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.c16.241

v2.c16.241

Here is a possibility of the *Mānasāra* being connected with the king of Mālwa bearing the name Mānasāra. There are several works in the Sanskrit literature, which seem to have been named after their patron, for instance, the *Skanda-purāṇa* is supposed by some scholars to have been associated with the name of Skanda-Gupta of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty. The *Harsha-charita* has undoubtedly been named after king Harsha. But nothing more is known about king Mānasāra of Mālwa; nor is anything stated, directly or indirectly, about him in the *Mānasāra* itself. On the other hand, the internal references to the expression *Mānasāra*, which have been already introduced elsewhere,¹ prove that the term has been used in three different senses, namely, a treatise, an architect, and a class of sages or professors of architecture bearing the surname, like, Manu or Maya, or the professional epithet, *Mānasāra*. In none of these senses, however, would the king of Mālwa fit in. If he were a real personage and had any connection with this standard treatise on architecture, and preferred to remain incognito, the author of the *Mānasāra* would have added a fourth ambiguity referring to his anonymous patron. In the body of the *Mānasāra* there are several passages, which will be presently discussed, evincing on the part of its author not only a clear knowledge of man and things of the then Magadha and Mālwa but also of all other chief cities and the broadest divisions of India of his time.