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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.c42: Appendix III. What Others Think

Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c42

Language
English

Contents

Appendix III. What Others Think

Observations on Mānasāra Architecture

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DR. RABINDRANATH TAGORE¹

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¹ *The Visva Bharati Quarterly*, May—July, 1935, p. 115.

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ORDINARILY RESEARCH SCHOLARS seem to ignore the fact that the past is of interest to us only in so far as it was living, and that, unless they discover it for us in such a way as to make us feel its life, we may admire them for their patience and industry, but will not be the wiser for their labours. I have often felt sad that so much human talent and industry should disappear in the publication of matter where bones keep on rattling without forming for us an outline of the figure that once moved. I, therefore, cannot help congratulating Dr. P. K. Acharya of the Allahabad University for his great work *Mānasāra*. I am not qualified to pronounce judgment on ancient Indian architecture, but I can say this much that the learned author has succeeded in re-fashioning for us, out of the debris of the past, a picture of the forms of ancient architecture which, while it speaks much for his scholarly equipment, has the additional merit of interesting us in a real human way. The indirect glimpses it gives into the life of the people whose architecture he discusses are something for which his readers will have reasons to be grateful to him.

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DR. C. Y. CHINTAMANI, D.LITT., D.L., EDITOR OF THE LEADER²

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² *The Leader*, 6th August, 1933.

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Dr. P. K. Acharya, Professor of Sanskrit, University of Allahabad, deserves high praise and warm congratulations on producing, as the result of seventeen years of devoted and self-denying effort, a truly monumental work on Hindu architecture, comprising no fewer than five volumes. The first volume is *A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture*; the second, *Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra Śilpa-śāstra*; the third, *Mānasāra*—Sanskrit Text with Critical Notes; the fourth, *Architecture of Mānasāra*—translation in English, and the fifth, *Architecture of Mānasāra*—Plates I to CXXXV (Architectural) and CXXXVII to CLVII (Sculptural).

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Dr. Acharya is richly qualified for the laborious task which he undertook in a spirit of dedication. He is an M. A. of Calcutta, a Ph. D. of Leyden, and Doctor in Literature of London. He is a member of the Indian Educational Service whose services were lent to the University of Allahabad for engagement as Professor of Sanskrit. He has so won the regard and confidence of his colleagues of the University that he has for years been the Head of the Oriental Departments and also Dean of the Faculty of Arts. To his students he has been remarkably considerate and helpful, and, without sacrificing the demands of discipline and efficiency, has made himself deservedly popular among them.

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For the production of the big work under notice, Dr. Acharya spared no pains whatsoever. He has discovered unknown ways and learnt new things ‘after bitter experience and elaborate experiments.’

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‘The vast store of literature on the subject, and the inscriptions and other archaeological records have had to be ransacked. Extensive tours in company with trained architects and engineers have had to be undertaken, involving great expenditure of time, money, and convenience, from Landikotal on the borders of Afghanistan to Ramesvaram in the south, from Mohenjodaro in Sindh to Shillong in Assam, in order to examine ancient monuments throughout the country, including the cave-temples of Western and Central India, the monuments of the Indian States in Rajputana and Hyderabad, the hill temples of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Tunganath, etc. An encyclopaedic dictionary has had to be compiled wherein, for the first time, an attempt has been made to settle the meaning of, and explain in English, some three thousand technical terms by illustrative quotations from cognate literature. In addition, some two hundred measured drawings, diagrams, and sketches in line and in colours have had to be prepared at great trouble and expense.’

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‘Thus,’ says Dr. Acharya, ‘the peculiar pain of giving “rebirth” to a once fully-grown “barbarous” child of unknown origin has been brought home to the writer. The youthful enthusiasm has been put to a great trial through the continuous struggle for seventeen years. With great diffidence, therefore, this curious child is presented to the learned world. If received with sympathy and kindness even such a child may thrive and bring some solace to everybody responsible for and interested in it.’ Dr. Acharya’s diffidence does credit to his modesty. His work is the product of such uncommon scholastic zeal and enthusiasm, and of such rare merit that, we are quite sure, the learned author’s sacrifice will be rewarded not merely by the appreciation of competent judges, but by ‘lasting benefit’ to the country. Dr. Acharya is right to hold that ‘our architectural policy of the past few hundred years, based as it has been on foreign imitation, and in an entirely different climate and soil, has not proved quite successful in regard to temples and humble dwelling-houses, if not in regard to public edifices also.’ We earnestly share Dr. Acharya’s hope. To the layman, quite a new world, as it were, of India’s greatness in a sphere of national life which has been comparatively neglected, is opened by our author’s *magnum opus*. As we read Dr. Acharya’s pages we are filled with wonder, admiration, and pride that the twin subjects of architecture and sculpture were treated with such scientific thoroughness and precision by our remote ancestors. And yet, we are the people who are condemned, by the arrogance of a ruling race, as unworthy of constructing the ugly barracks which our Public Works Department glories in putting up at extravagant cost to the tax-payer.

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In undertaking and executing the present work, Dr. Acharya has had to combine in himself the triple office of editor, translator, and commentator; and he has wisely followed the sound rule: ‘let an editor give what there is, and let the commentator say what might be and what ought to be.’ Dr. Acharya placed before himself the following dictum for his guidance: ‘What the learned world demand of us in India is to be quite certain of our data, to place the monumental record before them exactly as it now exists, and to interpret it faithfully and literally.’ This he has successfully followed.

