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) v6.c37.11

v6.c37.11

This volume opens with an account of the pre-Vedic architecture of 3000 B.C., which is based entirely on the Mohenjo-daro discoveries, and my grateful acknowledgment is due to Sir John Marshall and his co-workers. An endeavour has been then made to give a picture of the Vedic architecture such as could be drawn from copiou literary references and inferred from the Mohenjo-daro finds of the preceding period, and corroborated by what happened in the succeeding classical period. The earlier part of this classical period, terminating roughly at the Christian era, depends also on literary references. But these literary references are different from and more substantial than those of the Vedic period. The accounts gathered from the Buddhist scriptures and the great Epics, the *Āgamas* and the *Purāṇas*, are, at many places, a technical description of the subjects. Moreover, from about the fifth century before Christ, architectural remains are available to supplement and to substantiate the vivid literary descriptions of the various types of monuments of purely Buddhist, Jain, and Brahmanical groups. This realistic background of Hindu architecture in its homeland is brought face to face with the pictures given in the avowedly architectural texts, which are unquestionably intended to serve as guide books to the practical builders and the professionals.