Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c48.7

v1.c48.7

Resuming the lost thread, from the study of architectural literature, there appear to be two different and distinct schools of architecture. This statement needs be elaborated. The system of classification of the temples or the palaces, differ in the two sets of works. In one the crowning part of the temple is Āmalaka, it is absent in the other. The names of pillars and their component mouldings also differ. In works like Mānasāra the names of most of the Prāsādas end in the suffix “kānta”. It is not so in works like the S.S., the Matsyapurāṇa, Bṛhatsaṁhitā and others of group. The Vesara so much talked of as one of the triad—Nāgara, Drāvida and Vesara—is completely absent in the works like Matsyapurīṇa, Bṛhat-saṁhitā and Samarāṅgaṇa. Similarly names of residential houses and Maṇḍapas also differ. The Gopurams attached to temples are mentioned only in works like the Mānasāra and are completely absent in other treatises like the Samarāṅgaṇa.