The Hindu Temple v2.c13.s1.4

v2.c13.s1.4

The ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, III. chapters LXXXVI-VIII, gives a genealogical survey of the shapes of the temples at the time of its compilation, after the seventh century, at an age when the fully compacted Hindu temple emerged. The last of these chapters treats of the proportions of the general type (Sāmānya Prāsāda) of which 100 different shapes are described in chapter LXXXVI while one temple only, the Sarvatobhadra, forms the subject of chapter LXXXVII. The norm of proportionate measurement differs from those of the Nāgara temples compiled in Chart I (p. 232A), the terminology too is partly different. The hundred and one possible shapes which followed the norm, are described vividly and grouped morphologically in eight main families.