A History of Sanskrit Literature c3.68

c3.68

Of auxiliary sciences architecture has at last received expert treatment from Professor Prasanna Kumar Acharya in his *Dictionary of Hindu Architecture* and *Indian Architecture*,¹ based on a new text and rendering of the *Mānasāra*, for which the period of A. D. 500–700 is suggested. Striking similarities between the prescriptions of the *Mānasāra* and Vitruvius are unquestionably established. Unhappily, the deplorable condition of the text of the *Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra*² of Bhoja adds to the difficulty of valuing his remarks on architecture, town-planning, engineering, and the construction of remarkable machines, probably akin to the mechanical toys of the Middle Ages.³ The *Principles of Indian Śilpa Śāstra*, with the text of the *Mayaśāstra*, by Phanindra Nath Bose, is also of value.⁴ Hawking figures in a *Çyainikaçāstra* by Rudradeva.