The Hindu Temple v1.c8.s2.17

v1.c8.s2.17

³⁷ The structure of the temple is a work of art and science. Their knowledge and practice are conducive towards the same end, the making of a perfect instrument whose sight and ritual use procure release. Hiuen Tsiang (S. Beal, ‘Records of the Western World’, I. p. 78) speaks of 5 Vidyās or Śāstras, traditional sciences, the second of which is Śilpasthānavidyā. As the name of this science indicates, it included the arts (śilpa) and architecture (sthāna; houses, squares, courts etc.) and mechanics; it explains the principles of Yin and Yang and the calendar. In the ‘Śukranītisāra’, IV. 3. 30, also, Śilpaśāstra, enumerated as one of the 32 sciences, includes architecture and the making of images. Architecture, moreover and painting (ib. 83-84) are enumerated by Śukrācārya amongst the 64 arts (kalā); and architecture (vāstuvidyā) and sculpture (takṣakarma) are similarly enumerated in Jayamaṅgala’s commentary to Vātsyāyana’s ‘Kāmasūtra’, Ch. I. 3 (see Part I, note 20). The double listing as science as well as art of architecture and sculpture does justice to their two-fold nature. This is also implied in architecture being part of Jyotiṣa (astrology) and Kalpa (ritual), two of the six Vedāṅgas. (See Part I, note 21).