Rules · Façades · Proportion · Bases · Entablatures
Build the shrine in six parts from the ground up: base (adhiṣṭhāna), wall or pillars (pāda), entablature (prastara), neck (grīva), crowning roof (śikhara) and finial (stūpi).
Like the Vitruvian column with its base, shaft and capital, the southern shrine is a sequence of members with fixed names and proportions. The simplest temples have only these six; larger ones insert storeys (talas) between the entablature and the neck, each with its own parapet, but the base, the crowning dome and the finial remain.
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
Raise the vimana in receding storeys (talas), and edge each with a parapet (hara) of miniature shrines: square domed kutas at the corners, oblong barrel-roofed shalas in the middle, and small panjaras between.
Thanjavur: 13 talas; vimana ≈ 66 m
In the later temple towns of the south, raise ever taller gateways (gopurams) in the successive enclosure walls, until the outer gates dwarf the shrine at the centre.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “The six parts of the elevation”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/six-parts. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.