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The seventy chapters (of the *Mānasāra*) deal with such varied subjects as the qualifications of architects, the selection of sites, the examination of soil, site-plans, the village, town-planning, forts, the dimensions of buildings, the bases and pedestals of columns, the features of buildings (one-storeyed to twelve-storeyed), courts, temples, pavilions, mansions, dwelling-houses, royal palaces, bedsteads and swings, thrones, arches, theatres, ornamental trees, crowns, altars, personal ornaments, furniture, various kinds of images and penalties for defective construction. No wonder that the author thinks that, like the medical works, this is ‘the most practical of Sanskrit treatises.’ He re-affirms ‘the hope that a trial may be given to its methods and principles, its rules and regulations, because the foreign imitation in architecture for a millennium has proved more or less unsuccessful and uneconomical.’

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It is encouraging and pleasing to find that Dr. Acharya’s great effort has won commendation from such men as Dr. Keith, Mr. Havell, Dr. Abanindra Nath Tagore, Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy, Dr. Ganganatha Jha, Prof. Thomas, Sir Claude de la Fosse, Dr. Sten Knonow, Mr. K. N. Dikshit, Dr. Kali Das Nag, and several antiquarian journals. We may be permitted to quote, as typical of opinion generally, the following passage from Dr. Coomaraswamy’s learned review in the *Journal of the American Oriental Society*:

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‘These two volumes, the latter (*Dictionary*) especially, are monumental works, and will be indispensable to every student of Indian architecture and realia. Only those who work along these lines will realize the great labour involved in the preparation of such books, especially when they are almost the first of their kind. The serious study of the Indian *Śilpa-śāstra* has been too long delayed, and a warm welcome may be extended to the Professor’s undertaking.’

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One last word. It is a pleasure for us to be able to acknowledge the uniform and ungrudging encouragement and assistance which the Government of the United Provinces, the Government of India, and other governments and a number of high-placed officials gave to Dr. Acharya to enable him to continue and complete his most admirable work. We once more congratulate the learned author.

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PROFESSOR A. BERRIEDALE KEITH, D.C.L., D.LITT.¹

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¹ *The Modern Review*, Calcutta, January, 1936.

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Professor Prasanna Kumar Acharya has now completed his study of Hindu Achitecture by adding to his *Dictionary of Hindu Architecture* and *Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra Silpa-śāstra*, the Sanskrit text of the *Mānasāra*, edited with critical notes, a translation in English of the Architecture of *Mānasāra*, and a collection of 157 illustrated plates in line and colour.

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Full recognition has already been accorded by all students of Indian Art and Science to the fundamental value of Professor Acharya's earlier contributions to the elucidation of the Sanskrit texts on architecture, and the invaluable character of his *Dictionary* is admitted on all hands. The three new volumes which are now available form an indispensable part of his undertaking. They present the material on which the results stated in his earlier works were based, and they afford the means for further investigation into the many obscure issues which still remain to be solved. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the difficulties of producing a satisfactory text of such a work as the *Mānasāra*. It has been necessary to prepare the edition from eleven manuscripts, not one of which presents a readable or trustworthy text. It is clear, however, that, even if we had much older manuscripts than those which have been preserved, we would still find a text written in very defective Sanskrit. It is plain that the writers on technical science, whether medicine, or mathematics, or architecture, were far from being proficient in Sanskrit, and, after making all those conjectures which the state of the manuscripts renders legitimate, we are left with a text which, in many places, not merely violates the rules of Sanskrit grammar, but offers the most serious difficulty of translation. The editor has most wisely shown the utmost caution in his reconstruction of the text. He has made such amendments only as are indispensable for the constitution of an intelligible text; he has marked these clearly in the text itself and he has given in full all real various readings in his authorities. It is most improbable that any manuscripts will ever come to light which will enable us substantially to improve the style of the *Mānasāra*.

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The translation of a work of this type presents endless difficulties, and the utmost credit is due to the author for the energy with which he has reckoned with the problems presented by the text. Even the most cursory examination shows how impossible it is without the aid of the translation and the explanations given in the *Dictionary* to understand with any precision the directions of the text. An indispensable adjunct to the translation and the *Dictionary* alike is afforded by the volume of illustrations of architectural and structural objects. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this feature of the work. The author describes the difficulties which he experienced in obtaining the means of producing these illustrations, and our most grateful thanks are due to Mr. H. Hargreaves, who placed at the disposal of Professor Acharya the services of Mr. S. C. Mukherji, a graduate in Sanskrit, who had received training in the methods and principles of Græco-Roman and modern architecture. The material is now available for an investigation of the question whether the extant monuments of Hindu architecture are based on the methods and principle which are set forth in the *Mānasāra*. It is interesting to note that the greatest difficulties were experienced in securing the services of a Silpin to supply the sculptural drawings in line and in colours. It is hoped that the same artist may be available to execute the remaining sculptural drawings, some three hundred in number.

