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.c16.210

v2.c16.210

than in these non-architectural works.¹ But except in one or two solitary instances like Kailāsa, the names of these types of buildings are not identical. But there are certain similarities all the same. For instance, the Merukānta of the *Mānasāra* is read simply as Meru in the *Purāṇas* and the *Brihat-saṁhitā*. This is certainly an improved reading, first, because Meru as the name of a mountain or as a geographical term is well known in Sanskrit literature², and secondly, ‘*kānta*’ in the expression ‘*merukānta*’ is meaningless. Similarly the reading Vṛitta of the *Purāṇas* and the *Brihat-saṁhitā* is an improved version, a good emended form of *vivṛita* of the *Mānasāra*. Almost similar is the case with regard to another architecturally very important object, namely, the column or order, for the columns are stated by the authorities to be the regulator of the whole composition. In this case also the *Mānasāra* contains a fuller list. It has two sets of five technical names for the orders, while the *Matsya-purāṇa* and the *Brihat-saṁhitā* contain only one set of the five orders. The names of these orders in the *Mānasāra* are different from those in the *Purāṇa* and the *Saṁhitā*, but Varāhamihira has given the very same five names to the orders as the *Matsya-purāṇa*, and they have also the very same eight names for the mouldings or the component parts of a column. The *Mānasāra*, as in all other cases, has a fuller list of mouldings also. It contains more than forty-seven mouldings for the pedestal, base, shaft, and entablature; the shaft being given five special mouldings. And as in the case of the types of buildings, there are some names of mouldings, for instance, *ghaṭa* and *hāra*, common in the *Mānasāra*, the *Matsya-purāṇa*, and the *Brihat-saṁhitā*.