Chapter 40 - Proportions and Component parts (Gṛha-dravya-pramāṇa)

[Note: This chapter corresponds to Chapter 28 of the original Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra]

[Full title: Gṛha-dravya-pramāṇa (The proportions and the component parts of the house)]

The word Dravya here does not mean, the brick, lime, etc. but the component parts of a house. The principal parts of the house are the doors and their constituent parts like Pedyā-piṇḍa, Udumbara (lintel), Dvārśākhās [Dvāraśākhās?], the door frames; the pillars with their bases, entablature, and mouldings and the Tala (storeys and floors), the Śālā, the rooms and the Chādyas (the roofs).

All these have been described in detail and the proportionate measurement given thereof. The length of the house in Hasta form the length of the door in Aṅgulas. In Mānasāra it is stated that the height of the door should be twice its width. If this proportion is adopted, the residential house would be inconvenient for entry and exit, as generally the width of the door is 3 feet in modern terms of measurement. The Saṃarāṅgaṇā-Sūtradhāra, however, modifies this by prescribing the height of 7 Hastas and the width the half of it. An alternative measurement of the door is also given. Then follows the dimensions of the constituent parts of the door above mentioned. The different door frames such as Śākhā, Rūpaśākhā, Khalvaśākhā, Bāhyamaṇḍalā and Bhinnaśākhā with their proportions are described. The five varieties of auspicious Śākhās are given names as Devī, Nandinī, Sundarī, Priyānanā and Bhadrā. Then the details of dimensions of the courts and storeys are given. The height of the story varies in superior, middle and inferior types of the houses as 7, 6 and 5 hastas respectively. The dimensions of the Śālā—the rooms also vary with the types of the houses.

The floors are described and then follows the description of four varieties of pillars with their bases, entablatures and the mouldings and these are—

1. Padmaka,
2. Ghaṭa-pallavaka,
3. Kubera and
4. Śrīdhara.

In the end are given the details of the four types of roofs, the Chadya:—

1. Bhūta
2. Tilaka
3. Maṇḍala and
4. Kumada.

Lastly it is directed that the mouldings like Siṃhakarṇa etc. (cf. 55-56 Vs.) are not fit to be employed in secular architecture—the residential houses.