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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) v2.c13: Acknowledgment

Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v2.c13

Language
English

Contents

Acknowledgment

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I take this opportunity to offer my respectful thanks to the Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, to whose generosity I owe the publication of this volume as also my three other books: *A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture*, *The Mānasāra* (Sanskrit Text) and *The Architecture of Mānasāra* (English Translation of the Text). For the arrangement I am indebted to the distinguished lovers and encouragers of Oriental scholarship, Sir Claude de la Fosse, c.i.e., m.a., d. litt., the then Director of Public Instruction and the first Vice-Chancellor of the reconstructed Allahabad University, and Dr. F. W Thomas, the Librarian of India Office, London For an encouragement I am indebted to Rai Rajeshwar Bali Sahib, o.b.e., the Minister of Education, Kunwar Jagdish Prasad, c.i.e., o.b.e, i.c.s., the Educational (now Chief) Secretary, and Mr. A. H. Mackenzie, m.a., b.sc., the Director of Public Instruction.

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To Dr. Thomas I am, further, grateful for many helpful directions and for procuring for me the available manuscripts and placing at my disposal the books in the India Office Library where I made a special study of the Purāṇas and the Epics. Professor L. D. Barnett, m a., litt. d., who was my teacher at University College, London, initiated me to the study of the Āgamas at British Museum, London; he also taught me the various South Indian scripts and helped me with his scholarly instructions for which I am grateful to him. Under the guidance of Professor J. Ph. Vogel, ph.d., a summary of the Mānasāra was prepared at Leiden University, Holland, and I am grateful to him for his assistance. I am thankful to the authorities of the Government Manuscripts Library, Madras, for permission to use the Library where I studied the available manuscripts on Indian Architecture. To the late lamented Dr. D. B. Spooner, the then Director-General of Archæology, I owe all the facilities to work at the rich Archæological Library at Benmore, Simla, where, at the encouragement of his talented wife, two difficult sections of this volume (III, V) were completed

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The first proof was turned out without diacritical marks which were not then available at Government Press. I owe to Mr. H. K. Ghosh, the Manager of the Indian Press, an arrangement by which their chief proof-reader, Mr. Ajit Kumar Banerji, put in these marks and has thereby earned my gratitude. To Dr. Meghanath Banerji, a great lover of our ancient store of knowledge and a versatile genius, I owe the revision of the second proof For many useful suggestions and improvements I am indebted to my esteemed colleague Professor H. N. Randle, m.a., d phil, who very readily and generously took the trouble of going through the whole book at the revision stage of the penultimate proof. To another colleague of mine, Pandit Kshetresh Chandra Chattopadhyaya, M.A, I owe an important reference, among other occasional assistance, recorded under note 1, page 198. I am thankful to one of our research scholars, Pandit Keshoram Pandya, M A, for selecting most of the words on which I have written notes under the Index.

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Last but not least I am pleased to record my grateful thanks to Major W. C. Abel, M.B.E., V.D., lately the Superintendent of Government Press, Allahabad, and to his able successor, Mr. D. W. Crighton, and to their staff for their ever sympathetic and kind treatment towards me and for their patient and careful handling which was necessary in bringing out a volume like this.

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SANSKRIT DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD: *August, 1927.*

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P. K. ACHARYA.

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THE term *silpa* means an art, fine or mechanical. It covers some sixty-four such arts. But here *Śilpa-śāstra* is used in the sense of *Vāstu-śāstra*, this latter term being less usual.¹ The literal rendering of *Vāstu-śāstra* would be 'science of architecture,' but a complete *Vāstu-śāstra* deals with more than what is generally understood by architecture. In the *Vāstu-śāstras* the term architecture is taken in its broadest sense and implies what is built or constructed. Thus in the first place it denotes all kinds of buildings, religious, residential, and military; and their auxiliary members and component mouldings. Secondly, it covers town-planning; laying out gardens; constructing market-places including ports and harbours; making roads, bridges, gate-ways, triumphal arches; digging wells, tanks, trenches, drains, sewers, moats; building enclosure walls, embankments, dams, railings, landing-places, flights of steps for hills and bathing ghāts, and ladders. Thirdly, it connotes articles of furniture such as bedsteads, couches, tables, chairs, thrones, wardrobes, baskets, cages, nests, mills, conveyances, lamps and lamp-posts for streets. It also includes the making of dresses and ornaments such as chains, crowns, head-gear and foot and arm wear. Architecture also includes sculpture and deals with carving of phalli, idols of deities, statues of great personages, images of animals and birds. It is also concerned with such preliminary matters as the selection of site, testing of soil, planning, designing, finding out cardinal points by means of a gnomon, dialling, and astronomical and astrological calculations.

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¹ Western scholars like Dr. Burgess have also used the expression *Śilpa-śāstra* in this sense (see *Imperial Gazetteer*, II. 176).

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All these matters are systematically treated in the standard work on the subject known as the *Mānasāra*. Under this short title the work has been catalogued and generally referred to. But the complete title, as appears from the seventy colophons of the text, is the *Mānasāra-vāstu-śāstra*. Some manuscripts have the title *Mānavasāra*. It is stated on the fly-leaf of some other manuscripts that those manuscripts were copied from a *Śilpa-śāstra* which is apparently meant to be the title of the original work.

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The etymological rendering of the word *mānasāra* is 'the essence of measurement,' *sāra* meaning essence and *māna* measurement. It may, however, be rendered by 'the standard measurement' or 'the system of proportion' as has been done by the author of *An Essay on the architecture of the Hindus*.¹ In this sense the full title *Mānasāra-Vāstu-śāstra* would imply a *Vāstu-śāstra* or science of architecture, where the essence of measurement is contained, the standard measurement followed, or the system of proportions embodied.²

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¹ Rām Rāz, p. 9 note.

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² There are several other treatises of which the titles end in *sāra*, meaning essence; for instance, Vedānta-sāra, Jyotis-sāra, Āchāra-sāra, Laghu-śilpa-jyotis-sāra, Śilpa-śāstra-sāra (saṁgraha).

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There is an ambiguity as regards the signification of the title of this standard work. The colophon annexed to each of the seventy chapters contains the expression *Mānasāre Vāstu-śāstre*. This is apparently intended to mean either the *Vāstu-śāstra* by *Mānasāra* or the *Vāstu-śāstra* named *Mānasāra*.³ In other words, *Mānasāra* would seem to be such a name as may be applied to the author as well as to the work.⁴ In a passage in the treatise itself the term *mānasāra* has been used in both these senses.⁵ Therein it is held that 'all this is stated to have been compiled by the ancient *Mānasāras*. This great science was formerly revealed by all the gods beginning with the Creator and the King of gods. Having been compiled therefrom, this treatise *Mānasāra* is made

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³ But from the locative use of *mānasāra*, the latter sense seems to be the usual one.

