समराङ्गणसूत्रधार (महाराज भोज - वास्तु, स्थापत्य एवं यंत्र शास्त्र)

xii ed texts. It is gratifying that the new material has effected improvement in the texts at many places but still there remain textual obscurities which may be due to the very technical nature of the material and the Śilpa terminology employed in the work. As observed by the previous editor, Sri Gaṇapathi Śāstry, the language of the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra is correct in grammatical Sanskrit against what is usually found in the Śilpa works. This may be attributed to the great erudition and love of Sanskrit of King Bhoja who was no doubt one of the greatest San- skritists of medieval times and combined in him unique liberality and patronage of scholars paralleled in the annals of ancient India only by Candragupta Vikramāditya of the Gupta dynasty. The name Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra is worthy of attention. The word Sūtradhāra literally means ‘thread-bearer’, i.e. an architect who takes his measurements by means of the plumbline. Here is a pun on the word ‘samara’ which means both a battlefield and a mortal human being (sa + mara) (destin- ed to die). Thus the title as applicable to Bhoja would signify firstly that he was the architect of the fortunes on the battlefield, i.e. who planned the course of battle leading to victory, and secondly, who was the architect of human dwellings, i.e. civil architecture on an extensive scale. The epithet in its second denotation is a fact of King Bhoja's building activities who planned cities, palaces, temples, educational institutions and hospitals, wharfs, lakes, ponds, stepped wells, pavillions, resting places, roads, groves, etc., in a liberal spirit. The contingent of buildings and establishments of Mahārājādhirāja Bhoja requires to be fully explored and described in detail in a separate work from the archaeological and art point of view in a comprehensive biography of this distinguished monarch which is still a desideratum. The great educational college called Bhoja Pāṭhaśālā at Dhārā was one of the most monumental build- ings of Bhoja, unfortunately demolished by the Muslim invaders and turned into a Mosque. From the surviving ruins, it is possible to form an estimate of its original grandeur and dimensions of its site-plan and halls embellished with numerous images and inscribed slabs bearing the texts of poetry and drama in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhraṁśa, and specimens of the prevailing script and dialects. Such a marvellous conception of an educational institution marked by the visual documentation of literature has seldom been known in the history of any country. The architectural beauty of the pillars and the ceilings in this unique building bespeaks volumes for the aesthetic taste of King Bhoja who was a rare genius as an architect, a fact amply supported by the contents of the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra. Another great monument due to the genius of King Bhoja was the Bhoja Sāgara lake in which water was collected from the three enclosing slopes of