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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) v6.c40.s27: 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) v6.c40.s27

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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, Vol. XXII, no. 13038, also 13034–13039. Cf. the colophon इति गन्नमाचार्य्यविरचितायां(ते) 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 *Mānasāra*, will show that in respect of the titles of chapters, their sequence and contents, the *Mayamata* and the *Mānasāra* are identical² :

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² The edition of the *Mayamata* by M. M. Gaṇapati Śāstri 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, *Mānasāra*, Chapter I.
(2) *Vāstu-prakāra*—classification of architectural subjects, *M.*,³ IV, V.
(3) *Bhū-parīkshā*—testing of soil, *M.*, IV, V.
(4) *Bhū-parigraha*—selection of soil, *M.*, IV, V.
(5) *Mānopakaraṇa*—materials and system of measurement, *M.*, II.
(6) *Dik-parichchheda*—on finding out cardinal points, *M.*, VI.
(7) *Pāda-devatā-vinyāsa*—site plans, *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*—joinery, *M.*, XVII.
(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-vidhāna*¹—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*—storeyed mansions, *M.*, XXXV.
(27) *Gṛiha-mānādhikāra*²—(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 Cf. Śāstri, *ibid*, where *Chatur-bhūmyādi* is added at the beginning.

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² Cf. 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*—altars and pedestal of the phallus, *M.*, LIII.
(35) *Anukarma-vidhāna*—minor works on sculpture, *M.*, 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, 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 XXII of the former, the Chapters XXII—XXX of the latter are abridged, to the great relief of readers. So also Chapter XXX of the former is an abridgment of Chapters XXXVIII, XXXIX of the latter. Chapters XLI (royal courts) and XLII (characteristics of kings) of the *Mānasāra*, which have only an indirect 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 phalli, altars, 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 XLVI to LXXXIV, 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 Gannamāchārya, as stated in the colophon (of MS. no. 13038, Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras, Catalogue, Volume XXII, page 8763) or by somebody 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. 213*a*), the *Mānasāra* (la) has become mixed, I am further led to believe that the manuscript of the *Mayamata* in the Madras Oriental Library seems to be an abridgment 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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