaka is a pillared porch, three parts wide and 2 parts deep. The model Rucaka is a small temple without inner ambulatory. It has no separate structure placed in front of its entrance; its Maṇḍapa is a pillared porch only as it has been in the earlier temples. Now, however, a large Maṇḍapa or hall structure is placed contiguously in front of the more important temples⁴² whether they are Nirandhāra or have an inner ambulatory (Figs. on pp. 259 f).

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⁴² In the ‘Hall temples’, described in the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, of which however few buildings such as the Lad Khan Temple in Aihole and several temples at Alampur (Raichur), Hyderabad, have survived, there was no need of a separate Maṇḍapa or hall adjoining it.

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Plans (talacchanda) of some Sāndhāra Prāsādas are drawn here following the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’. The proportions of their elevations are also given.

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The proportions of the base however are most elaborately dealt with in the South Indian Śāstras and such chapters of the general treatises which deal with the South Indian temples (see infra).

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Two approximate drawings showing the profiles of the Adhiṣṭhāna and Vedikā (from ASI. Rep. vol. VII, Pl. XII and vol. VIII. Pl. VII) of the Lakṣmaṇa Temple in Khajuraho and the Nīlakaṇṭheśvara Temple in Udayapur (Pl. XLII) are given on p. 259 f. The names of the mouldings, etc. are added following their descriptions in the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’ ch. LXI dealing with the 5 kinds of bases (pīṭha) of ‘Drāviḍa Temples’; ‘Śilparatna’, ch. XIX. (on Adhiṣṭhāna; ‘Vāstu vidyā’, ch. IX, and other South Indian texts).—Partly the same, but also different names are used in other localities, cf. Burgess-Cousens, ‘Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujerat’ and N. K. Bose, ‘Canons of Orissan Architecture’. In the latter work (and also by M. M. Ganguly, op. cit.) attempts have been made to measure the proportions of the extant temples.

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The temple Hemakūṭa, the abode of Śiva and the Vidhyādharas, is here reconstructed from the Talacchanda (p. 247) and the Ūrdhvacchanda given in ch. LVII. 50-86, and translated below.

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Prāsāda Hemakūṭa (S.S. LVII. 50-86).

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"In a square field, (each side) being divided into 26 parts, six of these parts are assigned to each corner (karṇa); the Śālā, the hall-like projection in the middle of each side, extends (āyama) over 12 parts and projects (nirgama) 3 parts on all the four sides of the square. Thence there is a further projection; it has a width of eight parts and its offset measures once more 3 parts. 4 four-sided pillars (should be there) in the four directions [these are not indicated in the drawing]. The interval between Karṇa, the corner portion, and the Śālā has a width (vistāra) of one part; there the vertical chase (jalāntara) has a recess (praveśa) of one part.

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The angle or edge itself (koṇa) of the corner portion (karṇa) is assigned one part and next to it is a minor offset or lateral bay (pratyaṅga), one part wide and projecting half a part; it is next to a further projected part (rathikā) which is two parts wide and has a projection of one (further) half part [it forms the middle buttress (bhadra) of the corner portion] and is flanked on its other side by a Pratyanga, equal to the first. These are the proportions in the four Karṇas. In thickness the outer wall (bāhya bhitti) measures three parts.

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The Garbha has an area of 64 parts and the wall of the Garbha is three parts thick. (Here) the Karṇa, including the water-path, extends over three parts, the chase (vārimārga) measures one half part in width, its depth (praveśa) being one part. The Śālā, the broad, central buttress, extends over 8 parts, and has a projection of half a part. Thence the Bhadra which has a width of four parts, projects one half part further (verses 50-59).

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The drawing of this ‘rhythmic disposition’ of the floor, the Talacchanda or ground plan, shows the powerful projection of the central part of the wall, while the corners are elaborated as flattened polygonal buttresses; they connect as much as they hold apart the four faces of the temple. An analysis of the rhythmical cadences of the outline is not given anywhere; it would fall into the sphere of aesthetics and could be correctly undertaken when a large number of temples would be drawn in plan and their vertical sections reconstructed.

