Mayamata and Building Construction (study)
by Ripan Ghosh | 2024 | 61,593 words
This page relates 鈥楯oinery Caution鈥� of the study dealing with Mayamata鈥攁n ancient Indian architectural treatise dealing with building construction (bhavana-nirmana). It forms part of 鈥淰astuvidya鈥�: a stream of Sanskrit technical literature encompassing village and town planning, temple architecture and other aspects like site selection, orientation, and structural arrangements aimed at promoting harmony and prosperity.
Part 3.3 - Joinery Caution
[Full title: Construction rules regarding joinery (sandhikarma-惫颈诲丑腻苍补) (3) Joinery Caution]
Joining of the different parts of a pillar always should be executed bellow the middle portion of the pillar. Maya warns that violation of this rule may bring evil to the owner of the house.
Maya mentions that:
stambhamadhyordhvasandhicched vipad膩m膩spada峁� sad膩 || (Mayamata 17. 35)
This particular proportion minimizes the load-bearing capacity of the pillar. Contrastingly if the joinery work is done above the middle portion of the pillar it may hamper the weight-distribution of the entire structure. Maya prescribes that if the joinery of the pillar is arranged with kumbha (bell-capital) and 尘补峁囜笉颈 (abacus), it will bring success for the owner.
In the context of 惫腻蝉迟耻, a decorative and load-bearing part, having the shape of a pitcher, placed at the top of a pillar is called kumbha. While this kind of element providing support to structure. Similarly 惭补峁囜笉颈 is another kind of decorative element that possesses the shape of abacus.