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.c16.387

v2.c16.387

The appearance of treatises like the *Mānasāra* during the period of the early Guptas seems to be indicated by other reasons also. Following the spread and consolidation of the Gupta empire under Samudragupta there came a time of peace and quiet, especially during the reign of Chandragupta II, favourable to the cultivation of art and literature, and an intercourse of ideas and thoughts between the different parts forming members of one empire. It was in this Gupta period that a general literary impulse was extended to every department. In this classical period of Indian history an all-sided improvement in arts, literature and science came to be achieved. It was, again, during this period that the *Sūtra* style of literature began to give place to the classic style. It has been shown elsewhere that the language of the *Śilpa-Śāstras* represented by the *Mānasāra* seems to be the meeting place of the two.² Sanskrit was gradually raised to the position, which it long retained, as the sole literary language of Northern India.