The Development of Hindu Iconography c8.35

c8.35

Iconographic and iconometric texts were also allotted some place in some authoritative early Indian works on astronomy and Nītiśāstra. Mention has already been made of one chapter in the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* of Varāhamihira which deals with iconography and iconometry; there are two other chapters, one on the installation of images, and the other on the selection of material for the construction of images (Chap. 58, *Vanasampraveśādhyāya*, and Chap. 59, *Pratiṣṭhāvidhi*, in Dvivedi’s edition), which have got an important bearing on studies in Indian Iconology, and which will be discussed in their proper place. All these chapters, with Bhaṭṭa Utpala’s valuable commentary on them, are very important for our purpose, because in them we find iconographic data which can be dated with some certainty. As regards the iconographic matter in the Nītiśāstras, we may refer to the Śukranītisāra, Chap. IV, section IV of which is of immense value to all students of the religious art of India.