Chapter 7 - The Principal Components

The Door (dvāra):

The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra is very exhaustive on Door; as it has devoted as many as the following six chapters to it; some of which mainly and others partially deal with this important topic of architecture:—28, 34, 39, 43, 48, and 53.

The first point to note is the different limbs of the door space. The door called Dvāra, Praveśana, Nirgamana, etc. is constituted of the Udumbara—the lintel under which the door is placed, this lintel and the space between the two walls for the entrance is called Dehalī, the other name being Kapāṭāśraya, and the other components being Kapāṭa also called Dvārapakṣa, Kapāṭapuṭa, Pakṣa, Pudhāna, Varaṇa, Dvārasaṃvaraṇa and this is two-fold which is called Kapāṭayugala. The Kalikā, the door-bolt also called Argalā, is for the purpose of bolting them together. It is called Argalāsūcī. If it is big in size, it is called Parigha in the great gates of the town and their Gopuras. The other name is Phaliha, warder of the elephant.

The other elements of the door, though ornamental, are Phalaka— Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra 18.34, Jāla (a kind of window) Toraṇa and Siṃhakarṇa arches and mouldings The following parts constitute the door according to the text:

1. Four-fold—Pedyāpiṇḍa,
2. Udumbara,
3. Dvāra-Śākhā,
4. Rūpa-Śākhā,
5. Khalva-Śākhā,
6. Bāhya-maṇḍala,
7. Bhāra-Śākhā.

The Udumbara is lintel. The Śākhās are the side frames—the varieties according to the position on the sides up and down are what the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra terms them as Dvāra-Śākhās, the sides frames etc.

Regarding these Śākhās, the text mentions the following technical names after the look and the virtue thereof:

1. Devī,
2. Nandinī,
3. Sundarī,
4. Priyānanā,
5. Bhadrā.

N.B.—The five frames can be accommodated like the above diagram.

More than five of these Śākhās i.e. door frames are not allowed in the composition of a door to be placed in a human dwelling (Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra 28.15).

The doors are both main gates and the side ones. They are placed on the different cardinal points. Their different varieties are the result of the variations in their positions. As town entrances were fortified by the enclosures of moats, ramparts and walls, they were called Gopuras (cf. Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra 18.52), the main gates and the side doors are called Pakṣadvāras (cf. Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra 18.52).

These principal topics, namely the dimensions of the doors, their position and the Vedha together with decoration on the doors are discussed in the following paragraphs.

Regarding the dimensions, the common rule is that the height of the door should be twice the breadth. But this, I believe, is too low a height. A height twice the width must make the door too low for daily use unless, of course, the width itself is of a large dimension, say not less than four feet. Therefore, the authoritative texts like Viśvakarma-prakāśa and Bṛhat-saṃhitā prescribe for doors of domestic house, a height equal to three times the width. Perhaps a corrupt tradition has crept into the texts, hence practically all the texts prescribe a height twice the width in case of temple doors. The correct tradition however, is restored by that celebrated commentator Bhaṭṭotpala, who accepts the reading (triguṇa [triguṇam]) in place of (dviguṇa [dviguṇam]).

The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra however, has improved the tradition by avoiding this common rule of the ancient masters and has given some formulas as laid down in the 28th Chapter (1-7).

dvārasya gṛhavistārairhastatulyāṅgulairbhavet |
uchrāyaḥ saptabhiryuktairvistṛtistu tadardhataḥ || 2 ||
prakalpayedgṛhadvāraṃ krameṇaiva kanīyasā |
trairāśikena madhyānāṃ dvādaśāṃśaṃ parityajet || 3 ||
ityucchritistadardhena sarveṣāmapi vistaraḥ |
ucchrāyamuttamānāṃ tu kuryādaṣṭāṃśavarjitam || 4 ||
vistārāṅgulasaṃyuktāṃ kuryādatikaniyasām |
catuḥṣaṣṭigṛhadvāramudayenārdhavistṛtam || 5 ||
vistārahastatulyāni ṣaṣṭyā pañcaśatāthavā |
saṃyutānyaṅgulāni syāducchrāyo'rdhena vistṛtiḥ || 6 ||
gṛhotsedhena vā tryaṃśahīnena syātsamucchritiḥ |
tadardhena tu vistāro dvārasyetyaparo vidhiḥ || 7 ||

