Part 9.1 - Dvāra-vidhāna (The arrangement of doors)—Introduction

The door is an essential component of any construction, serving as a movable barrier that facilitates entry or exit from an enclosure. In the text Mayamata, this significant component is described with various features to create innovative and aesthetically pleasing constructions. Mayamata prescribes different measurements for doors, depending on some particular factors such as the size of the room structure and building etc. Maya specifies that the width of the door starts from three vitasti (span) and goes up to fifteen vitasti, where the height starts from seven spans and goes up to thirty-one spans. As mentioned in the Mānopakaraṇa (System of measurements) of the current dissertation, one vitasti is equal to twelve aṅguli (digits).^[1] These dimensions are then gradually increased by six aṅguli for width and twelve aṅguli for height, culminating at fifteen vistasti wide and thirty-one vistasti high. Consequently, twentyfive variations are identified for door dimensions.

These dimensions are as follows:

Width	Height
3	7
3.5	8
4	9
4.5	10
5	11
5.5	12
6	13
6.5	14
7	15
7.5	16
8	17
8.5	18
9	19
9.5	20
10	21
10.5	22
11	23
11.5	24
12	25
12.5	26
13	27
13.5	28
14	29
14.5	30
15	31

Maya specifies that the first dimension (No.1 in the above table) among them should be utilized for bedroom doors. The subsequent twelve variations (No.2 to 13 in the above table) are suitable for constructing house doors and can also be used for the annexes surrounding a house. The remaining twelve large (No. 14 to 25) dimensions are recommended for doors in towns, forts, villages, and palaces. 

Additionally, there is a general dimension mentioned for all types of doors—

vistāradviguṇotsedhaṃ ṣanmātraṃ sādhikaṃ bhavet ||
navamātrādhikaṃ vātha sarveṣāṃ samudītaṃ | (Mayamata 30. 5-6 )

[“The height (of the door) is double its width, with the addition of six or nine digits; this is appropriate in all cases.”]^[2]

Measurement of the doors for human and divine dwelling:

Maya states that for human dwelling, the height of the doors should be six and a half parts from the nine parts of the pillar's height on the same storey. So, the ratio should be pillar’s height: Door’s height (9:6.5). The width should be calculated as eight and a half parts from the ninth part of the height. It is prescribed that the height of the doors should not be doubled compared to their width for human dwellings. This measurement keeps doors remain balanced and aesthetically presentable.

Dimensions of the doors for divine dwelling:

The height of the door should be measured as Pillar’s height: Door’s Height (8:7). The width should be set at half the height. It is also prescribed that the dimensions of the doors on each storey of the building should be determined on the basis of the height of the corresponding pillars.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

See above, p. 68

[2]:

B. Dagens, Maymata, vol.2. pp. 680-683