(also upapitam, Tamil: உபபீடம்) the basement below the adhishthanam (also adhishthana); Additional moulded platform or sub-base below the basement or adhishthana with mouldings repeating thos of the adhishthana, or often reduced in number or simpler.

H. D. Smith, in his edition of “Pancharatra Prasada-prasadhanam (Chapters 1 to 10 of “Padmasamhita”), remarks that Chapter 7 thereof

does not even use the terms upapitha and adhishthana carefully … and there are far too many variant readings to afford any certain reading of the text by technicians.

On the other hand, Narayana’s “Tantra-samuchchaya” clearly states:

The six main parts of the temple are: adhishthana (basement), pada (foot or pillar), prastara (entablature), gala (ceiling), sikhara (roofing) and stupika (finial) … Upapitha and padma (or padma-paduka) are two other parts of the structure to be constructed beneath the adhishthana, but they are optional.

… These parts give stability and beauty to the building … The upapitha has got its own angas (parts) just like the adhishthana.

Jouveau-Dubreuil use the term upapitha to denote the part which Narayana names adhishthana.1

  1. Balasubrahmanyam, S. R., Early Chola Art – Part I, 1966, p. 264 ↩

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