Various alternative measurements are also given in the text. The verse no. 7 (cf. 39th Chapter) says:

Let the height of the house be distributed in the equal parts, the two parts will give the height of the door. Its width however, should be done half of its height. This is another alternative measurement of the door. Samarāṅgaṇa, keeping in view the higher and larger buildings together with the middle size and lower size buildings suggests three alternative dimensions of the doors, as the doors are of large size, middle size and low size.

Again in the chapter entitled ‘Dvāra-pīṭha-bhittimānādika’. the 24th, the same thesis of the height of the door as more than the double of the width is corroborated

In the 24th chapter a four-fold special variety of auspicious houses (already noticed in a previous chapter) is described wherein the placing of the doors in all directions has been recommended. The above regulation about the position of the door in four directionsis supported by the following quotation from 39th Chapter in a more tangible manner:—

pūrvadvāraṃ tu māhendraṃ praśastaṃ sarvakāmadam || 59 ||
gṛhakṣataṃ tu vihitaṃ dakṣiṇena śubhāvaham |
gandharvamathavā tatra kartavyaṃ śreyase tadā || 60 ||
paścamena praśastaṃ syātpuṣpadantaṃ jayāvaham |
bhallāṭamuttare dvāraṃ praśastaṃ syād gṛheśituḥ || 61 ||

This is the general position. Now definite location of the doors caste-wise and house-wise as expounded in this very part has already been noticed of (vide Ch. below—Building Byelaws).

The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra (39. 11-17) gives the following four-fold categories of the residences in which the location of the doors is a matter of special importance. They are:—

1. Utsaṅga.—Where doors of both the house and Vāstu are in one direction.
2. Hīnabāhu.—While entering into the Vāstu, the house is on the left.
3. Pūrṇabāhu.—Reverse of the (2) while entering into the Vāstu the house keeps on the right.
4. Pratyakṣāya.—Vāstudvāra, on the hind parts of the house. The first and third are auspicious and the second and fourth inauspicious and not conducive to happy living.

Another very important rule regarding the location of the door is that the door should never be located in the middle:

madhye dvāraṃ na kartavyaṃ manujānāṃ kathañcana |
madhye dvāre kṛte tatra kulanāśaḥ prajāyate ||

Another direction is that the successive storeys should have their doors located on the doors below (vide Chapters 39 and 48, verses 44-47 and 80 respectively).

Lastly the last four verses of the 39th Chapter “Dvāraguṇadoṣa” the text concludes with the evil consequences attending on the wrong position of the doors.

Now after the composition and the varieties of the doors indicated, their dimensions and positions ascertained, their qualities and defects must also be known.

Qualities.

Regarding the qualities, the text (39. 35-37) says that the door should be well laid (Susthita—square, i.e. its frames), good looking, made of the material specially suited to it, straight (Ṛju) in its direction, neither too small nor too high, its frames should also be neither thin nor crooked and so on. The import of all these qualities is that its material, its proportionate measurements, its finish and get-up, all must be perfect and a product of artistic style. As a matter of fact all these good qualities of a door centre round the absence of defects of the door in relation to its parts, mouldings or position, etc.

Defects.

The information on the defects is exhaustive. The text (vide 48.91 and onwards) enumerates the following list of the defects.

1. Kṛśa,
2. Vikṛta,
3. Atyucca,
4. Karāla,
5. Śithila,
6. Pṛthu,
7. Vakra,
8. Viśāla,
9. Uttāna,
10. Sthūlāgra,
11. Hrasvakukṣika,
12. Svapāda-calita,
13. Hrasva,
14. Hīnakarṇa,
15. Mukhānata,
16. Pārśvaga,
17. Sūtramārga-bhraṣṭa.

