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.c47.3057

v7.c47.3057

(8) ‘On the banks of the Sarayū is a large country called Kośala gay and happy and abounding with cattle, corn and wealth. In that country was a famous city called Ayodhyā, built formerly by Manu, the lord of men. A great city twelve yojanas (108 miles) in length and nine yojanas (81 miles) in breadth, the houses of which stood in triple and long extended rows. It was rich and perpetually adorned with new improvements, the streets and lanes were admirably disposed, and the principal streets well watered. It was filled with merchants of various descriptions, and adorned with abundance of jewels ; difficult of access, filled with spacious houses, beautified with gardens, and groves of mango trees, surrounded by a deep and impassable moat, and completely furnished with arms; was ornamented with stately gates and porticoes and constantly guarded by archers. As Maghavan protects Amarāvatī, so did the magnanimous Daśaratha, the enlarger of his dominions, protects Ayodhyā, fortified by gates, firmly barred, adorned with areas disposed in regular order, and abounding with a variety of musical instruments and war-like weapons; and with artifices of every kind. Prosperous, of unequalled splendour it was constantly crowded with charioteers and messengers, furnished with śataghnis (*lit.* an instrument capable of destroying a hundred at once, that is, a cannon) and parighas (a kind of club), adorned with banners and high-arched porticoes, constantly filled with dancing girls and musicians, crowded with elephants, horses and chariots, with merchants and ambassadors from various countries, frequented by the chariots of the gods, and adorned with the greatest magnificence. It was decorated with various kinds of jewels, filled with wealth, and amply supplied with provisions, beautified with temples and sacred chariots (large cars), adorned with gardens and bathing tanks and spacious buildings and full of inhabitants. It abounded with learned sages, in honour equal to the immortals; it was embellished with magnificent palaces, the domes of which resemble the tops of mountains, and surrounded with the chariots of the gods like the Amarāvatī of Indra, it resembled a mine of jewels or the residence of Lakshmi (the goddess of prosperity); the walls were variegated with divers sorts of gems like the division of a chess-board, and it was filled with healthful and happy inhabitants; the houses formed one continued row, of equal height, resounding with the delightful music of the tabor, the flute and the harp.’