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.c37.50

v6.c37.50

Individual tastes differ. Anything may be beautiful to its lover. But aesthetics have reached the status of a science and there are recognized standards by which beauty is to be judged. So far as architecture is concerned, proportion, uniformity, symmetry, and harmony are stated to be the chief elements of beauty. The business and originality of a builder, like those of an editor, lie in his ability in a wise compilation and in an aesthetic and economical adaptation from his authorities. The learned reviewer in *The Times’* Literary Supplement has quoted an instance from the *Mānasāra* that, ‘if the staircase be less or greater the master would certainly be crippled,’ and has himself emphasized that ‘such might indeed happen from such a faulty construction.’¹ It is with a view to guarding against faulty constructions that one’s choice is limited within the suggested alternatives in essential matters. In the non-essential particulars one is given an unrestricted liberty to introduce new elements, even the monkey symbol, if only the whole composition do not become incongruous and the principles of beauty be not violated.