Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus c4.s3.9

c4.s3.9

The pedestal is equal in height to three-fourths of the base, and is of the kind called *védibadhra* (Plate I.) The column is also placed, as may be seen in another design (Plate IV.), only on a pedestal which is equal to half the height of the pillar, and which is one of the sorts called *munchabhadra*. The capital given to the first design of this pillar is taken from a model found at *Tiruvattúr*, near Madras; it is the same which *Mánasára* and others call *tarangabódhica*, and is one diameter high and projects equal to its height. Speaking of this sort of capital, *Mánasára* says, “it should be decorated with *tarangas*[^asterisk] and other appropriate ornaments; the height of the capital being divided into twelve parts, let the form of *tarangas* occupy three of them, let the *bódhica* (capital), which should resemble the cobra de capello, occupy six, and adorned with flowers and the like, and let one part above this be given to \* \* \* \*,dagger one to the *cima*, and one to the *listel*. The projecting part of the *bódhica* should be fashioned like the stalk of a plantain flower. At the upper extremity are the *tarangas*, of equal height or something more. The lower part of the head of the *bódhica* is one-third of the upper in breadth, and a third of the former being divided into five parts, one of them is given to the cavetto, one to the fillet, two to the *cima*, and one to the *listel*: and the whole should be decorated with foliages, rows of gems, and the like.” In another place the same author says, “Let the capital (*bódhica*) be made to consist of one, two, three, four, five, or six faces, according to the situation in which it is placed.”