Divide the square site into a grid of equal squares (padas), most often 8 × 8 = 64 or 9 × 9 = 81, and place every part of the building according to the grid.
64 padas (maṇḍūka) or 81 padas (paramaśāyika)
Halls rising towards the sanctum
Lay the halls along the east–west axis in front of the sanctum (porch, hall, great hall, vestibule), each larger and more lofty than the one before, so that the roofs rise in a continuous range to the shikhara.
At Khajuraho the visitor climbs the terrace (jagati), enters the ardha-mandapa porch, crosses the mandapa and the maha-mandapa with its balconied transepts, passes the vestibule (antarala), and reaches the dark sanctum. Outside, the pyramidal roofs of the halls and the clustered tower form a single rising profile, like a range of peaks culminating in the summit: an image of Mount Kailasa or Meru.
Related rules
Imagine the vāstupuruṣa lying face down on the diagram with his head in the north-east and his feet in the south-west, held down by the gods who occupy the padas; do not place walls, pillars or doors on his vital points.
Read the diagram from the centre outward: Brahmā at the heart, then a ring of the gods, a ring of human concerns, and on the outside the lesser spirits; the holiest function goes at the centre and the most worldly at the edge.
81 padas = 9 (Brahmā) + 16 + 24 + 32
Place the garbhagriha (the small dark chamber that houses the image) over the Brahmasthana, with its walls on the ring of the gods and its door on the axis, usually to the east.
Provide a path for circumambulation (pradakshina) in the clockwise direction, keeping the sacred object on the right, and enclose it with a railing that separates the sacred ground.
Break each face of the square sanctum into projections (rathas), three, five, seven or more, that step forward towards the central one, and carry them up unbroken through the wall and the tower.
tri-ratha 3 · pancha-ratha 5 · sapta-ratha 7 projections per face
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Halls rising towards the sanctum”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/mandapa-sequence. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.