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) v4.c29.s1.3

v4.c29.s1.3

The work of seventeen years—which Professor E. J. Rapson of Cambridge University correctly predicted to be a life's undertaking—has thus reached its present destination. It is, however, not the end, but the beginning, of a new line of Indology which, it may perhaps be hoped, is likely to prove not merely of cultural and historical interest, but possibly of some practical benefit to the country and to the nation. Our architectural policy of the past few hundred years, based as it has been on foreign imitation, and in an entirely different climate and soil, has not proved quite successful in regard to temples and humble dwelling-houses, if not in regard to public edifices also. That the sole object of a work like the *Mānasāra* was primarily and ultimately practical in giving general as well as special guidance to the builders of that time, as also of the future generations, will be clear even to the casual reader of the book. Whether or not the extant structures which have been restored to the nation by the activity of the Archaeological Department, or which having defied the effect of time and weather, are yet standing almost in their original grandeur, will indicate the application of the rules and regulations, or at least the methods and principles laid down in the *Mānasāra*, remains to be proved. If, after making allowance for existing conditions and requirements, the methods and principles, as well as the rules and regulations laid down in the standard treatise, are found to be scientifically sound and suitable for modern buildings, big and small, they may be experimented with, and the solution of the problems relating to its textual imperfection and historical uncertainty may be left to the care of those whose mission is the elucidation of the past culture.