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.c41.s25.59

v6.c41.s25.59

The crowning ornaments of these pillars have been lost, but the capitals of some pillars still exist. The capital of the pillar at Lauriya Navandgarh is surmounted by a lion of bold and good design. The pillar at Sankisa, situated between Mathura and Kanouj, of which the greater part of the shaft has been lost, is surmounted ‘by an elephant, but so mutilated that even in the seventh century the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsiang mistook it for a lion.’ The pillar at Karle is surmounted by four lions, ‘which, judging from analogy, once bore a *chakra* or wheel, probably in metal.’ The pillars at Bedsa, a dozen miles south of Karle, partly stand free and partly supporting a verandah: these pillars are surmounted by horses and elephants bearing men and women of bold and free execution. These capitals are stated to be ‘more like the Persepolitan type than almost any others.’ In a note, on the authority of Dr. Le Bon, Fergusson further asserts that, in the Pitalkhora *vihāra*, ‘the Persepolitan capital is repeated with a variety of animals over it, for the Hindu artists, from their natural aptitude for modifying and adapting forms, very soon replaced the bicephalous bull and ram of the Persian columns by a great variety of animals, sphinxes, and even human figures in the most grotesque attitudes.’¹