Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.104

c2.104

Lalitālaya is said to be master of all kinds of yantras; the varieties mentioned in this connection are six, *Sthita*, *Cara*, *Dhārā*, *Dvīpa*, *Jvara* and *Vyāmiśra*. Other texts speak of the classes of yantras as two and five and give the classifications somewhat differently. The *Sthita* or *Sthira* and *Cara*—stationary and mobile—is a classification going back to Kauṭilya. *Dhārā* is plainly water-works; the manuscript gives the next as *Dvīpa*, which had been wrongly construed also by some; *Dvīpa*, I think, is an error for *Dvipa*, meaning elephant, and refers either to animal-shaped yantras or to special machines,—