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.s4.403

v6.c41.s4.403

There is in the fiction practically no direct or indirect reference made as to the nature of interest which king Mānasāra might have been in the habit of taking in literary or artistic matters. It must, however, be admitted that there were no real occasions for such a reference.¹ In this connexion another incident, too, may be advantageously taken into consideration: neither in the three styles mentioned in the treatise *Mānasāra* under three geographical names (*Nāgara*, *Vesara*, and *Drāviḍa*), nor in the ten types of buildings bearing, again, geographical names and provincial divisions (*Pāñchāla*, *Drāviḍa*, *Madhyakānta*, *Kāliṅga*, *Virāṭa*, *Kerala*, *Vaṁśaka*, *Māgadha*, *Janaka*, and *Sphūrjaka*), is included Mālava, which was, presumably, the capital city and provincial kingdom of king Mānasāra of the *Daśa-kumāra-charita*. In the circumstances it would be really doubly unwarranted to take any decision about the possibility or otherwise of king Mānasāra’s patronage or instrumentality in the production of the standard treatise on architecture which, as its title would seemingly indicate, might have been named after him. King Māna-deva of Nepal who ruled in the sixth century and was a great builder² would be a more historical patron of the *Mānasāra* if it could be associated with him.