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⁴ The same ambiguity apparently attaches to titles like Kauṭilīya-artha-śāstra. But the titles like Sanatkumāra-vāstu-śāstra, Maya-śilpa-śāstra, Gārga-saṁhitā or Śukranīti would indicate only the first category.

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⁵ > कृतमिति अखिलमुक्तं मानसारपुराणैः पितामहेन्द्रप्रमुखैः

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समस्तैर्देवैरिदं शास्त्रवरं पुरोदितम् ।
तस्मात्समुद्धृत्य हि मानसारम्
शास्त्रं कृतं लोकहितार्थमेतत् ॥ (LXX. 114-8).

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for the benefit of the people’. In this passage the term *mānasāra* is once used in the sense of a generic name (of architects), and secondly as the title of a treatise implying ‘the essence of measurement,’ which is the etymological rendering of *mānasāra*. This latter sense is explicitly expressed in another passage where it is stated that ‘having successively collected in a concise form the essence of measurement from the *śāstra*’ this treatise is compiled.¹ The former sense is also substantiated by several other passages. In one place it is stated that ‘the treatise, compiled by the sages or professors of architecture called Mānasāras, was named after the sage or architect Mānasāra.’² There is yet another ambiguity in this passage, Mānasāra being once a generic name in the plural and in a second place a personal name in the singular. As a generic name it is used in another passage where it is stated that ‘there are many Mānasāras.’³ Then thirty-two sages or professors of architecture are specified by names⁴, wherein *māna* or measurement is associated with four names—Māna-sāra, Māna-kalpa, Māna-bodha and Māna-vid. It is not unlikely that the sages or professors, with whose names *māna* or measurement is associated, are intended to be distinguished from the rest as being specialists in ‘measuring’ which is a very important feature of the science of architecture. It is also used exclusively as a personal name when it is stated ‘by all great sages or professors, Mānasāra and others.’⁵

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¹ मानानां सारं संगृह्य शास्त्रे संक्षेपतः क्रमात्। (XXXIII. 2).

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² मानसार-ऋषीणां कृतं शास्त्रं मानसारमुनिनामकमासीत्। (I. 39). In this line two epithets, *Ṛishi* and *Muni*, one in the plural and the other in the singular, are applied to the name *Mānasāra*.

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³ मानसारो बहुः श्रुतः। (LXVIII. 11).

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⁴ See pages 165; 86 note 3.

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⁵ सकलमुनिवरैर्मानसारादिमुख्यैः। (LXIX. 216).

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All the available external references to *Mānasāra*, however, point to its being used mostly as a personal name. In the *Daśa-kumāra-charita* of Daṇḍin, Mānasāra is mentioned as the king of Malwa. With him was engaged in war the king Rājahaṁsa of Pāṭaliputra who cross-beams.¹ “ The hymns of the Atharva-veda² give some information about the construction of a house, but the details are extremely obscure………… Accord-ing to Zimmer³, four pillars (*upamit*) were set up on a good site, and against them beams were leant at an angle as props (*pratimit*). The upright pillars were connected by cross-beams (*parimit*) resting upon them. The roof was formed of ribs of bamboo cane (*vaṁśa*)⁴,………… The walls were filled up with grass in bundles (*palada*), and the whole structure was held together by ties of various sorts (*nahana*, *prāṇāha*, *saṁdaṁśa*, *parishvañjalya*)⁵. It was composed of several rooms, … ……., and it could be securely shut up.”⁶

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¹ Dvār and dvāra, R. V. I, 13, 6. A. V. VIII, 3, 22; XIV, 1, 63. Vājasaneyi-Saṁhitā, XXX, 10. Śata-patha-Brāhmaṇa, XI, 1, 1, 2 ; XIV, 3, 1, 13. Upamit (pillar), R. V. I, 59, 1 ; IV, 5, 1. A. V. IX, 3, 1. Parimit (cross-beam), A. V. IX, 3, 1. Ibid, page 230.

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² III, 12, IX, 3. Bloomfield, Hymns of the Atharva-veda, 343, et seq. Weber, Indische Studien, 17, 231, et seq. Whitney, Translation of the Atharva-veda, 525, et seq.

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³ Altindisches Leben, 153.

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⁴ “ It seems likely that, as the ribs were of bamboo and were probably fixed in the ridge, the roof was wagon-headed, like the huts of the Todas at the present day (see illustrations of rivers, *The Todas*, pp. 25, 27, 28, 51), and the rock-cut Chaityas or Assembly halls of the Buddhists in Western India, in some of the earliest of which the wooden ribs of the arched roof are still preserved. See Fergusson, *History of Indian Architecture* II, 135, cf. 126.”

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⁵ A. V. IX, 3, 4, 5.

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⁶ R. V. VII, 85, 6

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Atri is stated to have been “ thrown into a machine room with a hundred doors, where he was roasted.”⁷ Vasiṣṭha desired to have “ a three-storeyed dwelling” (*tri-dhātu-śaraṇam*)⁸. Mention is made of a sovereign “ who, exercising no oppression, sits down in this substantial and elegant hall built with a thousand pillars”, and of residential houses with such pillars as are said to be “ vast, compre-hensive, and thousand-doored.”¹⁰ Mitra and Varuṇa are represented as occupying a great palace with a thousand pillars and a thousand gates.¹¹ Muir is quite reasonable when he comments on this by saying that “ this is but an exaggerated de cription of a royal residence such as the poet had seen.”¹

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⁷ R. V. I, 112, 7. Wilson’s R. V. IV, 148.

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⁸ Ibid. IV, 200.

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⁹ Ibid. II, 313.

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¹⁰ Ibid. IV, 179.

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¹¹ Compare R. V. II, 41, 5 ; V, 62, 6 ; VII, 88, 5. A. V, III, 12 ; IX, 3, which contains prayers for the stability of a house at the time of its construction.

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¹ Muir, *Sanskrit Texts*, V, 455. Compare R. L. Mitra, *Indo-Aryans*, I, 27: “Pillars, spacious doors and windows, though frequently mentioned, are not decisive indications of the existence of masonry buildings; but bricks could not possibly have originated unless required for such structures, for it would be absurd to suppose that bricks were known, and made, and yet they were never used in the construction of houses.”

