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.s1.30

v2.c13.s1.30

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