The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s1.68

v2.c11.s1.68

²⁶ Proportionate measurement expressed in aṅgulas: ‘Bṛhatsaṃhitā’, ch. LVII ; 4-5 ; 16-17 ; ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’ III. ch. XXXV ; cf. also ‘Mānasollāsa’ III. ch. I. 200-205. In usage, a Tāla—which means ‘palm’, i.e. the inner length of the hand including the fingers—is stated by the learned to be the (length of) the face; cf. ‘Mānasollāsa’ III. I. 196-7. The length is usually subdivided into 12 parts or ‘aṅgulas’. Aṅgula, as a subdivision of Tāla, bears no direct reference to a ‘finger’s width’ although it seems that originally the proportionate measurement of images had the aṅgula as its module and not the Tāla.