History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c31.5

v1.c31.5

The canonically prescribed structural parts with fixed proportions of the basal architectural members and their constituents have a spread out group of mouldings which grip the ground or the platform terrace and provide a firm base for the superstructure including the wall and the spire. The wall upto the waist rises almost vertically while the supervening *śikhara* shows a pyramidal or conical outline gradually diminishing to a point constituting the finial. Thus the temple structure has a built-in stability with a sprawling, broad base, a vertical wall and a superstructure tapering to a point.