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Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v2.c14.s58: The Mayamata Śilpa-Śāstra

Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v2.c14.s58

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English

The Mayamata Śilpa-Śāstra

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The next well-known Śilpa-śāstra is the Mayamata attributed to one Gannamāchārya.¹

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¹ Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras, Catalogue, volume XXII, no. 13038; also 13034—13039 Compare the colophon **इति गन्नमाचार्यविरचितायां ( ? ) मयमते शिल्पशास्त्रे ।**

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A detailed summary of this work is not necessary. The following list of thirty-six chapters placed side by side with the similar chapters of the *Mānasārā* will show that in respect of the titles of chapters, their sequence and contents the *Mayamata* and the *Mānasāra* are identical.²

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² The edition of the *Mayamata* by M. M Gaṇapati Śāstrī contains only the first thirty-four chapters. Besides it does not seem to have made use of the manuscripts mentioned elsewhere. But there is reference to three other manuscripts in this edition.

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(1) Saṁgrahādhyāya—table of contents—*Mānasārā*, chapter I.
(2) Vāstu-prakāra—classification of architectural subjects—*Mānasāra*,³ chapters IV, V.
(3) Bhū-parīkshā—testing of soil, *Mānasāra*, chapters IV, V.
(4) Bhū-parigraha—testing of soil, *Mānasāra*, chapters IV, V.
(5) Mānopakaraṇa—materials (system) of measurement. M. II.
(6) Dik-parichchheda—chapter on finding out cardinal points, M. VI.
(7) Pada-devatā-vinyāsa—ground plan, M. VII.
(8) Bali-karma-vidhāna—offerings to gods, M. VIII.
(9) Grāma-vinyāsa—villages, M. IX.
(10) Nagara-vidhāna—town-planning, M. X.
(11) Bhū-lamba-vidhāna—dimensions of storeys, M. XI.
(12) Garbha nyāsa-vidhāna—foundations, M. XII.
(13) Upapīṭha-vidhāna—pedestals, M. XIII.
(14) Adhishṭhāna-vidhāna—bases, M. XIV.
(15) Pāda-pramāṇa-dravya-saṁgraha—columns, M. XV.
(16) Prastara-prakaraṇa—entablatures, M. XVI.
(17) Sandhi-karma-vidhāna—(wood) joinery, M. XV.
(18) Śikhara-karaṇa-bhavana-samāpti-vidhāna—making the finials and finishing the building, M. XVIII.
(19) Eka-bhūmi-vidhāna—one-storeyed buildings. M. XIX.
(20) Dvi-bhūmi vidhāna—two-storeyed buildings, M. XX.

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³ The Mānasāra has 'Mānopakaraṇa' for chapter II, which is placed in chapter V of the *Mayamata*.

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(21) Tri-bhūmi-vidhāna—three-storeyed buildings, M. XXI.
(22) Bahu-bhūmi-vidhāna¹—buildings of more than three storeys, M. XXII—XXX
(23) Prākāra-parivāra—courts, and temples therein of the attendant deities; in the *Mānasāra* these two subjects are treated in two chapters, XXXI, XXXII.
(24) Gopura-vidhāna -- gate-houses, M. XXXIII.
(25) Maṇḍapa-vidhāna—pavilions, M. XXXIV.
(26) Śālā-vidhāna—halls, M. XXXV.
(27) Gṛiha-mānādhikāra²—(location and) measurement of houses, M. XXXVI
(28) Gṛiha-praveśa—first entry into a newly built house (opening or house-warming ceremony), M. XXXVII.
(29) Rāja-veśma-vidhāna—royal palaces, M. XL.
(30) Dvāra-vidhāna—doors; in the Mānasāra this subject is described in two chapters, XXXVIII, XXXIX.
(31) Yānādhikāra—conveyances, M. II, XLIII.
(32) Yāna-śayanādhikāra—cars and chariots, couches and bedsteads, M. XLIV, XLV.

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¹ Compare Śāstri, ibid, where *Chatur-bhūmyādi* is added at the beginning.

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² Compare Śāstri, ibid, where it is read *chatur-gṛiha-vidhāna*.

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Sculptural subjects are abridged in only four chapters:
(33) Liṅga-lakshaṇa – the Phallus, M. LII.
(34) Pīṭha-lakshaṇa—the Pedestal of the Phallus, M LIII.
(35) Anukarma-vidhāna—minor works on sculpture, LI, LIV, LV, LXIII, LXV, LXX.
(36) Pratimā-lakshaṇa—images in general, M. LXIV.

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It should be noticed that in respect of the titles of chapters, their sequence except in one instance, and contents and method of treatment, the *Mayamata* runs exactly like the *Mānasāra*, step by step. It is hardly necessary to point out that in chapter 22 of the former the chapters XXII—XXX of the latter are abridged, to the great relief of readers. So also chapter 30 of the former is an abridgement of chapters XXXVIII, XXXIX of the latter. Chapters XLI (royal courts) and XLII (characteristics of kings) of the *Mānasāra*, which have very little use in an architectural treatise, have been prudently omitted in the *Mayamata*. Chapters XLV to L of the *Mānasāra*, which deal respectively with thrones, arches, theatres, ornamental trees, crowns, ornaments and articles of house furniture, are left out in the *Mayamata*, apparently as matters of detail.

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Sculpture is said to be the hand-maid of architecture. This statement, in its restricted sense, is however appropriate only to religious architecture, that is, temple-building. But in a treatise which is concerned with all sorts of buildings—religious, residential, military—undue space and preference for sculpture have been economically avoided in the *Mayamata*. In this treatise, as has already been pointed out, sculpture dealing with the Phallus, Pīṭha, images and minor matters, is described in four chapters, while in the *Mānasāra* nearly two-thirds of the whole book, comprising twenty chapters, is given to these subjects; and in the *Aṁśumad-bheda* of Kāśyapa to be discussed presently, which is avowedly a sculptural treatise, nearly half the space, comprising chapters 46 to 84, is devoted to matters of sculptural detail.

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It does not, therefore, seem unreasonable to suppose that in the compilation of the treatise named *Mayamata*, whether by Gaṇṇamāchārya as stated in the colophon, of Ms. no. 13038, Oriental Manuscripts Libary, Madras. Catalogue, volume XXII, page 8763) or by some body else, the *Mānasāra* has been largely drawn upon.

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In consideration of the fact that with the *Mayamata* (Ms. no. 13037, fol. 213a) the *Mānasāra* (1a) has become mixed, I am further led to believe that the manuscript of the *Mayamata* in the Madras Oriental Library seems to be an abridgement of the *Mānasāra*.

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The fact that one Mayamata is included in the list of thirty-two authorities mentioned in the *Mānasāra* itself does not present much difficulty in accepting this view. Mayamata, like Manu (or Mānasāra), is apparently a generic name, and the treatise catalogued under the title *Mayamata-vāstu-śāstra* need not necessarily be ascribed to the authority mentioned in the *Mānasāra*.

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