The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.131

v1.c9.131

**Relative proportions** : In the formation of the idols of gods the proportions laid down in the *Śilpa Śāstra* seem to have been generally, but neither invariably nor very strictly, observed. According to the *Mānasāra*, the entire length of a figure from the crown to the heels should be divided into a hundred and one **[ 62 ]** parts,⁵⁴ and these are taken as the units of measure by which the proportions of the other parts of the composition should be regulated. The thighs, according to this authority "should measure two heads, or twice twelve parts in length. The knee-caps should be of the same size as the ears, and the legs equal to the thighs. The foot should be as high as the knee-caps, and slightly arched. Its length from the heel to the end of the great toe should be sixteen instants. The arm of twenty-four instants is reckoned the most appropriate. The elbow should measure two instants, and the forearm eighteen fingers. The hand to the end of the middle finger should be ten instants. The face should include eleven parts, and the neck four parts, or the same as the shoulder from the root of the arm or the expanse of the knee. The upper extremity should measure thirty-six fingers. Twenty instants for the chest from axilla to axilla is the most appropriate; and fifteen for the waist before the navel. The expanse of the hip should be thrice seven instants; and of the waist above it nineteen. The *upamūla* (?) should be twelve instants wide; the hip-joint ten and-a-half, and the top of the legs seven and-a-half; its middle six, which will be continuous for four instants; and its lower end three and-a-half. The heel should be four and-a-half fingers. The foot should measure eleven instants. The forepart of the foot should be five instants, but the part along the great toe, should be four instants ; the toe itself should be two instants long, and the nail half an instant wide ; the second toe should be as long as the first ; the third, fourth, and fifth, should successively be three, two and-a-half, and two instants, respectively, or seven, six, and five barley corns, and the nails halves thereof. The middle of the arm should be seven instants, as also the elbow. The mid-forearm should be four instants, and the wrist three instants. The expanse of the palm at the beginning should be six fingers, and its end five fingers, the length of the palm should be six fingers. The middle finger should, likewise, be six fingers long, and the two on its two sides five and-a-half fingers each. The thumb and the little finger should not exceed half the length of the middle finger. Six barley-corns, seven barley-corns, and six barley-corns, should be the thicknesses of the thumb and the fingers respectively.”⁵⁵