Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.115

c2.115

That mechanical fountains were constructed as a necessary adjunct to all palaces is seen even in the casual descriptions in the dramas, the *Mālavikāgni-mitra* (II. 12) and the *Nāgānanda* (III. 7) for example, describing jala-yantras.²⁶ The mechanical breeze-lady in the *yantradhārā-gṛha* in the park has her companion within the bedchamber where Somadeva Sūri describes how near the bed was a *yantra-putrikā* plying a fan for the King's relief.