Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.2235

c8.2235

PIṆḌIKĀ. A stool to install idols. The length of this stool should be equal to that of the idol. The breadth should be its half and the thickness equal to that is the breadth. The exact place where the idol is fixed of called Mekhalā and the hole in the mekhalā should slightly slant towards the north. The pipe (exithole for the water to flow out) called Praṇāla should be as wide as a fourth part of the area of the pīṭha. For a praṇāla of a Śiva temple the length of the same should be half of that of the Piṇḍikā.