Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.109

c2.109

We may begin with Somadeva Sūri, an encyclopædic Jain writer, and his long religious poem, the *Yaśastilaka Campū*,²³ written in South India in 949 A.D. In the first part of the work, Somadeva describes the hero resorting to the cool *yantra-dhārā-gṛha* to spend the hot hours of the summer days. This park, fitted with mechanical fountains, is appropriately called by the commentator *Kṛtrima-megha-mandira*, the artificial cloud-pavilion. It is erected in the dense garden in an area provided with many canals. There is the stream for water sports in the midst of which is a sandbank raised like a pavilion, provided with a water-bed, *Salila-tūlikā*; nearby are numerous vessels containing fragrant