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

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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