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.s4.24

v6.c41.s4.24

The title of Vitruvius's treatise is lost, if it originally had one. The *editio princeps*, printed at Rome in or about 1486, bears no title. The unique position of this treatise is, however, sufficiently clear from the fact that since its first appearance in the fifteenth century there have been, till 1807, forty-two editions of the work, practically in all the European languages. There are seventeen editions in Latin, eleven in Italian, two in Spanish, six in French, four in German, and two in English.¹ It is divided into ten books, which, too, do not bear any titles. Each book contains a number of chapters varying from seven to twenty-two. The chapters also have not any proper titles. The treatise deals with both civil and military architecture. The rules respecting military engines, ‘now incomprehensible, but doubtless in his time sufficiently clear,’ are laid down in the last book. The treatment of civil architecture includes both temples and residential buildings. ‘That he should have met with opposition from his brethren is quite consonant with later experience, for the rabble of ignorant builders, and artisans, and draughtsmen are of the same class as those that flourished subsequently to Vitruvius.’ From this remark of Gwilt it appears that Vitruvius was induced to ‘write his treatise with a view to assisting the uneducated professional architects’ who, like those of India, depended solely on the knowledge handed down to them from their equally uneducated forefathers.