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.c15.s3.2

v2.c15.s3.2

The Nāgara, Vesara, and Drāviḍa are the three broad styles distinguished in the *Mānasāra*.¹ They are applied to both architecture² and sculpture³. With reference to the construction of cars or chariots a fourth style is mentioned⁴. This is called Randhra, which seems to be a corrupt form of Andhra. In an epigraphical record⁵, Kaliṅga is mentioned as a distinct style of architecture. But if the identification of Vesara with Telugu or Tri-Kaliṅga be accepted, the Kaliṅga and the Andhra would be the two branches of the Vesara style. In the case of twelve-storeyed buildings, which are the most magnificent and imposing edifices as described, twelve special types, not necessarily the styles, of residential dwellings are also mentioned in the *Mānasāra*⁶. All these names are geographical, implying the twelve provinces into which the then India was divided architecturally, if not also politically. And these types are distinctly based on geographical divisions, in exactly the same way as the three styles, the Nāgara, Vesara and Drāviḍa, as also the two branches of the Vesara, the Kāliṅga and Āndhra, are based. The Græco-Roman orders, on which the European styles of architecture are mainly based, are also but geographical names.¹