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The *Śulva-Sūtras*, which are but the supplementary portions of the *Kalpa-Sūtras*, treating of the measurement and construction of the different *Vedis* or altars, furnish us with some interesting structural details of the Agnis, the large altars built of bricks. The construction of these altars, which were required for the great Soma sacrifice, seems to have been based on sound scientific principles and was probably the beginning of religious architecture (temple-building) in India.

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These altars could be constructed in different shapes, the earliest enumeration of which is found in the *Taittirīya-Saṃhitā*.² Following this enumeration³, Baudhāyana and Āpastamba furnish us with full particulars about the shape of all these different chitis (altars) and the bricks which were employed for their construction. Everyone of these altars was constructed of five layers of bricks, which together came up to the height of the knee; in some cases 10 or 15 layers, and proportionate increase in the height of the altar were prescribed. Every layer in its turn was to consist of two hundred bricks, so that the whole Agni (altar) contained a thousand; the first, third, and fifth layers were divided into two hundred parts in excatly the same manner; a different division was adopted for the second and the fourth, so that one brick was never laid upon another of the same size and form.

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² V, 4, 11.

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³ (i) Chaturaśra-syena-chit—so called because it resembles the form of a falcon and the bricks out of which it is composed are all square shaped.
(ii) Kaṅka-chit—in the form of a heron (cf. Burnell. *Cat.* 29. of a carrion kite) is the same as śyena-chit except the two additional feet. (i i) Alaja-chit—is the same except the additional wings.
(iv) Prauga-chit—is an equilateral triangle; and the
(v) Ubhayataḥ-Praugachit—is made up of two such triangles joined at their bases.
(vi) Ratha-chakra-chit—is in the form of a wheel, (i) a massive wheel without spokes, and (ii) a wheel with sixteen spokes.
(vii) Droṇa-chit—is like a vessel or tube, square or circular. (viii) Parichayya-chit—has a circular outline and is equal to the Rathachakra-chit, differing in the arrangement of bricks which are to be placed in six concentric circles.
(ix) Samūhya-chit—is circular in shape and made of loose earth and bricks.
(x) Kūrma-chit—resembles a tortoise and is of a triangular or circular shape. Cf. Thibaut, *J. A. S. B.*, 1875, part I.

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"The first altar covered an area of 7½ *purushas*, which means 7½ squares, each side of which was equal to a *purusha*, i e., the height of a man with uplifted arms. On each subsequent occasion the area was increased by one square *purusha*. Thus, at the second layer of the altar one square *purusha* was added to the 7½ constituting the first *chiti* (altar), and at the third layer two square *purushas* were added and so on. But the shape of the whole and the relative proportion of each constituent part had to remain unchanged. The area of every *chiti* (altar), whatever its shape might be—falcon, wheel, tortoise, etc.,—had to be equal to 7½ square *purushas*.¹

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¹ Thus squares had to be found which would be equal to two or more given squares, or equal to the difference of two given squares; oblongs were turned into squares and squares into oblongs. Triangles were constructed equal to given squares or oblongs and so on. A circle had to be constructed, the area of which might equal as closely as possible that of a given square. See illustrations in *The Pandit*, new series, June, 1876, no. 1, volumes I and IV, 1882; old series, June, 1874, no 97, volumes IX and X, May, 1876.

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Frequent mention is made also of villages, towns and forts,² and cities with 'hundred enclosures or fortifications are referred to.³ On this Muir remarks that although they are only alluded to as figurative expressions of the means of protection afforded by the gods, they no doubt suggest the idea of forts consisting apparently of a series of concentric walls, as actually existing in the country at that time.'⁴

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² R. V. i, 58, 8; 144, 1; ii, 20, 8; iv. 27, 1; 30, 20; viii. 3, 7, 15, 14; 89, 8; 95, 1.

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³ R. V. 1, 166, 8; vii. 15, 14.

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⁴ Muir, *Sanskrit Texts*, v. 451.

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From references like these many scholars are of opinion that the authors of the Vedic literature "were not ignorant of stone forts, walled cities, stone houses, carved stones, and brick edifices."

II Buddhist Literature

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"In the Buddha's time and in that portion of northern India where the Buddhist influence was most early felt—that is to say, in the districts including and adjoining those now called the United Provinces and Behar"—the arrangements of villages were practically similar. "We nowhere hear of isolated houses. The houses were all together, in a group, separated only by narrow lanes. Immediately adjoining was the sacred grove of trees of the primeval forest ........ .. Beyond this was the wide expanse of cultivated field, usually rice field." Villagers are described as "uniting of their own accord to build mote-hills and rest-houses and reservoirs, to mend the roads between their own and adjacent villages, and even to lay out parks."¹

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¹ ^1 *Buddhist India*, Rhys Davids, 42, 45, 49: compare *Jat*. I. 199.

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The exact details of town-planning are not available. But "we are told of lofty walls, ramparts with buttresses and watch-towers and great gates; the whole surrounded by a moat or even a double moat, one of water and one of mud. But we are nowhere told of the length of the fortifications or of the extent of the space they enclosed. It would seem that we have to think not so much of a large walled city as of a fort surrounded by a number of suburbs .. . From the frequent mention of the windows of the great houses opening directly on to the streets or squares it would appear that it was not the custom to have them surrounded by any private grounds. There were, however, no doubt, enclosed spaces behind the fronts of the houses, which latter abutted on the streets."²

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² ^2 R. D. ibid. pp 65-64. Cf The hill fortress, Girivraja, four and a half miles in circumference, is said to have been built by Mahā-Govinda, the architect. Bimbisāra is stated to have built Rājagṛiha, king's house, which was three miles in circumference. "The stone walls of Girivraja are the oldest extant stone buildings in India." Mention is also made of Ayojjhā, Bārāṇasī, Kampilla, Kosāmbī, Madhurā, Mithilā, Sāgala, Sāketa, Sāvatthi, Ujjeni, Vesāli and other cities, of which however few architectural details are given (Vimāna-Vatthu, commentary, p. 82). Compare *Dīgh*. XIX, 36:

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दन्तपुरं कालिङ्गानमस्सकानाञ्च पोतनम् ।
माहिस्सतो अवन्तीनम् सोवीरानञ्च रोरुकम् ॥
मिथिला च विदेहानम् चम्पा अङ्गेसु मापिला ।
वाराणसो च कासीनम् एते गोविन्द-मापितेति ॥

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See Rhys. Davids, ibid. p. 38.