The import of all these defects is that the perfect joinery position and proportionate measurements, the violation of which results in relation to any of these broad principles of the door construction, and its placing thereof must be meticulously adhered to. The text further says, that a door making noise while being shut up is bad and it is also inauspicious if it shuts up and closes by itself.

After the merits of the door have been mentioned and the defects pointed put, let the doors now be decorated in all their perfection, glory and grandeur.

Decoration of the doors is a very old tradition in India. This tradition is still maintained in all parts of India. A plain door is described as inauspicious and naturally, therefore, manifold objects for decoration are prescribed in the texts, Bṛhat-saṃhitā, Matsya-Purāṇa and practically all the authoritative compendiums of Architecture enjoin decorations. The chief door is especially enjoined by all the authorities to be highly decorated with auspicious designs. The Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra has very beautifully kept up the tradition and added to the list. But it may be pointed out here that the topic of decoration at present is of a limited purview. Forming the complete picture as it does, of the exposition of the House Architecture in opposition to the Temple architecture, the theme remains incomplete here, because the Temple doors are not taken into account and the material on the topic abounding in the ancient manuals is more related to the decorations on the doors of the devotional places. Samarāṅgaṇa, therefore, in its 34th Chapter the “Aprayojya-prayojya”, has itself delimited the scope according to this point of view taken above. The subject of decoration from the architectural point of view is simply vast. Not only the doors, the house walls, the Assembly halls, the caves, and the temples but also the bedcoats, the seats, the conveyances, the pots, the ornaments, umbrellas, flags, and practically all objects are the objects of decoration (S.S, 34.1—2).

Decorations of the doors.

1. Kula-devata—the image not being more than one hasta of length.

2. Two Pratihārīs, the Sentinels—Well decorated in variegated and ornaments, bearing staff or Vetra, and swords, in their hands, clothed, glowing with youth and beauty, along with lady Pratīhārinīs and placed on both the sides of the door.

3. A dwarfish nurse (Dhātrī) followed by her maid companions the happy jesters (Vidūṣakas).

4. Śaṅkha and Padmanidhi—emitting coins.

5. The Aṣṭamaṅgalā—On the seat of lotus wearing a sacred garland of eight auspicious symbols.

6. Lakṣmī—Lotus-seated and well decorated and being bathed by elephants.

7. Cow with her calf and well ornamented with flower gar-lands etc.

The Dvāra-Vedha.

The purpose of Vedha is the avoidance of obstruction to light and air and this leads to a very highly developed technique of the orientation of the buildings in ancient India.

These obstructions are known under the technical name of Vedha. The Vedha may belong to any member of vast structural parts of a house or building with the neighbourhood.

According to Vāstu-sāra, there are as many as seven kinds of Vedhas—

1. Tala-vedha,
2. Koṇa-vedha,
3. Tālu-vedha,
4. Kapāla-vedha,
5. Stambha-vedha,
6. Tulā-vedha and
7. Dvāra-vedha.

Here the theme is of the Dvāra-vedha—obstructions of the doors In case the, vedha happens in the construction of a door, it was believed to bring a calamity to the master of the house, either to himself or to his sons or to his wife or to his wealth and property. Some of these obstructions arc a road, a tree, a corner, a wall, a pillar, a water channel, a temple and so on. Almost all the manuals deal with this topic and the list was more and more enlarged and has assumed too great a bulk in the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra, an enumeration of which is not necessary (see text).

It may, however, be pointed out that prescriptions propounded in the texts can hardly be adhered to, because it is indeed very difficult to avoid these obstructions in crowded cities and towns. Therefore, a little distance from the object of obstruction was recommended for the location of the door. The irreducible measurement fixed is twice the height of the house, so that obstructions may not occur.

The rule says, (cf. Matsya-Puraṇa, 255. 11, Agni, page 104. 54, B. S, 53, 76, etc. etc. all the manuals are unanimous on this point):

“The distance of twice the height being left (from the door to the Vedha) there occurs no Vedha.”