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Walls set up on this plan with bold projections and deep recesses are rich in mouldings. The lowermost part which extends to about one third of their height is the Vedibandha with its theme of horizontal mouldings of different curvature and height. Above it rises the ‘pillar’ (jaṅghā) or the recessed part of the wall. Then follows, as usual, the crowning portion of horizontal mouldings.

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The Vedibandha is assigned a height of 7 parts, of the module, which is the width of the Prāsāda having 26 parts. The seven parts of the Vedibandha are distributed following the Ūrdhvacchanda or vertical rhythm: ½ : 1½ : ½ : 1½ which are the respective heights of the moulding Kumbhaka, a torus; the moulding Kalaśa which has the profile of a vase, the recessed fillet Antarapatra and the roll cornice moulding Kapotālī.

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The middle portion of the wall which is called Jaṅghā, after the height of the shaft of the pillar, has 10 parts; in the 5 parts of the crowning mouldings above it, the Bharaṇa portion, corresponding to the capital of the pillar, has 2 parts while the cornice moulding Mekhalā and the recessed fillet, Antarapatra, have 3 parts to themselves (S.S. LVII. 62-65). These vertical rhythms are vibrant with the tensions of the various curves of their profiles; the vertical walls, by their structure, appear as if in a continuous movement; they project and recede; thus they carry to every corner the repercussions of the impact which has placed them on the perimeter of the Prāsāda. Each facet is a world of its own, presided over by its own Regent or image. Though it is complete in itself it is not isolated, for the profile of the next facet, and more than one corner at a time, contribute, from various angles, their identical themes. Reinforced by such varied repetition, the superstructure rises from several points, in several shapes at a time. They are gathered in the ascent of the Śikhara (cf. Pls. III, XLIII, LXXI).⁴³

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⁴³ The above Plates and those referred to subsequently in this chapter correspond, each in some respect to the particulars of the S.S.

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The corners of the superstructure are fortified by small Śikharas of their own, the Karṇaśikharas (cf. Pls. I, III, IV). In each corner a Karṇaśikhara is set up with a width of 6 parts thus carrying the theme of the Karṇa which also is 6 parts wide, from the vertical wall below, into the superstructure. The Karṇaśikhara is a replica, on a smaller scale, of the central and main Śikhara, the Mūlamañjarī. Against each of the 4 curvilinear faces of the ‘Root’ Mañjarī (mūla-mañjarī) and the corner Mañjarīs leans an Uromañjarī; its name says that it leans on the ‘chest’ of its Mañjarī. An Uromañjarī is a vertical section of a Mañjarī, it is lower than the trunk of its Mañjarī having the height of its chest only, and represents a replica in the shape of an offset. Its width, on the Karṇa-Mañjarī, is given as 4 parts. Like its Mañjarī, it is complete with a neck (grīvā), Āmalaka and a finial consisting of Candrikā and Kalaśa. While the Karṇas have their continuity in the superstructure in the Karṇaśikharas, the Ālinda, the balcony or furthermost central projection in the middle of each side, has its corresponding form in the Śukanāsā or Siṃhakarṇa, the large ‘face stone’ in the superstructure. Its width, like that of the Ālinda itself, is equal to the width of the Garbhagṛha; its height has six parts.⁴⁴ The interval between Karṇamañjarī and the Siṃhakarṇas is filled by minor or ‘lateral’ forms (pratyaṅga) carved with figures such as Kinnaras, etc. Tilakas, moreover, or Mañjarīs, as small as a ‘sesamum seed’ (tila), and small Kūṭas are placed as lesser accents on the total volume of the Śikhara.

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⁴⁴ Its base lies above the Karṇaśikharas ; in height it occupies 6 out of the 13 parts of the Uromañjarīkā.

