The Mode of drawing lines

Before the actual process of modeling an image, the author refers to the mode of drawing line, vertical and horizontal, on the

surface of the stone which is made ready for the making of the image. The position of various parts of the body, the weapons, the crown and the pedestal are marked by these lines. The lines appear to pass through the surface of the body in the erect posture, touching various body parts. Horizontal lines Fourteen lines are required to be drawn horizontally. These horizontal lines, according to Saivagamanibandhana, are as given below: Two lines in the feet; third line in the middle of the shank; the fourth and fifth lines in the knee; the sixth line in the middle of the thighs; the seventh in the root of the penis; the eigth one in the navel and the ninth in the heart; next two lines on the neck; the twelvth line in the forehead; the thirteenth in the head and the final one over the matted hair. Vertical lines In order to obtain six parts, seven vertical lines are to be drawn. By these vertical and horizontal lines the face will have groups of twelve quarters. 99

The forehead and nose should be in four Angulas each, the tip of the nose with an elevation measures two Angulas and one Angula in depth at the root. The nostrils measures a Golaka and its shape resembles the Nispava which means a kind of bean (Dolichos Lablab). In Tantrasamuccaya the shape of the nose is like the flower of the sesamum plant. The author next gives the measurement of the 'Goji' which is the short vertical depression situated beneath the septum of the nose and above the centre of the upper lip. Dr. N. Venkatesvara Mallayya in his work entitled Studies in Hindu Iconography mentions Sankara's (author of Vimarsini) opinion about Goji. As per Sankara's view Goji is nasaya adhogatakulya 33 This depression measures in its length as eight Yavas. Below the Goji is the upper lip which measures in four Yavas. The lower lip measures one Angula, and Cibuka, the part immediately below the lower lip, has the measurement of two Angulas. At the end of the lips left by two Angulas each, are the corners of the mouth known as Srkvas. In Silparatna and Samarangana Sutradhara it is given as Srkvas and are described as situated below the pupils of the eyes and at the end of the lips. Their 100

001409 extension or contraction depends upon the nature of emotional manifestation. Silparatna explains the point as follows: osthayorubhayoh prantasamyogau srkvarna matau | netrajyotih samo karye vikararahitakrtau || vikare vardhitam srkvam tatha samkocameti ca (Uttarabhage, VIII, 57) Samarangana Sutradhara gives the definition thus: tarakantah same caiva srkvani paricaksate | The nose is made below the forehead and it should be on the middle of the vertical line in the face.