The Development of Hindu Iconography c8.37

c8.37

Several works attributed to Maṇḍana, the son of Śrīkṣetra, both of whom flourished in Mewar during the reign of Mahārāṇā Kumbha, are of great importance in this respect. Maṇḍana, a reputed artist of his age, had his own statue as well as those of his two sons Jaita and Saita carved in relief inside the dhvaja-stambha raised under the orders of the said Mahārāṇā, his patron, in honour of the great god Samiddheśvara Śiva whose temple was erected by Rāṇā Mokal near by at Chitorgaḍ. Maṇḍana is said to have composed or compiled several works on art and architecture, two of which are specially connected with our subject. These are Devatāmūrti-prakaraṇa and Rūpamaṇḍana, both of which have been edited in the Calcutta Sanskrit Series (No. XII). These two texts are evident compilations, the first one mainly drawing from South Indian works like Mayamata and Śilparatna referred to above; the author of the introduction to this edition has carefully noted the borrowings not only from these but also from such Purāṇas as Matsya, Brahma, Padma, Skanda and Viṣṇudharmottara, etc., in Chapter V of the Introduction. Another interesting fact to be noted in this connection is that, of these two works, Rūpamaṇḍana seems to be the more authoritative one as materials from it were freely utilised in the other text.