Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.206

c2.206

The fifth main division of the *yantrādhikāra* was mentioned at the beginning as *Rathadolā*; Bhoja now takes it up. *Rathadolā* is a swing or a merry-go-round in which people ride in seats, and enjoy the pleasure of wheeling round. That merry-go-rounds were a common sight is seen also in descriptions like the one we find in the poem *Citrabandha Rāmāyaṇa* of Veṅkaṭeśakavi (Tanjore Ms. No. 3772, Verse 6) where the courtezans wheeling round in the *Dāru-yantra* in the palace courtyard are described by the poet as stars going round Mount Meru. Bhoja devotes as much attention to it as to the *yantra-dhārā-gṛiha*; here too types are known with distinct names, but Bhoja's descriptions here, though detailed, are not as clear as in the case of the fountains. The varieties are called *Vasanta*, *Madanotsava*, *Vasantatilaka*, *Vibhramaka* and *Tripura*, (174) and each subsequent type is more elaborate and complicated in its mechanism than the previous one.