Essay on the Architecture of the Hindús

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Royal Asiatic society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1834 - 64 pages

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Page 19 - ... proportions of symmetry." (p. 15.) The third chapter treats of the nature and quality of ground on which buildings are to be erected ; it is very copious and very curious. Minute directions are given for constructing a plough, and for ploughing the ground on which the house is to be built. This being done, " let sesamum seeds, pulse, and kidneybeans be sown, with incantations pronounced over them; and let due reverence be paid to the spiritual teacher ; and let the oxen, and the plough to which...
Page 16 - The ground to be avoided is described in a special manner as follows : " That which has the form of a circle, a semicircle, containing three, five, or six angles, resembling a trident or a winnow, shaped like the hinder part of a fish, or the back of an elephant, or a turtle, or the face of a cow, and the like ; situated opposite to any of the intermediate quarters northwest, and the like ; abounding with human sculls, stones, worms, ant-hills, ON THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE HINDUS.
Page 24 - A capdtam (12) is a section of moulding made in the form of a pigeon's head, from which it takes its name. It is a crowning member of cornices, pedestals, and entablatures. When employed in the latter, it often connects utility with beauty, in as much as the beak of the bird is so placed as to serve the purpose of a spout to throw off the water falling on the cornice.
Page 39 - ... discovered with great scientific skill, and is adduced as one of the proofs of the highly refined taste of the Greeks : but we observe that precepts derived from the same principle have been taught and practised in India from time immemorial. •' The plan of the Grecian and Roman columns is always round ; but the plan of the Hindu columns admits of every shape, and is frequently found in the quadrangular and octangular form, and richly adorned with sculptured ornaments. The form of the Egyptian...
Page 17 - HINDUS. 17 bones, slimy earth, decayed woods, coals, dilapidated wells, subterraneous pits, fragments of tiles, lime-stones, ashes, husks of corn ; and exposed to the wafted effluvia of curds, oil, honey, dead bodies, fishes, &c. : such a spot should be avoided on every account.
Page 46 - The general practice is this: if the front of the house be ten paces in length, the entrance should be between five on the right and four on the left.
Page 14 - An architect (sthapati) should be conversant in all sciences; ever attentive to his avocations; of an unblemished character; generous, sincere, and devoid of enmity or jealousy.
Page 14 - ... he may be either the son or disciple of the (sthapati) ; he should be particularly skilled in mathematics, and be strictly obedient to the will of the (sthapati). " A (tacshaca), who is thus called from part of his avocation being to pare rough wood, should be of a cheerful temper, and well versed in all mechanical arts.
Page 40 - ... to the option of the artists. The capitals of the Grecian columns invariably mark the distinction of the several orders : those of the Indian are varied at pleasure, though not without regard to the diameter and length of the shaft ; and the forms of the plainest of them, though they have in reality...
Page 40 - Hindú architecture, no mention is made of any thing like a substitution of human figures for columns to support the entablature, but the shaft is directed to be adorned with the figures of demons and animals ; yet various examples are to be met with in which human figures, as well as representations of animals, are employed in bold relief in the sides of pillars in temples and porticoes, but by no means like those found in Egyptian architecture. The antiquity of this invention in India is not determined,...

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