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But detached references to individual buildings, as distinct from villages and towns, are found in abundance in the canonical texts as well as the Jātakas. At places it appears as if Buddha were delivering discourses on architecture. As a matter of fact, he enjoined upon his devotees the supervision of building construction as one of the duties of the order.¹ It is stated in one of the early texts that the Bhikkhus were told on a certain occasion by the Blessed One, after the delivery of a religious discourse, with respect to dwellings, thus: 'I allow you, O Bhikkhus, abodes of five kinds—*Vihāra*, *Arddhayoga*, *Prāsāda*, *Harmya*, and *Guhā*.'²

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¹ *Chullavagga*, VI 17, 1; transl pp. 212-216.

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² *Vinaya texts*, *Mahavagga*, I 30, 4, p. 173-74; *Chullavagga*, VI. 1, 2, p. 158.

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Buildings are thus divided into five classes. But the details of the distinguishing features are not methodically given in the texts, obviously because these are not architectural treatises.³

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³ The commentator Buddhaghosha has, however, submitted an explanatory note. *Vihāra* is the well known Buddhist monastery *Ardha-yoga*, which literally means 'half-joining', is stated by this commentator to imply *Suvarṇa-vanga-geha* or "gold-coloured Bengal house" as rendered by Oldenberg and Rhys Davids. There appear, however, no such houses in Bengal, nor is this class of buildings mentioned in the Śilpa-śāstras. It is clear, however, that these are meant to imply some sort of luxurious buildings of the then Bengal. Regarding *prāsāda* Buddhaghosha simply says that it is a long *Prāsāda*. Rhys Davids has made several conjectures,—"a long storied mansion, or the whole of an upper storey, or the storied buildings." Sir M M. Williams seems to explain this by "the monks' hall for assembly and confession." *Harmya* is stated to be a *prāsāda* with an upper chamber placed on the topmost storey. The references to the uses of *prāsāda* and *harmya* as found in the Śilpa-śāstras, general Sanskrit literature, and the archæological records will be found in the writer's *Dictionary* under those terms. *Guhā* literally means cave and would seem to refer to underground buildings. One of the Jātakas (*Ummagga*, p. 430) actually contains an elaborate description of an underground palace, and there are the rock cut temples as in the famous Ajanta caves. According to Buddhaghosha these *guhā* buildings are of four kinds, namely, those built of bricks, stone, wood, or earth. Rhys Davids has rendered *śilāguhā* by 'hut made in a rock, and left out the translation of *paṁśu* (Sanskrit *pāṁśu*, meaning sand, dust, or crumbling soil) *guhā*. Buddhaghosha has thus explained the *pañcha-lenāni* under Mahāvagga 1.30 4—

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*Vihāras* are the well known monasteries or temples of the Buddhists, originally implying halls where the monks met. *Ardhayogas* seem to be a special kind of Bengal buildings partly religious and partly residential. *Prāsādas* are wholly residential storeyed buildings; *Harmyas* are a larger and more pompous

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‘अड्डयोगो’ ति सुवन्नवङ्गगेहम्। पासादो’ ति दीघपासादो। हम्मियन् ति उपरि आकासतले पतिट्ठितकूटगारो पासादो येव। गुहा’ ति इट्ठकगुहा सिलागुहा दारुगुहा पंसुगुहा।
Compare also Oldenberg and Rhys Davids, Vinaya texts, translation, *Mahāvagga*, p 173, note, also *Chullavagga*, p. 158, note 2.

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type of storeyed buildings. *Guhās* seem to be less dignified buildings, originally built underground for middle-class people. The extensiveness of these buildings can be imagined from the length of time devoted to getting a house completely built. Thus, it is stated that "with reference to the work of a small *Vihāra*, it may be given in charge (to an overseer) as a *Navakamma* (new work) for a period of five or six years, that on an *Aḍḍhayoga* for a period of seven or eight years, that on a large *Vihāra* or a *Pāsāda* for ten or twelve years."¹ That the long periods were not idled away will be clear from the following details of houses gathered from the Vinaya texts.²

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¹ *Chullavagga*, VI. 17, 1;(Translation, page 214).

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² *Chullavagga*, VI. V, etc., and *Mahavagga*.

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The selection of building sites shows a highly developed good taste. The *ārāma* (rest-house), well fitted for quiet people, is stated to be built "not too far from the town and not too near, convenient for going and for coming, easily accessible for all who wish to visit him, by day not too crowded, by night not exposed to too much noise and alarm . . . ."³ The whole compound is enclosed with ramparts (*prākāra*) of three kinds, namely, brick walls, stone walls, and wooden fences, which are again surrounded with bamboo fences, thorn fences, and ditches.⁴

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³ *Chullavagga*, VI. 4, 8; (Translation, page 187).

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⁴ *Ibid.* VI. 3. 7, 10, (Translation, pages 176–7, 187).

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Houses were built comprising "dwelling-rooms and retiring-rooms, and store-rooms, and service halls and halls with fire-places in them, and store-houses, and closets, and cloisters, and halls for exercise, and wells, and sheds for the well, and bath-rooms, and halls attached to the bath-rooms, and ponds, and open-roofed sheds (maṇḍapas)."⁵ These buildings are meant to be dwelling houses; so it is stated that "an *upāsaka* (devotee) has built for his own use a residence, a sleeping room, a stable, a tower, a one-peaked building, a shop, a *boutique*, a storeyed house, an attic, a cave, a cell, a store-room, a refectory, a fire-room, a kitchen, a privy, a place to walk in, a house to walk in, a well, a well-house, a *yantra-griha* (which is supposed by Bühler to be 'a bathing place for hot sitting baths'), a *yantra-griha* room, a lotus pond and a pavilion."⁶

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⁵ *Chullavagga*, VI. 4, 10; (Translation, page 189).

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⁶ *Mahāvagga*, III. 5, 9;(Translation, page 304), also III. 5, 6; (Translation, page 303).

