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

xx Vāstumaṇḍana It is the only Vāstuśāstra so far, which deals with weapons, a few other books such as Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra or Aparājitapṛchhā mentions merely the names only. Here the author describes eighty-four machineries, out of which nine each are the air and water machineries. There are six varieties of firearms and sixty varieties of war machineries. In this book we get different descriptions of war and fire machineries. Here he enumerates names and measurement of eight types of rods/shafts used in the warfare. Next one is probably the description of a bow, which is not very legible. This bow is named as Markaṭī, which was to be made very firm with the help of leather strips and iron. After this we find a description of Gophanā, which in succinct version is still used to drive away birds in the paddy fields. It appears that this simple device was used to throw stones at the enemy from far distance. In one word it seems to be stone or dart thrower. Subsequently we have noticed the illustration of another machinery known as Markaṭi. Probably it was made of iron nets, looking like a cage or drum and was used to carry stones and arrows. It has few rotating discs, which has made it highly resilient and facilitated easy hassle free movements of that machine. This drum like thing has two supporting rods, a few holes and in the center a place for light etc. We find also the measurement of the cage and the discs. There will be two wings for easy movement. Author gave elaborate description of this item and it seemed that it was an inevitable device in the warfare. This machine is named as Dhinkulī or Gauriyantra. In the seventy-second chapter of Aparājitapṛchhā similar names could be found out. This is the uniqueness of this book that tried to describe the local war machineries. We find fairly a vivid description of firearms, used in the warfare during that period. Small cannons, which were easily moved and carried, were well known to people. There is detailed description and measurement of a cannon, the silhouette of which resembled a Dhatura flower. It was made of brass or bell metal with a pointer to help aiming cardinally the target. The measurement of the weapon is three to six times of a Dhatura flower. It may be noted that the size of a Dhatura flower available in Rajasthan is rather large approximately of 8-10 inches in length. Along with the cannons we find references of cannon balls and the ingredients with which the balls were manufactured. Eighth chapter of this book describes six types of king's palaces. These are Śrīdhara, Śrīnivāsa, Lakṣmīvilāsa, Pṛthvījaya, Pratāpavardhana, and Kṣiṇaibhūṣaṇa compared to Aparājitapṛchhā mentioning twenty types of king's palaces. While describing these palaces the author mentions of six chhandas or characteristics. These are Māḍa, Mauḍa, Śuddha, Śekhara, Tuṅgāra and Simhakarṇa. Previously he mentioned