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.s7.20

v6.c40.s7.20

The particulars of monumental stone structures erected over or near burnt or buried bodies are also available in the Vedic literature. The *Satapatha Brāhmaṇa* (Chapter XIII) supplies the full details. The *śmaśāna* (funerary) structures are classified under three groups—*vāstu* (reliquary of bones), *gṛihān* (dwelling-house), and *prajñānam* (memorial pillars or stone-slabs). The etymological differences of these terms are fully borne out by the actual structures they represent. The *vāstu* type still survives in the name Kapila-Vāstu, which might have been originally built as the memorial *stūpa* of Kapila ‘rather than the abode of Kapila as usually taken.’ In this sense it would look like a solid stone or brick vault with stone enclosures and might have supplied the pattern of subterranean and rock-cut caves of later ages. 'The Roman catacombs and Egyptian cave-graves offer instructive parallels.'