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) v7.c44.5

v7.c44.5

Naturally under such circumstances one would not feel encouraged to put in further labour and incur enormous expenditure, which are needed for the preparation of the remaining volumes and completion of the series. And there is not much hope either that the Governments and the various corporations, municipal boards, and other authorities who sanction the plan of a private building or erect a public structure will interest themselves in introducing an Indian policy in architecture until the new order following the present devastating war comes into being and until the new nations are able to rebuild and repair the rackless destruction. In the pre-war and peaceful times, however, facilities were freely provided by the State, especially in the big European and American cities like London, Leyden, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Washington, New York, etc., to hold extramural evening classes and deliver popular lectures on architecture. Cities like Milan used to hold perpetual exhibition of model houses in order to educate the public in the construction of suitable dwellings. Perhaps a time will come even in countries like India, when it may be considered barbarous to question ‘the public importance of architectural researches.’ The common sense of civilized and progressive peoples has recognized that residential buildings are more important in some respects than even food and clothes. It is well known that among the amenities of life, houses afford in a large degree not only comfort and convenience but also health and longevity of life, safety, and security. Nomads are not considered civilized; they are not attached to any locality; they have no fixed hearth and home; they are not inclined to spend their fortune in erecting dignified edifices, everlasting ancestral residences, memorials, monuments, temples, churches, mosques, mausoleums, towers of silence, monasteries and pagodas. The art and culture of a people are reflected and preserved in such monuments. They sustain and stimulate national pride. Thus the architectural structures differ in various countries to suit their economic and climatic conditions, weather and soil, taste and aspiration, and material, moral and spiritual progress. It is, therefore, necessary to settle the architectural policy of each country in its own way. For India no better authority containing the experience of generations and experiments of centuries will ever be available than what is revealed by the *Mānasāra* series.