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The inner chambers are divided into three classes, called *Śivikā-garbha* or square halls, *Nālikā-garbha* or rectangular halls, and *Harmya-garbha* which appears to be a large dining-hall.¹ The verandahs (*alinda*) seem to have been a special characteristic of these buildings. The Blessed One (Buddha) says, "I allow you, O Bhikkhus, covered terraces, inner verandahs, and over-hanging caves."² The storeyed buildings (*prāsāda*) are stated to be furnished with "a verandah to it, supported on pillars" with capitals of elephant-head.³

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¹ About the last Buddhaghosha seems to be doubtful and says **हम्मियगब्भो ति कुटागार-गब्भो मुदण्डच्छादनगब्भो वा;**—but about the other two terms he is clear: **सिविकागब्भो ति चतुरस्सगब्भो; नालिकागब्भो ति वित्थारतो द्विगुणतिगुणायामो दीघगब्भो** (*Chullavagga*, VI. 3. 3). But Oldenberg and Rhys Davids seem to have been wholly misled when they translate these last two by "palankeen shaped and quait measure shaped" about the latter of which Indians of even to-day are quite unfamiliar.

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² *Chullavagga*, VI. 3. 5. (Translation, page 175), commented on by Buddhaghosha: **आलिन्दो नाम पमुखं वुच्चति।** (Compare *Abhidhānappadīpikā*, verse 218). **पघनं नाम यं निक्खमन्ता च पविसन्ता च पादेहि हनन्ति, तस्स विहार द्वारं उभतो कुड्डं निहरित्वा कतपदेसस्स एतं अधिवचनम्, पघनानन ति पि वुच्चति। पकुट्ठन ति मज्झे गब्भस्स समन्ता परियागारो वुच्चति पकुटन् ति पाठो। ओसरको ति अनालिन्दके वंसं दत्वा ततो दण्डके ओसारेत्वा कतं छादनपमुखं।**

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³ Ibid. VI. 14. 1. (Translation, page 208): **हत्थिनखकं** supported on the frontal globes (*kumbha*) of elephants, says Buddhaghosha.

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Details of gates, doors and windows are also elaborate. Gateways are built with rooms and ornamental screen-work over them⁴. And gates are made of stakes interlaced with thorny brakes.⁵

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⁴ *Chullavagga*, VI. 4 10 (Translation, page 189); 3. 10, **तोरण** of which excellent examples in stone have been found at the Sāñchī and Bharhut Topes, (Translation, page 178).

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⁵ Ibid. VI. 3. 10, (Translation, page 178)

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Doors are furnished with "door-posts and lintel, with hollows like a mortar for the door to revolve in, with projections to revolve in those hollows, with rings on the door for the bolt to work along in, with a block of wood fixed into the edge of the door-post, and containing a cavity for the bolt to go into (called the monkey's head), with a pin to secure the bolt by, with a connecting bolt, with a key-hole, with a hole for a string with which the door may be closed, and with a string for that purpose."⁶ The windows are stated to be of three kinds according as they are made with railings, lattices, and slips of wood.¹ The shutters are adjustable and can be closed or opened whenever required.² Five kinds of roofing are mentioned—brick-roofing, stone-roofing, cement-roofing, straw-roofing, and roofing of leaves.³ The roof is first covered over with skins(?) and plastered within and without; then follow whitewash, blocking, red-colouring. wreath-work and creeper-work.⁴ "The floors were of earth, not of wood, and were restored from time to time by fresh clay or dry cowdung being laid down, and then covered with a whitewash in which sometimes black or red was mixed. From the parallel passage in *Mahāvagga* (I. 25. 15) and *Chullavagga* (VIII. 3. 1), it would seem that the red colouring was used rather for walls, and the black one for floors."⁵ It appears, however, that with a view to removing the dampness gravel was spread over the floor.⁶

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⁶ Ibid. VI. 3. 8. also 2. 1 and 17 1, (Translation, pages 177, 161, 213). Compare the distinction between **कवाट** (door proper) and **द्वार** (doorway or gateway) (Translation, page 160, note 3). The keys are stated to be of three kinds, as they are made of bronze, hard wood or horn (VI. 2 1; Translation, page 162).

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¹ *Chullavagga* VI. 2 2, वेदिका वातपानं which according to Buddhaghosha means चेतिये वेदिकासदिसं, of which वेदिका has been explained by Rhys Davids in his note on *Mahā-Sudassana Sutta*, 1. 60, (see R D's. *Buddhist Suttas*, page 262) जालवातपानं नाम जालकबद्धं, cf which जाल literally means 'net' but corresponds to lattice. R D. advises to compare Anglo-Indian 'jalousie' (page 162). सालक वातपानं नाम थम्भक वातपानं which "possibly means with slips of wood arranged horizontally as in our Venetian blinds" (page 163). In spite of all these the learned Orientalists, Rhys Davids and Oldenberg, would say that "There were, of course, no windows in our modern sense, but only spaces left in the wall to admit light and air, and covered by lattices of three kinds" (note on Ibid. VIII 2. 2, Translation, page 279).

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² *Mahāvagga*, 1. 25 18, (Translation, page 160); *Chullavagga*, VIII. 2. 2, (Translation, page 279)

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³ *Chullavagga*, VI. 3. 10, (Translation, page 179). Compare also VI. 3. 8. 3. 3, etc.

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⁴ Ibid. V. 11. 6, (Translation, page 97); the rendering of the term 'ogumpheti' which also occurs in *Mahāvagga*, V. 11, by 'skins' seems doubtful and unsuitable. Buddhaghosa in his note at the latter place says अगुम्फियत्त‍ोति भित्ति-दण्डादिसु वेठेत्वा बन्धाति।

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⁵ Rhys Davids and Oldenberg, note on *Chullavagga*, VI. 20. 2. (Translation, page 218).

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⁶ Compare *Chullavagga*, V. 14. 5

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There were stairs of three kinds, namely, brick stairs, stone stairs, and wooden stairs. And they were furnished with *ālambana-bāhu* or balustrades.⁷ A more detailed description of flights of stairs (*sopāna*) is given in the *Mahā-Sudassana Sutta*: "Each of these had a *thambhā*, evidently posts or banisters; *sūchiyo*, apparently cross-bars, let into these banisters; and *uṇhīsaṁ*, either a lead-line running along the top of the banisters, or a figure-head at the lower end of such a head-line."⁸

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⁷ *Chullavagga*, V. 11. 6, (Translation, page 96).

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⁸ *Mahā Sudassana Sutta*, 1. 59 See also R. Davids '*Buddhist Suttas*', page 262, and compare *Chullavagga*, VI. 3. 3.

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Thus it is clear that very minute details also are mentioned in this literature. The subject, therefore, seems to have been treated in a more than casual manner.

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"The entrance to the great houses was through a large gateway. To the right and left of the passage-way were the treasury and grain stores. The gateway led into an inner courtyard round, which were chambers on the ground-floor. And above these chambers was a flat roof called the *upari-prāsāda tala*, the upper flat surface of the house, where the owner sat, usually under a pavilion, which answered the purpose at once of a drawing-room, an office, and a dining-hall."

