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.c47.3060

v7.c47.3060

‘Lankā, filled with mad elephants, ever rejoiceth. She is great, thronging with cars and inhabited by Rākshasas. Her doors are firmly established and furnished with massy bolts. And she hath four wide and giant gates. (At those gates) are powerful and large arms, stones and engines, whereby a hostile host approaching is opposed. At the entrance are arrayed and set in order by bands of heroic Rākshasas, hundreds of sharp iron śatagnis (firearms, guns). She hath a mighty impassable golden wall, having its side emblazoned in the centre with costly stones, coral, lapises and pearls. Round about is a moat, exceedingly dreadful, with cool water, eminently grand, fathomless, containing ferocious aquatic animals, and inhabited by fishes. At the gates are four broad bridges, furnished with machines and many rows of grand structures. On the approach of the hostile forces, their attack is repulsed by these machines, and they are thrown into the ditch. One amongst these bridges is immovable, strong and fast established; adorned with golden pillars and daises . . . And dreadful and resembling a celestial citadel, Lankā cannot be ascended by means of any support. She hath fortresses composed of streams (*cf.* JALA-DURGA), those of hills, and artificial ones of four kinds. And way there is none even for barks, and all sides destitute of division. And that citadel is built on the mountain’s brow; and resembling the metropolis of the immortals, the exceedingly invincible Lankā is filled with horses and elephants. And a moat and śataghnis and various engines adorn the city of Lankā, belonging to the wicked Rāvaṇa . . . his abode consists of woods, hills, moat, gateways, walls, and dwellings.’—(*Ibid.*, VI, Laṅkākāṇḍa, 3rd Sarga.)