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Above this variegated ‘socle’ of the superstructure rise the curves of the Mūlamañjarī; its ascent is prepared by an Uromañjarīkā half of whose height lies behind the Siṃhakarṇa. It is broader than the Siṃhakarṇa so that the latter has the position of an antefix. This Uromañjarī of the main Śikhara, the Mūlamañjarī, is 12 parts wide at the base, its Skandha or shoulder course has seven parts, the parts above it are, as usual, the neck (grīvā), Aṇḍaka, Candrikā and finally an Ākāśa-liṅga, instead of a Kalaśa. Its height is given as two parts. Now the final Mañjarī emerges from its sheaths, the Uromañjarīs, to a height of 21 parts from its base of 20 parts which covers the Garbhagṛha with its walls (the kaṇḍabhittis) and the Andhakārikā or Bhramaṇī, the inner circumambulatory.

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The root-Mañjarī has five Bhūmis, storeys or levels, of which the first is 5 parts high and each subsequent storey is lower by half a part than the preceding one. The shoulder course, Skandha, being only 12 parts broad is one part high. Above the shoulder course are the obligatory parts; the Aṇḍaka is very broad, 11 parts out of the 12 of the Skandha, and above it, slightly smaller is the Daṇḍikā, whose diameter has 9 parts; Daṇḍikā appears here as the name of the second Aṇḍa which is frequent on temples in the middle region of India of the tenth century.

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Thus the Prāsāda Hemakūṭa attains its total height of 53 parts; it is one part higher than twice the 26 parts of its basic line and module.⁴⁵

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⁴⁵ Five Latās (called Pāga, in Orissa) further differentiate the Śikhara. Latā, in the S.S., designates an offset or ‘buttress’ of the Śikhara (LVII. 197).

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The Prāsāda Vijayabhadra (S. S. LVII. 173-180) can also be reconstructed from its plan. Its Śālās, contrary to the general use are not equal to the width of the Garbhagṛha, but are narrower; the vertical drain (jalāntara) supplements the required width.⁴⁶ In the plan of the Hemakūṭa, only the second Ālinda or Śālā had the width of the Garbhagṛha; in this way the buttresses and recesses are balanced and based on the knowledge of an optimum proportion. In this Prāsāda

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⁴⁶ The depth of the recess of the water-course (ambumārga) and the Kandabhitti or wall of the Garbhagṛha, is not given in the text, verse 179 being corrupt. It is assumed to have half a part. The ambulatory appears in the plan as 1 part wide in the middle of each side; the Śālās, however, are not massive but form balconies so that in the actual building the ambulatory is wider, in the middle of each side, than appears in the plan.

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Prāsāda Vijayabhadra (S.S. LVII. 173-180).

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of 28 parts, the height is given as twice the width plus two Kalās; the neck (grīvā), the Aṇḍa or Āmalasāraka being outside this measure.

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The text gives 16 as the measurement or width of this Prāsāda. Sixteen however is the outer side of the wall of the Garbhagṛha, the Antarabhitti, in this Sāndhāra-prāsāda; this is the proportionate measure of the wall of the Prāsāda proper; the length of the Bāhyabhitti, the outer wall is 28; the height of the vertical walls of the Prāsāda is given as 24, thus forming a prism lower than a cube. The height, expressed as that of the Tulā or the architrave, is composed of the Vedibandha, the base mouldings, which occupy 7 parts; the Jaṅghā or wall proper of 12 parts, and the crowning mouldings which have 5 parts.⁴⁷

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⁴⁷ The Vedibandha here is composed of a Kumbhaka which occupies 3 parts, Masūraka 1½, Antarapatra 1 and Mekhalā 1½ parts. The crowning mouldings above the Jaṅghā have here a Galapaṭṭikā of 2 parts, Andhārikā ½, Varaṇḍikā 1½ and Antarapatra of one part.