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"In the King's palace there was accommodation also for all the business of the state, and for the numerous retinue and the extensive harem . . . . . The supplementary buildings included three institutions which are strange to us, and of considerable historical interest."

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"We are told several times of a building of seven storeys in height."¹ Professor Rhys Davids seems to be of the opinion that these buildings must have some connection with the seven-storeyed Ziggarats of Chaldæa. "But in India the use to which such seven-storeyed palaces were put was entirely private, and had nothing to do with any worship of the stars." Still he would add that "in this case also the Indians were borrowers of an idea."

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¹ *Satta-bhumika-pāsāda*, *Jataka*, 1. 227, 346; 5 52, 426; 6. 577. R. Davids refers to a building "still standing at Pulasti-pura in Ceylon and the thousand stone pillars on which another was erected at Anurādhāpura," (*Buddhist India*, page 70).

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"Another sort of building historically interesting were the hot-air baths, described in full in *Vinaya* texts.² They were built on an elevated basement faced with brick or stone, with stone stairs leading up to it, and a railing round the verandah. The roof and walls were of wood, covered first with skins, and then with plaster; the lower part only of the wall being faced with bricks. There was an ante-chamber, and a hot-room, and a pool to bathe in. Seats were arranged round a fire-place in the middle of the hot room; and to induce perspiration hot water was poured over the bathers . . . . . "

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² III. 105-110, 297. "After the bath there was shampooing, and then a plunge into the pool." "It is very curious to find," observes Rhys Davids "at this very early date in the Ganges valley a sort of bathing so closely resembling our modern "so-called 'Turkish bath'. "Did the Turks", he asks, "derive this custom from India?" (Ibid, page 74).

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In the *Dīgha Nikāya*³ there is a description of "another sort of bath, an open-air bathing tank, with flights of steps leading to it, faced entirely with stone, and ornamented both with flowers and carvings."

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³ *Buddhist Suttas*, translated by R Davids, (page 262 foll.), who refers to "several ancient baths still to be seen at Anurādhāpura in a fair state of preservation in spite of the more than two thousand years that have elapsed since they were first constructed." (Ibid. page 76).

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The Dāgabas or topes were another class of monuments erected in the cemeteries.¹ They were pre-Buddhistic in origin² but became very prominent after Buddha. The priestly records, however, ignore these topes, because they were erected “more especially by those who had thrown off their allegiance to the priests, and were desirous to honour the memory of their teachers, who were leaders of thought, or reformers, or philosophers.”

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¹ *Vinaya* texts, 4. 308.

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² Cf. *White Yajurveda*, chap. 35, and the writer's *Dictionary*.

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“The first step was probably merely to build the cairn more carefully than usual with stones and to cover the outside with fine *chunam* plaster to give a marble-like surface. The next step was to build the cairn of concentric layers of the huge bricks in use at the time, and to surround the whole with a wooden railing.”

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“Even in the Buddha’s time the size of these monuments had already reached very considerable dimensions. The solid dome erected by the Sākiyas over their share of the ashes from the Buddha’s funeral pyre must have been about the same height as the dome of the St. Paul’s measured from the roof.”³

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³ R. Davids, page 83-4. References to a large number of topes will be found in the writer's *Dictionary* under *stūpa*. Buddhaghosha's enumeration of the parts of a palace also shows the popularity of the subject of architecture in Buddhist literature. “Ayam phasso nāma yathā pāsādam patvā thambho nāma, sesadabhasambhārānum balavapaccayo tulā saṁghāṭā bhitti pādakuṭa-gopānasipakkhapāsamukhavaṭṭiyo thambhe baddhā thambhe patiṭṭhitā evam eva sahajātasampa-yuttadhamānam balavapaccayo hoti” (*Atthasālinī*, para 286, page 107, ed. Müller).

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From the books referring to the earlier Buddhist period stone seems to have been used only for pillars, walls and stair cases. A palace of stone is once mentioned in a fairy land⁴. According to Rhys Davids, “the superstructure at least, of all dwellings was either of wood-work or brick-work. In either case it was often covered, both internally and externally, with fine chunam plaster-works, and brilliantly painted in fresco, with figures or patterns, four of which have been preserved, namely, wreath-work, creeper-work, fine-ribbon-work and dragon’s-tooth-work.⁵ When the figures predominated the result is often called a picture-gallery (*chittāgāra*).”⁶

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⁴ *Jat*, 6.269.

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⁵ *Vinaya* texts, Translation, 2. 67; 4. 47.

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⁶ R. Davids, page 68.

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The articles of furniture, which form an important part of the architectural subjects, are also elaborately described in the Buddhist literature. Benches were made long enough to accommodate three persons⁷. The bedstead (*pallaṅka*) or divan was a separate piece of furniture.¹ Large couches (*āsandi*) or chairs seem to have been important articles of furniture.² Couches covered with canopies are also mentioned.³ Mention is made of a large variety of chairs, namely, rectangular chair (*āsandako*), arm chair, sofa (*sattango*), sofa with arms to it, state chair (*bhaddu-pīṭhaṃ*), cushioned chair (*pīṭhikā*), chair raised on a pedestal *elaka-padaka-pīṭhaṃ*), chair with many legs (*āmalaka-vaṇṭika-pīṭhaṃ*), leaning board (*phalakam*), cane-bottomed chair (*kochchham*) and s raw-bottomed chair⁴. Mention is also made of the litter or sedan-chair.⁵

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⁷ *Chullavagga*, VI. 13. 2, (Translation, page 208).

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¹ Chullavagga, VI. 14.1; VI. 8.1, etc., (Translation, page 209, 197); Mahāvagga, V. 10 3, (Translation, page 27).

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² Ibid. VI. 14.1, VI. 8. 1. etc., (Translation, page 209, 197); Mahāvagga, V. 10.3, (Translation, page 27). Rhys Davids and Oldenberg render *āsandi* twice by cushions and once by couches, and Childers by 'chairs' (see his Dictionary). It seems to imply Sanskrit *āsana* which means 'a seat.'

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³ *Mahāvagga*, V. 10.3; (Translation, page 27).

