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.s5.103

v4.c29.s5.103

Some of the *Āgamas* to all intents and purposes are but architectural treatises. The *Kāmikāgama*, for instance, devotes sixty chapters out of a total of seventy-five to architecture and sculpture, and its treatment of the subjects can hardly be surpassed by that of an ordinary architectural treatise. Just like a *Silpa-śāstra*, it begins systematically with the preliminary matters, such as the testing and preparation of soil, selection of sites, scheme of measurement, finding out of the cardinal points by means of gnomons for the orientation of buildings, and the site plans. Buildings proper are described under twenty types, just as in the *Matsya* and *Bhavishya Purāṇas* and the *Brihat-saṁhitā*. But unlike the *Purāṇas*, there is in the *Kāmikāgama* a discussion of architectural matters under certain highly technical classifications, such as the styles Nāgara, Vesara and Draviḍa; shapes, masculine, feminine and neuter; pure, mixed and amalgamated as based on one, two or more materials; Saṁchita, Asaṁchita and Apasaṁchita otherwise known as Sthānaka, Āsana and Śayana, which, in case of temples, depend on the erect, sitting, and reclining postures of the image. Another very technical matter referred to is the *āyādi* tormula used in selecting the right proportions. By an elaborate comparison it has been shewn that this and the other Āgamas must have been based for these subjects on the *Mānasāra*.¹