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.c13.18

v2.c13.18

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