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⁴ *Chullavagga*, VI. 2 4; (Translation, page 165). Renderings are mostly those made by Rhys Davids and Oldenberg depending on Buddhaghosha's note. Compare also *Chullavagga*, VI. 20.2 and VIII. 1.3. Apassena-phalakam as a "board to lean up against" is also mentioned in *Mahāvagga*, 1. 25, 15, 16. For arm-chair and sofa there seems to be another expression '*apasayam*,' see Buddhaghosha's note on *Chullavagga*, VI. 2. 4.

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⁵ *Mahāvagga*, V. 10 2, (Translation, page 27).

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Valuable carpets, rugs, pillows, curtains, and such other luxurious decorations also are elaborately described. Thus mention is made of "coverlets with long fleece, counterpanes of many colours, woollen coverlets white or marked with thick flowers, mattresses, cotton coverlets dyed with figures of animals, rugs with long hair on one or both sides, carpets inwrought with gold or with silk, large woollen carpets such as the nautch (dancing) girls dance upon, rich elephant housings, horse rugs or carriage rugs, panther or antelope skins, large cushions and crimson cushions."⁶ Pillows are of various kinds; they are stated to be of both "the size of a man's head" and half "the size of a man's body." The Buddha allows the Bhikkhus "to comb out the cotton, and make the cotton up into pillows if it be of any of these three kinds, cotton produced on trees, cotton produced on creepers, and cotton produced from *potaki-grass*."⁷ The bolsters made for the use of high officials were of five kinds as they were stuffed with wool, cotton cloth, bark, grass or leaves. There were also coverlets for them.⁸ The smaller articles like the floor cloth, mosquito curtain, handkerchief and spittoon did not escape the notice of the then house-decorators.⁹

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⁶ *Mahāvagga*, V. 10. 3, (Translation, page 27).

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⁷ *Chullavagga*, VI. 2. 6, (Translation, page 167); see also IV. 4. 4. and VIII. 1. 3.

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⁸ Ibid. VI. 2. 7, (Translation, page 168).

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⁹ Ibid. VI. 20. 1, (Translation, page 219); V. 14. 1, (Translation, page 102); *Mahāvagga*, VIII. 18. (Translation, page 227), for *cholaka* or handkerchief see also *Chullavagga*, VI. 19 and V. 9. 4.

III.—Classical Literature: The Epics

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The Epics furnish copious description of cities, storeyed buildings, balconies porticos, triumphal arches, enclosing walls, flights of stone masonry steps for tanks and a variety of other structures, all indicative of a flourishing architecture in the country.

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The plan of the city of Ayodhyā is strikingly similar to the town-plan given in the *Mānasāra* and other architectural treatises.¹ “The temples (*devāyatana*) in this city (Ayodhyā) were as resplendent as the sky. Its assembly-halls, gardens, and alms-houses (*prapā*) were most elegant; and everywhere were arranged extensive buildings crowded with men and women........... The houses were as mines of gems, and the abodes of the goddess of fortune. The steeples (*śikhara*) of the houses were as resplendent as the crests of mountains and bore hundreds of pavilions (*vimāna*) like the celestial palace of the chief among the Devas. The rooms were full of riches and corn, exquisitely gilt and decorated, and seemed as charming as pictures; and they were so arranged that men could pass from one room to another without perceiving any inequality (in the floor).” ²

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¹ See writer's *Dictionary* under *Nagara*.

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² Rāmāyaṇa, I, 5, 10-15. Compare also the description of Laṅkā, Laṅkā-kāṇḍa (VI. 3, 3rd Sarga.

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The Mahābhārata contains short but comprehensive accounts of the cities of Dvārakā (III. 15), Indraprastha (1. 207, 30f), a floating city (III. 173, 3), Mithilā (III. 207, 7), and others.

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In the Sabhā-parvan there are interesting descriptions of some assembly-halls. Maya built an assembly-hall for the Pāṇḍavas (chapter I). A description is given also of the assembly-hall of Indra (chapter VII), of Yama (chapter VIII), of Varuṇa (chapter IX), of Kubera (chapter X), and of Brahman (chapter XI).

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A large number of houses were needed for the accommodation of the kings invited to Indraprastha on the occasion of King Yudhishṭhira’s royal feast, *Rājasūya*, and the poet describes the lodgings assigned to the guest: “O king, these and many other princes of the middle country (India proper) came to the great ceremonial, *Rājasūya*, of the sons of Pāṇḍu. By order of the virtuous monarch, to them were assigned dwellings replete with refreshments of every kind, and having by them charming lakes and ranges of ornamental plants . . . . . Those houses were lofty as the peaks of the Kailāsa mountain, most charming in appearance, and provided with excellent furniture. They were surrounded on all sides by well-built high walls of a white colour. The windows were protected by golden lattices and decorated with a profusion of jewellery. The stairs were easy of ascent; the rooms were furnished with commodious seats, and clothing, and garlands; and the whole was redolent with the perfume of the finest agallochum. The houses were white as the goose, bright as the moon, and looked most picturesque even from a distance of four miles. They were free from obstructions, provided with doors of uniform height, but of various quality, and inlaid with numerous metal ornaments, even as the peak of the Himālaya. The princes were refreshed by the very sight of those mansions.”¹

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¹ Mahābhārata, B. II. C. 34, As. Soc. Edition, I, page 354.

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“In the story of Nala, allusion is made to a lofty balcony from which men were seen from a great distance; and in the Rāmāyaṇa, Mantharā ...... looks out from an upper window of the palace to notice the rejoicings of the people in the street on the nomination of Rāma to the Vice-Kingship of Kośala.”²

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² R. L. Mitra, *Indo-Aryan*, I, page 21.

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“In the city [described in the epics] special palaces existed for the King, the princes, the chief priests, ministers, and military officers. Besides these and humble dwellings (the larger houses being divided into various courts)³, there were various assembly-halls, courts of justice, and the booths of small traders with goldsmith's shops, and the work-places of other artisans.”⁴

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³ Compare the Mānasāra, under *Prākāra*, in the writer's Dictionary. Cf. “These courts have mosaic pavements of gold” (R. VI. 37, 27, 58; Mbh. I. 185. 20; 11-33 and 34)

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⁴ Hopkins, *J. A. O. S.*, 13, under *city*

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“The words *toraṇa*, arched gateway; *harmya*, masonry house; *devāyatana*, temple; *sabhā*, assembly hall; *prāsāda*, palace; *śikhara*, steeple; and *vimāna*, pavilion, in the above extract [from the Rāmāyaṇa] are noteworthy. None of them can consistently be applied to huts and thatched houses for which the poets invariably use different words. Prurient fancy may extol and exaggerate, but it never suffices to create names of material objects which the fanciful have never seen or heard of; a Ruskin may amuse himself and his readers by building an imaginary palace in the air,⁵ but his ideas are always of the earth, earthly, taken from material objects with which he is familiar.”⁶

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⁵ The Queen of the Air, by John Ruskin, 1869.

