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.s2.15
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.s2.15
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v2.c13.s2.15
“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