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The labour involved in this great work has been lightened by the encouragement of many scholars, and it will be of particular interest to see whether his work in making available the true doctrines of the ancient Hindu authorities can be turned to practical benefit for India and for its people. The Ruler of Oundh, whose interest in Indian culture and art is well known from his contributions to the great edition of the *Mahābhārata*, intends to build a house according to the directions of the *Mānasāra*, and it may well be that modern India has something to learn in this as in other matters from the achievements of its past.

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H. HARGREAVES, ESQ., LATELY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA¹

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¹ *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society*, London, October, 1935, pp. 777-9.

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These publications are the third, fourth, and fifth volumes of an *Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture* of which the first two volumes—*A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture* and *Indian Architecture according to the Mānasāra Silpa-śāstra*—were published in 1927 and reviewed at length in the *Journal* for October, 1928.

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In the third volume, Dr. Acharya now gives the complete Sanskrit text (based on eleven manuscripts written in five different scripts), as well as 315 pages of notes in English, from which an idea may be obtained of the imperfect condition of the available manuscripts. The fourth volume is the English translation, and, considering the material on which it is based, the author has, on the whole, been successful in giving an understandable and readable text, though naturally obscurities are not entirely absent. The suggestion that the usefulness of the *Mānasāra* would be enhanced by illustrating it has been met by Dr. Acharya, who has issued the fifth volume as a collection of 157 plates. For the preparation of these drawings he has enlisted the assistance of K. S. Siddhalinga Swamy, a Silpin, working according to the tradition of the *Śilpa-śāstras* and whose illustrations of images and other objects are very successful, particularly his eleven coloured plates. For the illustrations of the architectural drawings Dr. Acharya is indebted in the main to Mr. S. C. Mukherji, whose knowledge of Sanskrit and training in architecture has enabled him to contribute 121 line-drawings of a suggestive and helpful nature. None of the drawings appears to have been based on either ancient remains or existing structures.

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The importance of this *Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture* will be generally admitted, and Dr. Acharya is to be congratulated on the successful termination of his prolonged labours, in which he has displayed not only scholarship, but industry and indomitable perseverance. His work is, indeed, 'not the end but the beginning of a new line of Indology' and it will now be for Indian architects, archaeologists, and students of Indian arts and crafts to examine to what extent the principles laid down in the *Mānasāra* represent those of medieval Hindu architecture and art, and to consider if they are suitable for modern practice, for philologists to suggest solutions of the problems revealed by the textual imperfections, and for Sanskrit lexicographers to avail themselves of the technical terms now, for the first time, made available by the complete text.

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Mahamahopadhyaya Pt. Ganganatha Jha, M.A., D.LITT., D.L.¹

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¹ *Modern Review*, April, 1934.

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These are the three concluding volumes of the monumental work on *Mānasāra*, by the Allahabad Professor. The first two volumes—(1) *A Dictionary of Indian Architecture*, and (2) *Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra Śilpa-śāstra*—appeared a few years ago and have been appreciated by the world of scholars, as evinced by the fact that the gifted author is already preparing a second edition.

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The third volume of the series, which is no. (1) of the three volumes under review contains the original text of the *Mānasāra* with (*a*) full alphabetical index and (*b*) critical notes. The original text of the treatise is so notoriously and hopelessly corrupt that credit is due to Dr. Acharya for having provided a readable text. Anachronisms and grammatical anomalies in which the text abounds are the common feature of many Sanskrit treatises on technical subjects,—such as Medicine and Astronomy-Astrology. But the text of *Mānasāra* is full of other defects as well. It must have cost the editor immense labour and not a little ingenuity to prepare a neat and readable text. The critical notes bear ample testimony to this.

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The *Mānasāra*, it seems, was not meant by the author, whoever he was, to be a scholarly and scientific treatise ; it appears to have been meant as a handbook for the guidance of practical builders and architects. This is the only explanation that we can find for the more-than-ordinary ' barbarous Sanskrit ' in which the work has been described as having been written. This is also indicated by the fact that the author's name is nowhere mentioned ; and it is difficult to find out who the author was. Like many encyclopaedic works, it has been attributed by pandits to the great Scholar-King Bhojadeva of Dhara.

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This leads us on to the second of the three volumes under notice—which forms Volume IV of the series. Here, in the Preface, we are told in regard to the authorship of the original that, ‘ up till now, no tangible argument or proof has been found as to the possibility of the treatise being the compilation of a number of authors, instead of a single individual. ’ There is thus a lot of uncertainty on this point, and the only reasonable view to take at present appears to be the one hinted at in this sentence. It is a practical handbook, added to from time to time as experience dictated. This also will account for the diversity of language and style.

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This volume contains a complete English translation of the original, with full alphabetical indices of Sanskrit and English terms. The translation is accurate and at the same time readable by itself, which cannot be said of most of our translations, which lose much of their readability through an attempt at literalness. Dr. Acharya has sailed clear of this difficulty and has succeeded in giving us a translation which can be read and understood by itself.

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Some idea of the magnitude of the task to which Dr. Acharya set himself twenty years ago may be formed from the contents of the work. The whole work consists of seventy chapters, dealing with all the minute details relating to house-building, such as qualifications of architects, selection of site, erection of the gnomons for the orientation of buildings (a matter which is very badly understood by present-day builders), site-plans, village- and town- and fort-planning, dimensions, foundation, pedestal, columns, roofs, joinery and general features. All these are dealt with in relation to buildings of one to twelve storeys—(it seems we had sky-scrapers in ancient times). Next follow chapters dealing with royal palaces, royal entourage, cars, chariots, furniture, thrones, arches, central theatre and crowns. Lastly, there come temples and images, separate chapters being assigned to Jaina images, Buddhist images, images of sages, the comparative measures of images. Special chapters are also devoted to the casting of idols in wax and the chiselling of the eye. There are penalties also for defective construction.

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The last volume of the series supplies elaborate plates providing full illustrations (drawn to scale) of architectural and sculptural objects. These are likely to be extremely useful to the extensive town- and village-planning that is going to be undertaken in Bihar. It represents the practical outcome of the experience of centuries, and is likely to be more adapted to the climatic conditions of the country than the ideas derived from experience in other climes and other countries.

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While congratulating Dr. Acharya on the completion of his monumental work, one cannot resist the temptation of requesting him to bring out, in course of the present year, if possible (in view of the likelihood of its being useful in the rebuilding of Bihar), a smaller volume containing, in brief, the main conclusions, specially those relating to the planning of villages and towns and the building of houses. This volume should not contain more than 200 or 250 pages. The utility of the work would be immensely enhanced if a Hindi translation also appeared simultaneously with the English version.

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RAMANANDA CHATTERJEE, ESQ., EDITOR, MODERN REVIEW¹

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¹ *Modern Review*, April and May, 1934.

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As many towns and villages in Bihar will have to be reconstructed, all those who are directly and indirectly connected with the work of reconstruction should have their attention drawn to the ancient Indian ideas of village-planning, town-planning, and architecture in general. They are to be found in Professor Dr. P. K. Acharya’s masterly edition of the ancient standard Sanskrit work *Mānasāra* in five sumptuous volumes. Those who do not know Sanskrit need not think that the work will not be of any use to them. For Dr. Acharya has given a full English translation of the work with critical notes. There are also numerous plates, which will help architects, engineers, and builders in their work.

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European architecture has not been a complete success in India either from the artistic or from the economic point of view. We should give a trial to our own architectural rules and plans, which were not crude but scientific.

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As the Government and non-official relief societies and the Maharajadhiraj of Darbhanga are going to spend lakhs of rupees, they would do well to spend a very much smaller sum to purchase copies of this work, for the preparation and publication of which the author has received encouragement and assistance from the Government of India, the Government of the United Provinces, and other Governments, and some high officials. The work has been published by the Oxford University Press.

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It has been reported in the papers that in Nepal old temples, constructed according to ancient Indian methods, have not suffered so much from the earthquake as more modern buildings. There is reason to believe that buildings on the *Mānasāra* plans and methods would be durable and beautiful, as well as comparatively inexpensive.

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The patriotism of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Babu Rajendra Prasad, and other leaders need not be referred to. But it is not to their or anybody else’s patriotism that it is necessary to appeal. The appeal is to common sense. And the common-sense view is that an elaborate and practical handbook of architecture, which has come down from antiquity and which embodies the age-long experience of many experts, native to the soil and the climate, should at least be given a trial. To dismiss it without such trial, is to insult ourselves as well as our ancestors. Of course, there should be adaptations to modern conditions, wherever necessary. The first two volumes of this monumental work were published in 1927 and were highly appreciated by savants and artists in India and abroad. They were reviewed in our Bengali magazine *Prabasi* and in the *Modern Review*.

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*Mānasāra* is universally recognized as the standard Hindu treatise on Hindu architecture. But it has not hitherto been completely published after critical editing, nor comprehensively treated otherwise. A complete translation into English was also wanting. Its technical terms and ‘barbarous’ Sanskrit presented difficulties even to professional Indologists. Dr. Acharya has, after years of devoted labour, succeeded in overcoming these difficulties to a sufficient extent to be able to finish his work and thus to open up a new line of research. Scholars and the general public will be thankful to him for this service. There has been for some time a disposition on the part of a section at least of the Indian public to favour Indian architecture. But there has not been much definite and scientific knowledge of what that architecture stood for. Dr. Acharya’s work will enlighten architects, engineers and craftsmen.

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FREDERICK GRUBB, ESQ.¹

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¹ *Hindu* (Educational and Literary Supplement), 17th July, 1934. (2) *Tribune*, 20th July, 1934. (3) *Leader*, 23rd August. (4) *Hindustan Times*, 3rd September, 1934.

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Dr. Prasanna Kumar Acharya, I.E.S., Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Allahabad, has placed all scholars and researchers who are interested in Indian archaeology under a great obligation by the completion and publication of his monumental work on the *Mānasāra* architecture. Under instructions from the Government of the United Provinces the same author compiled some years ago *A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture*, together with a second volume on the same subject according to *Mānasāra Śilpa-śāstra*. Dictionaries available previous to that date, whether in Sanskrit, English or any other language, did not adequately explain the architectural terms of a remote past. For hundreds of years the texts of the *Vāstu-śāstras* had remained unexplored, waiting for someone possessed of the necessary erudition and industry to provide students with a dictionary which should enable them to make effective use of these unique manuscripts.

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Since then Dr. Acharya has devoted a great deal of his time to the preparation of the three supplementary volumes recently published by the Oxford University Press.

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The work as a whole comprises a comprehensive encyclopaedia of what to most people must be a rather abstruse subject. It includes a scholarly introduction, the original text, English translation and 157 plates in line and in colour.

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It is not too much to say that in the production of this great work in its present form Dr. Acharya has had to surmount myriads of difficulties, and he has apparently done so with remarkable success. No one would undertake a task of this magnitude except as a labour of love, for it is obvious that there could be no material return at all commensurate with the amount of work involved, covering as it has done in this case a period of seventeen years. When we remember other exacting duties which must fall to the lot of the Head of the Sanskrit Department (who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Arts) in a modern university, it is astonishing that Professor Acharya should have been able to accomplish his task so successfully. To decipher worn out manuscripts and to translate the technical terms into their English equivalent are alone worthy of great praise. But to illustrate the text with so many carefully-selected and well-executed sketches, diagrams and measured drawings is indeed a colossal achievement.

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The canons and scientific precision of Hindu art and architecture are brought out so admirably in these volumes that the theme need no longer be looked upon as unintelligible, either by scholars or by the general inquirer. To the Western reader they ought to bring a new understanding of architecture in ancient India, for they open a means of approach hitherto unknown in this branch of study.

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The final volume of sketches and drawings helps to make clear the main contents of the *Mānasāra*. It speaks in a language that will be universally understood, and the work as a whole should facilitate the classification of Indian architecture in general. Both the northern style and its southern counterpart are very well brought out in Dr. Acharya's work, though special reference to one or the other is limited. The unity of the whole is thereby emphasized, and even without technical knowledge of the subject the ordinary reader should be enabled to grasp something of the significance of Hindu art. Laws which have remained too long unwritten are now brought to light for the instruction of this generation in an ancient culture.

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Professor Acharya acknowledges the co-operation in the production of this work of such outstanding international scholars as Dr. F. W. Thomas, Dr. L. D. Barnett, and Dr. J. Ph. Vogel, whose interest in the undertaking is a further testimony to its scientific importance. What the learned world demands from India in these matters is certainty of data, and this has undoubtedly been supplied as a result of the author’s prolonged research. The *Mānasāra* manuscripts are in a class by themselves and they have now been given to the world in a form which must be of permanent value. All students of the arts of ancient India should feel greatly indebted to Dr. Acharya for the illumination which he has thrown upon a comparatively unknown branch of Sanskrit study. The five volumes together are certainly a notable contribution to the available literature on the subject, and their compiler deserves every congratulation on the completion of his task.

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I ought perhaps to add that some acknowledgment is due to the Government of the United Provinces for the practical support which has been given to Dr. Acharya’s research and the publication of its results. There ought to be no doubt as to the proper recognition of this work by the local educational authorities and universities in India. There is no other country in the world so rich in ancient lore of this character, and every encouragement should be given to the production and utilization of works which cannot but enhance the status of India in the realms of art and literature.

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PROFESSOR J. PH. VOGEL, LEYDEN UNIVERSITY, HOLLAND¹

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¹ *Ex. Actorum Orientalium*, Volumine XIV, Excerptum, pp. 224-25.

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It is now more than a century ago that the well-known *Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus*, by Ram Raz, Native Judge and Magistrate at Bangalore, was published. This book, which appeared after the author’s death, was mainly a summary of a Sanskrit work on architecture, called *Mānasāra*. Ram Raz’s Essay is a treatise of sixty-four pages, illustrated by means of forty-eight plates.

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In the year 1914 a young Sanskrit scholar from Bengal, Mr. Prasanna Kumar Acharya, ‘induced by youthful enthusiasm,’ undertook the gigantic task of editing and translating the standard work on Indian architecture of which Ram Raz had only published a résumé. The Essay is, moreover, based on a single manuscript containing only fifty-eight chapters, whereas the whole *Vāstu-śāstra* now published consists of seventy chapters.

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It has taken Dr. Acharya more than twenty years to complete this enormous task, and he deserves no less credit for the perseverance with which he has carried it through than for the enthusiasm which first induced him to undertake it. In 1918 he published a *Summary of the Mānasāra* as his Doctor’s Thesis at the University of Leyden. In 1927 he brought out his *Dictionary of Hindu Architecture* and his *Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra Śilpa-śāstra*, both preliminary to the three final volumes, published in 1934, which consist of the Sanskrit text with appendices, index and critical notes (altogether more than 800 pages), the English translation with a copious index (another volume of some 800 pages), and a fifth volume of 157 partly coloured plates. These plates, it should be understood, do not form part of the original work; they have been prepared by three modern draughtsmen who have performed their task with considerable skill.