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⁶ Mitra, *ibid*, pages 23-24.

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The Purāṇas generally deal with the subject of architecture in more detail than the classes of literature referred to above. Casual references like those given above from the preceding classes of literature are frequently met with in all the nineteen great Purāṇas.¹ Some nine Purāṇas have, however, treated the subject more systematically, and have materially contributed to the later Śilpa-śāstras themselves. The *Matsya-Purāṇa*, for instance, has eight comprehensive chapters dealing in great detail with architecture and sculpture.² In one of these chapters accounts are given of eighteen ancient architects.³ One chapter is devoted to the column which is the regulator of the whole composition of a building.⁴ Columns are divided into five classes, as in the western system, and their component parts into eight mouldings exactly like those of the Græco-Roman orders.⁵ Buildings are described in two chapters together with their architectural details, such as plans, measures, classifications, pavilions, halls, storeys, steeples, and cupolas.⁶ Some of the building materials are also discussed in a separate chapter.⁷ The remaining three chapters are devoted exclusively to sculpture.⁸ One of these deals with a very technical subject, namely, the *tālamāna* or proportionate measures of an image⁹; and in the other two the images of the Phallus and its Pedestal are described.

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¹ वायु, स्कन्द (also called कुमार), मत्स्य, विष्णु, भागवत, पद्म, गरुड, अग्नि, ब्रह्म, शिव, नारद, मार्कण्डेय, वराह, वामन, लिङ्ग, कूर्म, ब्रह्माण्ड, ब्रह्मवैवर्त and भविष्य।

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² Chapters 252, 255, 257, 258, 262, 263, 269 and 270.

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³ See pages 161-62.

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⁴ Chapter 255—स्तम्भमाननिर्णय।

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⁵ For details see pages 147, 149, 128.

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⁶ Chapters 269—(प्रासादलक्षण), and 270 (मण्डपलक्षण)

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⁷ Chapter, 257, दारूाहरण।

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⁸ Chapters 258—(नवताल लक्षण), 292 (पीठिकालक्षण), 263 (लिङ्गलक्षण).

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⁹ For details see page 81.

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The *Skanda*, which is another early Purāṇa, has devoted three chapters to the subject. One of these refers to the laying out of a large city.¹⁰ In another, mention is made of the construction of a golden hall and three chariots in accordance with the descriptions supplied, and the names of the architects are added.¹ The details of the construction of a special pavilion for the wedding of a royal princess is described in another chapter wherein reference is made to the painting also.² Sculpture is associated with architecture; but painting is hardly mentioned in these works.

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¹⁰ माहेश्वरखण्ड, Part II, chapter 25—स्वयं विश्वकर्मद्वारा निर्मितमहीनगरस्थापनवर्णनम्।

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¹ वैष्णवखण्ड, Part II, chapter 25—निखिलसाहित्यसम्भारसंग्रहपत्रं श्रुत्वा इन्द्रद्युम्नाज्ञया पद्मनिधिना स्वर्णशालानिर्माणम्। नारदाज्ञया विश्वकर्मणा स्यन्दनत्रयनिर्माणम्। तस्य रथस्य नारदकरेण स्थापनम्। तत्प्रसंगेन रथस्थापनप्रकारविधिवर्णनम्।

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² माहेश्वरखण्ड, Part 1, chapter 24—हिमालयेन स्वसुताया विवाहार्थं गर्गाचार्य-पुरोहितं पुरस्कृत्य विश्वकर्मद्वारा पूर्वमण्डपनिर्माणादिवर्णनम्। विवाहमण्डपे चातुर्येण सर्वदेवताप्रतिकृतिचित्रविन्यासं श्रुत्वा सर्वेषां देवानां शङ्काप्राप्तिः।

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The *Garuda-purāṇa* makes some valuable additions to the contributions of this class of literature to architecture. One of the four chapters devoted to this subject deals systematically with all the three classes of buildings, namely. residential, military and religious, as well as with the laying out of pleasure-gardens and pavilions therein. Thus, in this chapter residential buildings, forts and fortified towns, temples and monasteries are described along with garden-houses.³ The following chapter treats exclusively of religious buildings.⁴ The remaining two chapters are devoted to sculpture, one dealing with rules regarding the construction of an image and the other with the installation of images in temples.⁵

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³ Chapter 46—प्रासादारागदुर्गदेवालयमठादिवास्तुमानलक्षणनिरूपणम्।

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⁴ Chapter 47—प्रासादलिङ्गमण्डपादिशुभवास्तुलक्षणनिरूपणम्।

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⁵ Chapters 45--शालग्राममूर्तिलक्षणम्, 48—देवानां प्रतिष्ठाविधिः।

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The *Agni*, among all the Purāṇas, has dilated on the subject at great length. There are sixteen chapters of which one deals with town-planning, two with residential buildings and the remaining thirteen with sculpture. The importance of its contributions to the Śilpa-śāstra lies, however, specially in two things. First, it seems to have been aware of the *Mānasāra*, the standard work on architecture.⁶ Secondly, its chapter on town-planning is a real addition to the Purāṇas' contributions to architecture.⁷ Temples and residential buildings are described in two chapters.⁸ The treatment of sculpture also is unique, and is the most exhaustive of all the

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⁶ Compare, तदूर्ध्वं च भवेद् वेदो सकण्ठा मानसारका। (Chapter 42, verse 16),

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⁷ Chapter 106—नगरादिवस्तु।

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⁸ Chapters 42—प्रासादलक्षणकथनम्, and 104—प्रासादलक्षणम्।

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तृतीया वेदिका त्वग्ने सकण्ठा मानसारकः। (Chapter 104, verse 11).
For details see page 166.

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For details see page 113.

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accounts given in the Purāṇas. It deals with almost all the classes of religious images, both of male and female deities, as well as of those not falling under either of these categories. Thus, of the thirteen chapters on sculpture, one is devoted to the description of the sun-god,¹ one to the ten incarnations of Vishṇu,² two others also to Vishṇu under the name of Vāsudeva,³ one to the guardian angel of the house,⁴ one to the goddess of fortune,⁵ two to the female deities in general,⁶ four to the Phallus and its Pedestal,⁷ and the remaining one to the stone gods, Śālagrāma and others.⁸

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