The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c8.14

v1.c8.14

⁹ The head *mistri* of the Mahārājā of Vizianagaram is my principal authority, and I had his opinion tested by two other builders at Benares. The practice is to divide the temple into three parts; (1) the plinth or *kursi*: (2) the body or *janghi*, including the cornice and the base mouldings; (3) the spire or *cūḍā*, comprising base mouldings, spire proper, turrets, pinnacle, trident, and flagstaff. James Prinsep has noticed the same arrangement, but he does not give their relative proportions. Prinsep's *Benares*. Under the head of elevation of a Hindu Temple, Rām Rāz quoting Kāśyapa, classifies all temples into five classes according to their respective heights. These are (1) *sāntika*, "moderate", (2) *pauṣṭika*, "bulky"; (3) *jayada*, "triumphant"; (4) *adbhuta*, "admirable"; and (5) *sarvakāma*, "all-pleasing"; the breadth of these five kinds of temples being divided into seven, six, five, four and three parts in due order; ten, nine, eight, and seven of those parts are given to their respective heights" (*Arch. of the Hindus*, p. 49). General Cunningham has reduced these proportions into the following tabular form: