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.c39.197

v6.c39.197

Temples had already been erected when God was fully idolized. But the priest who renounced the world, or went to the forest in his old age accompanied by his old wife alone, needed neither temple nor idol; he went on meditating on the impersonal God. The greater majority of priests, however, remain householders, enjoying life in all possible ways in an atmosphere of beauty and youth. Even in the early Vedic stage a worshipper had to be accompanied by, what is called in English, his *better half*. No religious observance would be complete unless one is accompanied by his wife. Rāma had to be accompanied by a golden image of Sītā for the performance of his horse-sacrifice in celebration of his suzerainty. And all possible phases and aspects of the conception of God were idolized. Thus Hinduism has given rise to an unparalleled pantheon and mythology. There is the god for creation, god for preservation, god for destruction. There is the god of death, there is the god of love, there is the god of war. There is a god for the fisherman, a god for the weaver, a god for the trader, a god for the hunter. All this statuary symbolizes the self-expression of youth in as beautiful a body as an artist can conceive. Sculpture being the handmaid of architecture such a variety of deities necessarily needed equally diversified types of temples, of which, though the ancient remains are not too numerous, there are convincing proofs in all branches of our literature, especially in the *Vāstu-śāstras*. Buildings have been distinguished as male, female, and neuter; as round, oval, rectangular, quadrangular, octagonal and of other shapes; as running to seventeen storeys; as having ninety-eight, forty-five, twenty, and ten types; as being high like the Himalayas; white like the swan, etc.¹ In the words of Fergusson, ‘it will undoubtedly be conceded by those who are familiar with the subject that, for certain qualities, the Indian buildings are unrivalled; and that they display an exuberance of fancy, a lavishness of labour, and an elaboration of detail to be found nowhere else.’ What remains to be added to this general characteristic is that Hindu architecture, much like sculpture, good, bad, or indifferent, was always inspired by a sensual love and executed in an atmosphere of beauty and youth.