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Dr. Acharya’s edition of the *Mānasāra* is based on no less than eleven manuscripts, a full account of which will be found in his Preface. It is only the extent of the text which rendered the editor’s task a laborious one. Owing to the nature of the subject, the work teems with technical terms known neither from ordinary literature nor from the *koṣas*, and, consequently, sometimes very difficult to explain. But what is worse, it is couched in a language which has been rightly described as ‘barbarous.’ The text presented by the manuscripts (none of which is ancient) cannot be considered as correct. The editor is no doubt correct in assuming ‘that the *Mānasāra* was never written in a chaste language and that its imperfections are original.’ The same is true of other *Śilpa-śāstras*, as was pointed out by Bühler many years ago. It seems that works of this kind were composed by craftsmen who were moved by the ambition of writing Sanskrit without possessing the necessary knowledge of that difficult language. In these circumstances it is not surprising that the meaning of several passages is obscure and the translation uncertain. Moreover, none of the manuscripts contains any commentary, drawings, diagrams, or sketches.

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Dr. Acharya presents his work with a laudable modesty. He regards the appearance of it only as a beginning of the study of the subject and there can be little doubt that it is bound to render great services to anyone engaged in the investigation of ancient Indian architecture. . . .

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We have, therefore, every reason to be grateful to Dr. Acharya for the valuable work which he has accomplished at the expense of so much time and exertion.

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RAJASEVASAKTA RAO BAHADUR S. KRISHNASWAMI AIYANGAR, M.A., PH.D.¹

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¹ *Journal of Indian History*, Vol. XIII, Part I, April, 1934.

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We welcome the publication of this monumental work on the architecture of the Hindus by Professor Prasanna Kumar Acharya of the Allahabad University. Professor Acharya has been engaged in the study of this subject ever since he obtained the Government of India scholarship to proceed to Europe, and has produced, as a result of his twenty years' study, five voluminous works on Hindu architecture.

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It seems to be quite an accidental coincidence that this magnificent work on the *Mānasāra* should have been brought out almost at the centenary of its first notice in the *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland* by Rama Raz, the talented pioneer in this field of work. Rama Raz was a typical product of the nineteenth century, and his work, practically the last one, as he died before the work was actually out, had to be brought out, such as it was, under disadvantages and difficulties that he had to overcome, quite comparable to those that Professor Acharya had actually to surmount. Rama Raz's notice was based upon the few scattered chapters, and from a few manuscripts collected from here and there, and put together not by any successful effort at translation, but by what could more or less be guessed at by references to living workmen and extant buildings, with such assistance as could be got from *pandits* whose knowledge of the science was by no means profound. Having regard to the disadvantage under which this first work was published, it must be regarded as a very creditable performance, even from the vantage point of our possession of the whole text and the far superior equipment that we have for understanding and appreciating the work as a whole.

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The work *Mānasāra* is regarded, even among architectural works, as one of high authority. Among architectural works so far available, this is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and consists of seventy chapters, of which the first eight are devoted to preliminaries. The next forty-two deal with buildings as such, the remaining chapters being devoted to sculpture and iconography. The introductory matter consists really of the invocation to the gods and *rishis* who seem to be called by the name Mānasāra, which again would mean only *rishis* expert in architecture. The next one has to deal with measurements, qualifications of the architects and so on. The third has reference to the divisions of the subject. The next two chapters deal with characteristics of the soil and the selection of suitable sites for various classes of buildings. In these chapters, the soil test and the quality required for particular buildings are treated with sufficient elaboration for various kinds of buildings. Chapter VI deals with the orientation of buildings, in the course of which the principles of mechanics and gnomon, that is dial, etc., are described. The following chapter (VII) deals with site-plans. Thirty-two schemes of these are given, divided into squares for various purposes of structure. The section concludes in the VIII chapter with the ceremonies necessary to propitiate the deities of the sites, etc. . . .

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This brief summary is enough to indicate that the *Mānasāra* is a complete work of architecture and sculpture as applied to the construction of temples and images, and all work of building connected therewith. Though we know of something like 300 works on these subjects, most of which exist only in manuscripts, none of them attains to the voluminous and the detailed treatment of the *Mānasāra*. A certain number have been published since, such as the *Mayamata*, *Silparatna*, and *Manushyālaya-chandrikā* in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, and a few other elsewhere; but none of them comes up to the comprehensiveness or complete details of the *Mānasāra*. The Agamaic works, both *Śaiva* and *Vaishnava*, have to deal with these very topics, as one of the main sections of these works, both *Vaishnava* and *Śaiva*, have reference to temple-worship. Some of them do give detailed description of these, the best among them being the *Kāmika Āgama*. This is a vast work of 160 chapters of which a fairly large number are devoted to these subjects. There again architecture is generally regarded as subsidiary to town-planning. The building of temples, of course, forms a part of town-planning. When we get to a description of temples, naturally it takes us on to the description of the making of images, being connected intimately with each other. Dr. Acharya draws attention incidentally to the fact that even Vedic Indians were not ignorant of stone forts or walled cities, stone houses, carved stones and even brick edifices, although they are generally regarded as being ignorant of these. A certain amount of information on these subjects could be collected from Buddhist literature as Dr. Acharya points out, not to speak of the description of palaces and towns, such as we find in the *Rāmāyaṇa* and the *Mahābhārata* and work of that kind. The *Purāṇas*, like the *Āgamas*, contain elaborate chapters upon these subjects, as again they have to deal with the connected subject of temple-worship. A co-ordinated study of these gives a detailed idea of architectural notions of the Hindus, and these theoretical principles could be verified from even existing buildings where they do exist in some number.

