Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v1.c6.s20.168

v1.c6.s20.168

“Going two hundred yojanas south from this, there is a country called Ta-thsin (Dakshiṇa). Here is a Saṅghārāma of the former Buddha, Kāśyapa. It is constructed out of a great mountain of rock hewn to the proper shape. This building has altogether five storeys. The lowest is shaped into the form of an elephant, and has five hundred stone cells in it. The second is in the form of a lion and has four hundred chambers. The third is shaped like a horse, and has three hundred chambers. The fifth storey is in the shape of a dove, and has one hundred chambers in it. At the very top of all is a spring of water, which, flowing in a stream before the rooms, encircles each tier, and so, running in a circuitous course, at last arrives at the very lowest storey of all, where, flowing past the chambers as before, it finally issues through the door of the building. Throughout the consecutive tiers, in various parts of the building, windows have been pierced through the solid rock for the admission of light, so that every chamber is quite illuminated, and there is no darkness (throughout the whole). At the four corners of this edifice they have hewn out the rock into steps, as a means for ascending. Men of the present time point out a small ladder which reaches up to the highest point (of the rock) by which men of old ascended it, one foot at a time (?). They derive the name which they give to this building, viz. Po-loya, from an Indian word (pārāvata) signifying 'pigeon.' There are always Arhats abiding here. This land is hilly and barren, without inhabitants. At a considerable distance from the hill there are villages, but all of them are inhabited by heretics. They know nothing of the law of Buddha or Śramans, of Brāhmaṇs, or of any of the different schools of learning. The men of that country continually see persons come flying to the temple. On a certain occasion there were some Buddhist pilgrims from different countries who came here with a desire to pay religious worship at this temple. Then the men of the villages above alluded to ask them saying 'Why do you not fly to it? We behold the religious men who occupy those chamber constantly on the wing.' 'Because our wings are not yet perfectly formed.' The country of Ta-thsin is precipitous, and the road dangerous and difficult to find. Those who wish to go there ought to give a present to the king of the country, either money or goods. The king then deputes certain men to accompany them as guides, and so they pass the travellers from one place to another, each party pointing out their own roads and intricate bye-paths. Fah Hian finding himself in the end unable to proceed to that country, reports in the above passages merely what he heard."