The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c13.47

c13.47

given to this kind of building. The Mânasâra, says Râm Râz, gives the technical name of a square shrine as *Nâgara*; an octagonal one as *Drâvidha*, and a circular one as *Vesara*.¹ But as the entire planning and every other structural and symbolic detail of these pyramidal monasteries were Indo-Aryan ideas, imported from the north, it would be entirely misleading to take a minor difference of this kind as a reason for classifying all Siva shrines as "Dravidian." The fact that Siva shrines are now mostly found in Southern India had nothing whatever to do with their architectural origin.