5

in India in the early centuries of Christ ian era. In this

system the numerals are expressed by names of things, beings

or concepts which are very familiar to the people and

therefore the system is also known as the bhGta saQkhya

system. Thus the words, !kaf:la, baQa and nanda represen t the

numbers zero, five and nine respectively. The ka tapayad i

system is also employed for representing numbers in

traditional architecture of Kerala. The terms used for

fraction are 'bh~ga' and lamsa l meaning part or portion.

The words padam, arddha~, and padOnam are used for denoting

1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 respectively. The fractions are frequent ly

employed in defining the proportionate measures of the

elements of the building.

The ratio and trairasika or Rule of Three (proportion)

play an important role in traditional architecture. The

e" different parts of a building are proportionate to each other

and hence, if the measure of anyone of the elements is

known, the measures of other elements can easily be arrived

at by proportion. The celebrated ratio known as 'the golden

ratio', belongs to the I arddh~dhikam' ratios in traditional

architecture. In a 'golden rectangle I, the ratio of length

to its width is approximately equal to 1.618:1 or simply

1.618. This is the limiting value of the fraction F n+l/ F n I

where F denotes the nth term of a F ibonacci series (4) • The
n
inclination of the roof (amippu) is def ined in terms of the

ratio of rise to the run by considering an elemental right

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angled triangle of base of unit length. It is implied that

when the sides of a right triangle are increased

proportionately, the ratio of height to base remains the

same.

Geometr ical principles are imp 1 ici tly made use of in

determining the cardinal directions and forming the square

vastumat;lQala on a si te. The vc§:stupuru~amat;l9ala, the

intellectual foundation of a building, is derived graphically

with respect to two perpendicular axes named Brahmasutra and

Yamasutra intersecting at the centre of the vastumat;l9ala.

The grid system and the vlthi systems are geometrical methods

of determining the exact position of the grhav~dika

(foundation). The geometrical constructions of a triangle,

rectangle, circle, hexagon and an octagon whose perimeters

are the same as that of a given square have contributed many

major results to mathematics. It is significant to note that

in these geometrical constructions (or conversions) the

perimeter is kept as a constant instead of their area. This

is due to the fact that the perimeter is considered as the

prime dimension of a vastu which defines the yOni, the vital

air (pr!Qa) of a building. This is one of the difference

of Kerala architecture from that of other parts of India.

Further, an independent method is derived for finding the

length of diagonal, approximately, of a square wi thout using

the Pythagoras theorem. Several approximations are obtained

by implication for ~f an irrational number which is the ratio