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.c40.s29.1

v6.c40.s29.1

The most popular treatise on architecture is naturally the one attributed to Viśvakarman, the heavenly architect. There seems to have been more than one title to this work : one is called the *Viśvakarma-Prakāśa* or *Viśvakarma-Vāstu-śāstra*, another is called the *Viśvakarmīya-śilpa*, apparently the same as the *Viśvakarmīya-śilpa-śāstra*.¹ The one designated as *Viśvakarma-Prakāśa* or *Viśvakarma-Vāstu-śāstra* deals with directions on the building of houses, the making of roads, tanks, etc. The treatise contains thirteen chapters in which the following topics are dealt with :
(1) *Maṅgalācharaṇa*—auspicious preliminaries (benediction).
(2) *Vāstu-purushotpatti-varṇanam*—the origin of the presiding deity of the house, *Mānasāra* VII, XXXV.
(3) *Bhūmi-lakshaṇa*—soil, *M.*, II, III.
(4) *Gṛiha-praveśa*—first entry into the house or house-warming, *M.*, XXXVII.
(5) *Khanana-vidhi*—digging (ploughing) the soil, *M.*, V.
(6) *Svapna-vidhi*—dreams.
(7) *Bhūmi-phalam*—fruit of the soil, *M.*, IV, V.
(8) *Gṛihārambhe samaya-vidhi*—auspicious time for beginning a building, *M.*, XXXV.
(9) *Dhwajādhȳāya-phalāni*—flags.
(10) *Āya-vyayāṁśādīnāṁ phalāni*, *M.*, LII, XXXIX, IX, XXX, LXIV, LV.
(11) *Gṛiha-madhye devādīnāṁ sthāpana-nirṇaya*—installation of idols in temples, *M.*, in many places.
(12) *Dhurvādi-gṛiha-bheda*, *M.*, not specified.
(13) *Dvāra-mānāni*—measurements of doors, *M.*, XXXIX.
(14) *Stambha pramāṇāni*—columns, *M.*, XV.
(15) *Gṛihāṇāṁ śālā-nirṇaya*—halls of houses, *M.*, XXXV.
(16) *Gṛihārambha-kāla-nirṇaya*—almost the same as (8).
(17) *Gṛihārambhe lagna-kuṇḍalīstha-graha-phalāni*, *M.*, not specified.
(18) *Śayyā-mandira-bhavana-sumana-sudhārādi-gṛihāṇāṁlakshaṇāni* (see below the comparisons of the *Purāṇas* and *Āgamas*), referred to in many places in *M*.