[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.raghavan-1952) › c2.156 # Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.156 Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.156 - **Language:** English ### [c2.156](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.raghavan-1952.c2.156) It now remains for me to deal with two works of Bhoja, one a poetic composition and the other a technical treatise. The former, which is yet unpublished, is the prose work of fiction, \*Śṛṅgāramañjarī\*.³² In it, Bhoja himself is the hero and, as it is not proper for a noble soul to indulge in self-glorification, the device is adopted of making a mechanical figure (\*yantra-putrikā\*), discharge the function. Confirming almost all the details set forth on the one side by Somadeva in his \*Campū\* and on the other by Bhoja himself in his book on architecture, this work gives an elaborate description of a \*yantra-dhārā-griha\*, a fountain pavilion with manifold mechanical works: there are figures in constant action; there is a \*jalayantra-putrikā\* which scatters a fine spray; \*dhārās\* which fall like slender lotus-stalks, and in a curve like a bow; mechanical drum-players filling the place with their rhythms; an artificial lotus pond; toy bees which keep humming; \*yantra-vriksha\* or trees, with monkey figures; a pond filled with replicas of cranes bending over and getting deceived by fishes which come near and move on; artificial tortoises diving and coming up every now and then; and \*yantra-orchestras\*.³³ - [Previous: c2.155](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.raghavan-1952.c2.155) - [Next: c2.157](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.raghavan-1952.c2.157) - [Up: c2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.raghavan-1952.c2) ## Linked texts (2) - [Śṛṅgāramañjari](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vernacular.telugu.annamacarya.srngaramanjari) — Tāḷḷapāka Annamācārya, Telugu - [Yaśastilaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.jaina.post.kavya.yasastilaka) — Somadevasūri, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.raghavan-1952.c2.156](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.raghavan-1952.c2.156) · Pramāṇa