Residential Architecture in Bhoja's Samaranganasutradhara

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The Samaranganasutradhara, composed in the 11th century and commonly attributed to king Bhoja of Dhara, is one of the most remarkable silpasastras of northern India. Consisting of more than seven thousand slokas, it contains not only detailed descriptions of temples, but also a comprehensive exposition of residential architecture. This book is an annotated translation of the central passages on residential architecture accompanied by a study of the Samaranganasutradhara's sources, the problem of authorship, and related matters. It is rounded off by a comprehensive glossary of technical terms and illustrations.

Felix Otter did his M.A. studies in Indology, Political science, and Tibetan studies at Marburg University (Germany) and is currently employed at the Department of Modern South Asian Language and Literatures of the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg.

This book is revised version of my M.A. thesis submitted to the department of Foreign Language of Philipps- Universitat, Marburg (Germany) on 8 February 2005. To the best of my knowledge, it was at that time the first translation of any part of the Samaranganasutradhara into the English language. I trust that it remains a useful study of the sections devoted to residential architecture in the vastusastra commonly ascribed to the renowned Paramara king Bhija of Dhara.

Public interest in the traditional science of Vastuvidya has been increasing over the past two decades or so- primarily in India, but to a somewhat lesser degree in Europe and the US as well. On the whole, the indological community has slow to react to this trend: Few vastusastras have been translated into Western languages, and many important tests remain unedited. Consequently, there is to date no reliable comprehensive history of the origin and development of Vastuvidya. It is hoped that this book will be received as a small contribution to this daunting task.

Throughout the process of writing and revising this book, I have received help and support from a number of individuals and institutions that must not go unacknowledged: I would like to thank my colleagues at the Universities of Marburg and Halle an der Saale for their support and encouragement- in particular, Prof. Rahul Peter Das, Prof. Michael Hahn, Dr. Ulrike Roesler, Dr. Jayandra Soni, Dr. Luitgard Soni, Dr. Roland Steiner, and Martin Straube, M.A.; Dr. Dragomir Dimitrov for desperately needed technical (as well as moral) support; the graduate school Asia and Africa in World Reference systems (Halle); and, of course, my family- especially my wife Mandy and my son Paul, for their love, support, and patience. There is one more person to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude: My late grandfather Heinz-Peter Hahn (1920-1997), to whose cherished memory I dedicate this book.