Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c55.44

v1.c55.44

A little more on the ornamental architecture of these palaces is worth saying here. In the end of this chapter the author, while dwelling at length upon the architectural characteristics of the ornamental super-structure of these palaces, has referred to seven kinds of Lumās (or Lūpās—cf. Mānasāra and other Southern texts) Lumā is a decorative flower-like motif forming an essential composition of the Vitāna the canopy. Ramraz defines Lūpā as: "a sloping and projecting member of the entablature etc., representing a continued pent roof. It is made below the cupola and its ends are placed as it were suspended from the architraves and reaching the stalk of the lotus below". These Lumās, according to the S. S., are seven in number—Tumbinī, Lambinī, Helā, Śāntā, Manoramā, Kolā and Ādhmātā; in Aparājitapṛcchā however, their number is nine—add to the first five (which are common to both) of the Samarāṅgaṇa—Gāndhārī, Hasti-jihvā, Nāgāṅgā and Bhramarāvalī (the last being one of the names of 25 Vitānas in the S.S.).