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The vertical walls of a Nirandhāra Prāsāda, like the Rucaka, may be higher than the measurement of its width; in a Sāndhāra Prāsāda they may be lower.

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Prāsāda Kṣitibhūṣaṇa (S.S. LVII. 760-80).

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The ground plan of the Prāsāda Kṣitibhūṣaṇa (S.S. LVII. 760-80) is of particular interest. The height of the Tulā has 10 parts, two parts less than its width; its superstructure has 15 parts which are divided into five storeys; the lowermost has 3½ parts, the second 3¼ and each successive storey is by ¼ part lower than the preceding. The height of the portion of the superstructure, above the shoulder course, is here called Śīrṣa, the head, and it measures ½ part, so that the height of the Prāsāda Kṣitibhūṣaṇa is 25½ parts. The Śīrṣa above the Skandha may have one of several shapes: The Prāsāda Kṣitibhūṣaṇa is one of those Prāsādas which can be built as "Drāviḍa, Nāgara or Varāṭa".⁴⁸

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⁴⁸ Drāviḍa, Nāgara and Varāṭa, as also Nāgara, Drāviḍa and Vesara are dealt with in a separate following chapter.

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It is a non-committal plan; a Drāviḍa Prāsāda (Fig. on p. 257) is thus laid out, in principle; as a rule further offsets are placed between the central, main projection, and the Karṇas. These intervening offsets project to the same height as the Karṇas; the outline of the plan of a square Drāviḍa-prāsāda, as a rule, is an indented square whereas the outline of the ground-plan of a Nāgara-prāsāda has much more rhythm and indefinitely many variations of it while its general tendency is towards a ‘cruciform’ expansion of the inner square of the wall.

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Altogether the opposite to the Sāndhāra Prāsāda, having double walls, is the Prāsāda Nandighoṣa which is without walls altogether (S.S. LVII. 429-435). Its ground floor has 24 pillars disposed so as to form a cross of which the 4 outermost pillars on each side demarcate the space occupied by the Bhadras in the massively built brick or stone temples; the four central pillars demarcate the place of the

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Prāsāda Nandighoṣa (S.S. LVII. 429-435).

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Garbhagṛha and four further pillars fix the corners of this square Prāsāda. It has three storeys, the second has 16 pillars, and thus occupies the extent of the square of the Prāsāda whereas the third storey has only 4 pillars whose positions along the vertical axis coincide with the four pillars of the Garbhagṛha.

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The plan of this pillared Prāsāda, when translated into that of a structure with compact walls is classified under the name of Mahāghoṣa (S.S. LVII. 603-08) and is akin to the lay-out of the central part of the Gārhapatya Agni. Similarly also is the plan of the temple of Ambarnātha related to the lay-out of certain of the strata of the Agni on the Saumiki-Vedi. The rhythms by which the bricks were imbued (p. 105) are productive of the many varieties of the Talacchanda of a Hindu temple. Though it be built of wooden pillars only, their position, as in the Prāsāda Nandighoṣa, is related to those of the Bricks, the ‘goddesses’, of which also the walls of the temple, be they of brick or stone, are made.

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The norms of proportionate measurement, given by the earlier and the later texts, unmistakably apply to the temples (type II) having a Sikhara for their superstructure. The nomenclature of the temples, according to their superstructure is dealt with in a subsequent chapter of Part VII. South Indian texts and the chapters LXI and LXII of the ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, which have the Drāviḍa Prāsāda for their subject, have their own norms and nomenclature.

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The architectural rhythms of the Hindu temple impart to each building its consistency and wholeness. They evoke in the devotee (bhakta) an adjustment of his person to its structure; his subtle body (sūkṣma śarīra) responds to the proportions of the temple by an inner rhythmical movement. By this “aesthetic” emotion the devotee is one with the temple; and qualified to realize the presence of God.

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[Figure: Central Part of the Gārhapatya Agni (Ś.B. VII. 1. 1. 18; Part II. note 19).]

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