वास्तु मण्डन (मण्डन सूत्रधार - गृह, राजप्रासाद, दुर्ग एवं नगर-वास्तु सटीक)

INTRODUCTION xxv of which have again sub varieties and so on. Likewise we get several thousand forms of ekaśālā houses. Dviśālā houses start with fifty varieties, each of these has two thousand forms and again each of two thousand has eight forms and so on. Triśālā and catuśśālā houses have several thousand forms. Viśvakarmā writes ‘by this way the number of total varieties of houses is one crore fifteen lakhs four thousand and eight.’ First four types of śālā houses are formed by means of prastara, i.e. the arrangement of guru laghu saṁsthāna, but the remaining six types of śālā houses, i.e. pañcaśālā to daśaśālā are from the combination of first four types of houses. Through this method the author provides six combinations of Pancaśālā.

1. One catuśśālā house + one ekaśālā house.
2. One triśālā house + one dviśālā house.
3. One triśālā house + two ekaśālā house.
4. Two Dviśālā house +one ekaśālā house.
5. Three ekaśālā house + one dviśālā house.
6. Five ekaśālā houses. Likewise we found mentioning of nine combinations of śaṣṭaśālā, eleven combinations of saptaśālā, fifteen combinations of aṣṭaśālā, eighteen combinations of navaśālā and twenty-three combinations of daśaśālā. [These combinations are clearly explained by Sri Mankad in the introduction of Aparājitapṛcchā.] This book provided various names of ekaśālā houses. At first these are sixteen in number, each of these having more varieties. Next is the description of dviśālā houses. While describing these varieties, author tells us about another variety of śālā house, that is yugmaśālā or twin halled house. In a square land, nine chambers of equal size are to be erected. Leaving the central chamber, there will be four twin chambers on four sides. These are known as hastinī, mahiṣī, gāvī and chhāgalī, and serially they will face towards North, East, South and West. These are also known as dvihaṁsa, dvikokila, dvisārasa, and dvicakravaka. There may be thirty-two types of yugmaśālā according to the author. There are fifty-two types of dviśālās mentioned in this book. This rhythmical disposition varies according to the position of porticos and ventilation. dviśālās are six in number to start with and the first four numbers have eleven varieties each and the rest two have four varieties each. All the dviśālās have their own name and