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We may conclude by congratulating Professor Acharya upon the monumental work that he has produced and brought to a term the labours of twenty years of devoted study. Though, accidental, so far as Professor Acharya is concerned, the publication of this work, the preface to which is dated 6th February, 1933, seems to be almost exactly the centenary of the completion of the first work on this subject by Rama Raz, as we have already noted. There could be no more appropriate celebration of the centenary of the publication for such an important work as the *Mānasāra* than this careful, complete, and an admirably adequate edition of the great work. Let us hope that this publication will lead to a scientific study of Hindu architecture with a view to the practical applications which Professor Acharya wants. We commend the work to those concerned with all our heart, and say amen to the wish of the learned editor and translator.

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G. A. NATESAN, ESQ., EDITOR, INDIAN REVIEW¹

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¹ *The Indian Review*, May, 1934, p. 313.

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When about seven years ago Professor Prasanna Kumar Acharya published the two volumes, *A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture* and *Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra Śilpa-śāstra*, he challenged the attention of the world and gave an impetus to the study of a long-neglected subject. He has now completed his stupendous work with the publication of three volumes containing the Sanskrit text of *Mānasāra* with critical notes, a translation of it in English, and illustrations in line and in colours which run to 157 plates. The effort has cost him about twenty years of devoted research and the result is an achievement which has been deservedly acclaimed as monumental. His marvellous tenacity of purpose has enabled him to succeed where others have given up the colossal task in despair.

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He has evolved cogency out of chaos and left students of Indology under a deep debt of gratitude.

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Some idea of the magnitude of his labour can be gleaned from the fact that since 1834, when Ram Raz referred in his *Essay on the Architecture of Hindus* to the contents of a few chapters of *Mānasāra* from a fragmentary manuscript on which he had lighted, the field remained unexplored until in the year 1914 Professor Acharya stepped in with his great purpose and the scholar’s enthusiasm. The unravelling of the obscure text of *Mānasāra* was in itself a formidable endeavour. Men like Dr. G. Bühler and Sir Ramkrishna Bhandarkar had stigmatized it as written in the ‘most barbarous Sanskrit,’ while the last of those who have laid testimony to the distracting business of translating *Mānasāra* is that eminent scholar Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Ganganatha Jha. The first work confronting Professor Acharya was, therefore, to compile an encyclopaedia of technical terms and the collation of illustrative quotations from cognate literature. He had then to travel from one end of the country to the other collecting and arranging a text written in five different scripts, possessing eleven badly-preserved manuscripts, subject to five recensions and comprising more than 10,000 lines of a disheartening language. In spite of the forbidding nature of the undertaking, however, Professor Acharya has triumphed as editor, commentator and translator.

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The great value of the work to students of Indian art lies in that *Mānasāra* is the ‘most complete, scientific and probably the oldest extant record’ of Hindu architecture dealing with everything for which the essence of measurement is required.

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PROFESSOR OTTO STEIN, UNIVERSITY OF PRAGUE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA¹

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¹ *Archiv Orientalni*, Vol. 7 (1935), no. 1-2, pp. 248-58.

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The publication of the *Mānasāra*, text and translation each forming a bulky volume, accompanied by a third one containing the plates, was preceded by two other contributions from the pen of Dr. Acharya, his *Dictionary of Hindu Architecture* and *Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra Śilpa-śāstra* (both s.a., probably 1927 and 1928 respectively). The former work brought an alphabetically arranged terminology of Indian technics, art, settlements, etc., with ample quotations from texts and inscriptions, and in two appendices a valuable list of Sanskrit works on architecture and of 'historical architects, with short notes on their works.' The second book was a preparatory one in regard to the present three volumes, giving a survey of *Śilpa-śāstra*, summaries and synopses of some texts, especially of the *Mānasāra*, of its position in the literature, drawing a comparison with Vitruvius, and finally summing up all the indications of the age of *Mānasāra*; an appendix notes down a florilegium of grammatical peculiarities, to use an euphemistic expression, what Dr. Acharya himself calls a 'barbarous' Sanskrit. All that extensive work goes back to the year 1914, when Dr. Acharya took up what Professor Rapson predicted to him would become a life's undertaking. Now the scholar may be proud of having published the volumes, though they, according to his modesty, 'do not claim to be other than provisional.' No doubt, much more will have to be done in that field, but the credit of 'beginning of a new line of Indology, which, it may be perhaps hoped, is likely to prove not merely of cultural and historical interest, but possibly of some practical benefit to the country and to the nation' is due to Dr. Acharya.

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From that edition of the *Mānasāra* the study of more than one field of Indology will get a new stimulus, as the interrelation of *Śilpa-śāstra* with many other disciplines is evident. In the first place, of course, the history of technical science, the history of Indian architecture and sculpture will draw the main profit; the comparison between theory and practice is not only interesting, but might yield also chronological clues for the history of religious sects. The editor has done all he could to bring out a readable text in which every line has been settled after careful consideration, as is to be seen from the Critical Notes. But Dr. Acharya has done much more; he has not satisfied himself with the edition, but he has rather for the first time brought out a translation of a *Śilpa-śāstra*. Everyone who will have to work in that field must either adopt his interpretation of the complicated materia or improve it by arguments; but nobody, who is aware of the intricate terminology of technical *Śāstras* can deny the pioneer work done by Professor Acharya. He has, however, facilitated the understanding of, in some way, dead words by a special volume of plates, not less than 157 in number, illustrating the features of all the buildings, sculptures, idols, etc. As great as the merit of Dr. Acharya may be in bringing out such a volume, the assistance he got by Mr. S. C. Mukherji of the Archaeological Department, partly by Mr. R. L. Bansal and Sri Siddalingaswamy, by transforming the complicated indications of the text into drawings, appealing much more to a vivid comprehension than words, deserves the highest appreciation. And great is the obligation under which students of Indology may feel themselves laid to all the factors by the help of which such an undertaking has been effected in these days.

