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.c39.111

v6.c39.111

38. *Vāstu-vidyā*—Architecture, the different parts of which are assigned to *sthapati*, *sūtra-grāhin*, *vardhaki* and *takshaka*.² It refers to the art of building and includes everything built or constructed, from the palace to the bird’s nest and from the image of a god to that of an insect.³ Thus, in the first place, it ‘denotes the construction of all kinds of buildings, religious, residential and military, and their auxiliary members and component mouldings. Secondly, it implies town-planning, laying out gardens, constructing market-places, making roads, bridges, gates, digging wells, tanks, trenches, drains, sewers, moats, erecting enclosure-walls, embankments, dams, railings, flights of steps for hills, ladder, etc. Thirdly, it denotes articles of house furniture, such as bedsteads, couches, tables, chairs, thrones, fans, wardrobes, clocks, baskets, conveyances, cages, nests, mills, etc. It also includes the making of garments and ornaments, etc. It discusses, as preliminary matters, selection of site, testing of soil,⁴ planning, designing, finding out cardinal points for orientation of buildings, dialling, and astronomical and astrological calculations.’