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.c16.124

v2.c16.124

Vitruvius also divides the compound into exactly five courts, which are, however, not used simultaneously (Book VI, chapters III—VII). "There are," says Vitruvius, "five species of courts, which receive their names from their forms. The Tuscan, the Corinthian, the Tetrastylon (with four columns), the Displuviatum (open at the top), and the Testudinatum (roofed)." In the *Mānasāra* also, it should be noted, five technical names have been given to these five courts, *antar-maṇḍala* (innermost court), *antanīhāra* (the second court), *madhya-nīhāra* (the middle court), *prākāra* (the fourth court) after which the chapter has been named and which is stated to be first introduced in the *Mānasāra*, though as many as seven courts are described in the *Mṛichchhakaṭika*. The fifth one is called *mahā-maryādā* or extreme boundary. Thus in the *Mānasāra* the courts receive their names from their situation, and not from their forms. Forms are discussed in the *Mānasāra* also. In fact the treatment of this subject, like all others, is by far the more exhaustive in the *Mānasāra*. Even the five gate-houses of the five courts have been treated at great length in a separate chapter (XXXIII) and given five technical names, *dvāra-śobhā* (beauty of the gate) belonging to the *antar-maṇḍala* or first court, *dvāra-śālā* (lit., 'gate house', of the second court), *dvāra-prāsāda* (lit., edifice of the gate), *dvāra-harmya* (lit , palace of the gate), and *mahā-gopura* (lit., great gate-house).