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.c49.68

v7.c49.68

This volume (*Indian Architecture*) incorporates the general problems, historical as well as textual, that form the introduction to Dr. Acharya's *Dictionary*. In the first 30 pages the author gives a tantalising survey of the popularity of Architecture evinced by the Vedic, the Buddhist and the classical literature. We hope that the author will make the treatment more exhaustive. The next hundred pages are devoted to a very useful summarizing of the contents of the outstanding *Śilpa-śāstras*, *e.g.* *Mānasāra*, *Mayamata*, and such manuals ascribed to Viśvakarmā, Agastya, Kāśyapa, Mandana and others. The comparison instituted between *Mānasāra* and Vitruvius may or may not lead to a discovery of the order of that of a *Romaka Siddhānta* and *Hora-śāstra*, yet the similarities are striking. But the most important sections are the author's discussions, relating to the three styles or orders of architecture—Nāgara, Vesara and Drāvida—representing the three geographical divisions of India. We recommend the books of Dr. Acharya to all Indologists and expect eagerly the publication of the two supplementary volumes now in Press.