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Home > Temples of Kerala > Sculpturing of Vigrahas Sculpturing of Vigrahas(i) Siva Lingas Once the total height of the idol is determined the next step is to carve the Siva-liriga as well as the idols of other deities in anthropomorphic forms. The salient features and principles to be followed in carving the Siva-linga are also described in Thanthra Samucchaya. There are five types of lingas viz swayambhoo, lingas with round top, lingas with semi-circular top, lingas with-slightly curved top and lingas with flat top. Swayambhoo lingas are generally ascribable to ancient period and are invariably irregular in shape. The linga is divided into three parts, bottom, middle and top in four ways. Each way has a separate name.
Once the total height of a linga is divided into three parts each part has to be sculptured in three ways viz. bottom as square, middle as octagon and top as circular. Of these, in a temple the upper circular portion is only visible to us and the portion of square and octagon are covered by the peetha. The sankalpa is that the square portion represents Brahma, the octagonal portion Vishnu and the circular upper portion Lord Siva. Apart from the size of a Siva-linga based on chaathur-varnya, a symbol denoting chaathur-varnya (yava for Brahmins, elephant eye for Kshathrias, paddy seed for Vaisyas and a.shape of baddhaanjali (folded hands for Sudras) is marked on the circular front portion of idol. For this the circular portion of the idol at the front is divided into 3 parts and the top portion has to be left as such. The remaining two parts of the circular: portion are taken together and in its centre a vertical line,
(ii) Anthropomorphic bimbas For sculpturing or casting anthropomorphic bimbas certain basic principles have to be strictly remembered and followed. The total height of an idol (in yavams) is measured from the bottom of the foot to the top of the forehead. The measurement of the head is excluded as at this portion the deity may be embellished with crown, head-dress etc. Secondly, the measurement of each body part depends on the thaala which is adopted for making the idol. There are ten thaala types. Each thaala is divided into 12 prathimaangulams which is different from maathraangulam (vide footnote 47). Maathraangulam is one-twenty-fourth of a kole adopted for building the sreekovil, naalambalam etc. whereas. prathimaangulam is one-twelfth of a thaala or face-length. It is further to be noted that the exact measurement, if taken in inches or centimetre, of a prathimaangulam varies from one thaala type to the other. The ten thaala types of vigrahas are eka-thaala (12 prathimaangulams) , dwi-thaala (24), thri-thaala (36), chathur-thaala (48), pancha-thaala (60), shad-thaala (72), saptha-thaala (84), ashta-thaala (96), nava-thaala (l08) and dasa-thaala (120). Sirpachennool, a Tamil work on temple architecture gives details of images falling in each thaala type as follows.
Further according to Tamil methodology each thaala is classified .as utthama, madhyama and adhama by adding or subtracting 4,2 or one prathimaitgulam. In the above statement images of adhama have not been given The above list is given only to illustrate the images falling under each thaala type. Thanthra Samucchaya (patala II, sloka 86) gives a different classification for utthama, madhyama and adhama ie if the total height is divided into ten, nine or eight then they are known as utthama or dasa-thaala, madhyama or nava-thaala and adhama or ashta-thaala. Being adhama, ashta-thaala bimbas of deities are not made in Kerla. It is also stipulated in this volume (patala 2, s!oka 115) that the Ganapathi and baala-vigrahahave to be made in pancha-thaala type. Thus in Kerala, three main thaalas are followed in making idols ie, pancha-thaala, nava-thaala and dasa-thaala for different categories of deities. (Diagrams 24, 25 and 26 respectively)
An anthropomorphic-type bimba has ten body divisions head (above forehead), face (inclusive of forehead), neck, chest, belly, lower belly, thigh, knee, leg, foot. For sila, metal, wood, katu-sarkkara or stucco idols the proportions for each part is same with the difference in the posture ie,sitting, standing etc, besides peculiarities of the idol like Ganapathi with a large belly. For better understanding the principles adopted in making idols, the procedure adopted for carving a sila-bimba is given. The details of selection of sila and their characteristics have already been discussed earlier (paragraph 4.10). First a suitable silahas to be taken depending on the deity ie, purusha-sila for Gods or sthri-sila for Goddesses. The measurements of the sila are (i) Length: twice the height of the proposed vigraha (ii) Breadth: 3/4 of the length and (iii) Thickness: half of the breadth. Then it is kept on a clean and flat ground. Depending on thaala size of the bimba horizontal and vertical lines are marked by using thread and red colour. These lines are meant for meticulous carving of various body divisions and hence each such line is known as soothra. The important 11 horizontal and 5 vertical soothras which are the main divisions are as follows.
All the above 16 major soothras are depicted in Diagram 27. For proper demarcation of positions of sense organs of face eight (4 horizontal and 4 vertical) sub-divisional soothras are also drawn as noted below.
For accurate demarcation of various parts of the face Thanthra Samucchaya stipulates that the face should be further divided into 144 equal sub-parts. The earlier description of horizontal soothras give the limits of each body part. The standard break-up for each body part for pancha-thaala, nava-thaala and dasa-thaala bimbas of Kerala are as follows. In case of pancha-thaala bimbas of Ganapathi in sitting pose the face-length is one thaala, 2 1/2 thaalas from neck to the kati-soothra and 1 1/2 thaalas for below it. For Ayyappa in the squat-posture as in Sabarimala the face length is one thaala and the remaining four thaalas distributed from neck to foot. For all other types of vigrahas in sitting posture the body division above kati-soothra follow the proportionate measurements of thaala type. In this context it is essential to explain the practical methodology in arriving at the actual measurement of each part. First decide the total height of the bimba in yavams as described earlier. Based on pancha-thaala, nava-thaalafJr dasa-thaala divide the total height into 5,9 or 10 respectively. The figure thus obtained gives the thaala and it equals a certain number of yavams. Divide this measurement of thaala by 12 and it gives the prathimamigulam. Though in nomenclature it is known as prathimaangulam, its measurement varies in respect of height of the bimba and also the thaala-type. To cite an example let the height of a bimba is 195 yavams. Then one thaala for a pancha-thaala, nava-thaala and dasa-thaala types are 39 yavams, 21.6 yavams and 19.5 yavams respectively. Divide it by 12 again to obtain prathimaangulam. Then each will have 3.25, 1.8, 1.6 yavams respectively. In other words one prathimaangulam equals 3.25 yavams for pancha-thaala, 1.8 for nava-thaala and 1.6 for dasa-thaala. Then use this measurement of prathimaangulam in yavams as a multiplier to the standard measurements given in the above statement for getting the exact measurement for each body-part. It should however be ensured that the total of each part should exactly tally with the total height of the bimba (in yavams) as otherwise the yoni of the bimba is deviated. For this slight marginal adjustments may be necessary for body part without disturbing the total height. Similarly the width of each body part and both height and width of sense organs, fingers, limbs etc are also to be based on the standard measurement given in patala 2 of Thanthra-Samucchaya for pancha-thaala, Inava-thaala and dasa-thaala types. The discussion on sculptural images will not be complete unless broad characteristics of each part of the body are also given. The figurines of deities are made perfectly. Each part is carved out very meticulously and to resemble certain well-known objects, as stated below:
Details of measurements of each part for pancha-thaala vigraha, nava-thaala vigrahas for all God's and Goddesses and dasa-thaala vigraha for Durga are given in Kuzhikkatt paccha. The crown and ornaments are different for each deity. Similarly the weapons in hands are also different. The poses and weapons generally found in the hands of some deities are depicted in Diagrams 28 and 29 respectively, but they are not exhaustive.
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