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SILPA-SIDDHANTI K. S. SIDDALINGASWAMI SRI JAGADGURU NAGALINGASWAMY MATH

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The world is much grateful to you for the great help you have done in publishing the *Mānasāra grantha* which is a valuable and precious guide to the artists. As far as we know there is scarcely a *grantha* of this type available to guide the artists. After I went through this *grantha* my desire was to give a series of pictures for all the *Mānasāra*. I am also trying for this. It was so long impossible to get a correct *grantha* in complete form. This difficulty has been solved by you.

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RAJA SRI PRATAP SINGH (OF MALLAPUR, UNITED PROVINCES)

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I have been fortunate enough to see all your five volumes on the Hindu architecture. You have really taken great pains to revive the old art belonging to us which was dying out. You have done a great service . . . by completing such an important work. How much I wish to pay my respects to you in token of my appreciation for such a noble work.

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TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT¹

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¹ 7th February, 1935.

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Architecture, like most phases of intellectual activity, finds a place in Sanskrit literature, incidentally in the *Purāṇa*, *Āgamas*, and similar works, and in detail in that extensive technical literature known as the *Śilpa-śāstras*, of which the best known example is the *Mānasāra*. Etymologically the word ‘Mānasāra’ means ‘the essence of measurement,’ but in certain connexions seems to be applied to the author of the work, while in one passage in the treatise it has been used in both senses. There is nothing in the work itself to indicate the date of a compilation with certainty, but Dr. Acharya would place it provisionally between A.D. 500 and 700.

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Dr. Acharya's three volumes appear most appositely, marking a centenary in the study of Hindu architecture, for it was in 1834 that Ram Raz published in English his *Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus*, based on a fragmentary manuscript of the *Mānasāra*. It may seem strange that the publication of a complete text of such importance should have been so long delayed, but Sanskritists were little attracted to a purely technical work having no claims to literary excellence and abounding in words used in a technical sense differing entirely from their derivative literal rendering and, moreover, not to be found in dictionaries. A belief that the *Mānasāra* is the standard Hindu work on architecture and sculpture prompted Dr. Acharya to undertake the difficult and laborious task of editing this text and has sustained him in his unremitting labours for some twenty years.

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The three volumes now issued are the third, fourth, and fifth of an *Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture*, the author having in 1927 published, as the first volume, *A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture* treating of Sanskrit architectural terms, and, as the second, *Indian Architecture according to the Mānasāra Śilpa-śāstra*. In the third volume Dr. Acharya now makes available for the first time the complete Sanskrit text of the *Mānasāra*, based on eleven badly-preserved manuscripts written in five different scripts and has added three appendices, a Sanskrit index, and over 300 pages of critical notes in English. That the elucidation of the text calls for such extensive annotation witnesses to the difficulties presented by the defective manuscripts and the industry and scholarship of the author. In his preface to the English translation Dr. Acharya has indicated the method followed in its preparation and the limits imposed by the imperfect texts. Within those limits he has produced a clear and readable translation, and it is but rarely that we are left with such cryptic passages as 'He (Garuda) is known to have the posture of bent mixedness in the walking pose and collectiveness in the sitting pose.'

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From the complete text it is now plain that architecture in the *Mānasāra* is taken in its widest sense and includes systems of measurement, selection of sites, town-planning, foundations, bricks, plinths, bases, pillars, entablatures, chariots, couches, thrones, crowns and personal ornaments, doors, windows, staircases, wells and drains and even balances and baskets and cages for birds and beasts. The carving and casting of images of deities, sages and donors and the making of cult objects occupy no fewer than twenty of the seventy chapters. That the *Mānasāra* is a practical work based on experience and actual measurement of the then existing architectural and sculptural objects can hardly be doubted, but mingled with the technical detail are many ritual rules and other extraneous matter, not however without considerable interest. Hindu fondness for classification is evidenced in the multiplicity of types, and we have thirty-two varieties of site-plans, fifty kinds of mouldings and sixty-four types of column bases and so on, until it becomes difficult to determine where reality ends. The importance of exact proportion and strict adherence to the rules annunciated is emphasized throughout the work, and this is based not only on aesthetic considerations, for a whole chapter is devoted to penalties arising from any deviation. For instance it is laid down that, ‘If the staircase be less or greater the master would certainly be crippled,’ and such might indeed happen from such a faulty construction; but it seems somewhat severe that ‘if the height of a pillar be lower or higher the family and race of the master will be exterminated.’ Light is thrown on the religious toleration of the age, for two chapters are devoted to rules for the making of Buddhist and Jain images.

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