[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.raz-1834) › c4.6 # Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus c4.6 Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus c4.6 - **Language:** English ### [c4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.raz-1834.c4.6) Many works of acknowledged antiquity attest the existence of a number of treatises on \*Silpa Sástra\*; and every artist proverbially knows that there have been thirty-two principal, and as many subordinate works on this subject. In a Tamil controversial work entitled \*Iru-samaya-villacam\*, or "the illustration of the two systems," (i. e. of \*Vishnu\* and \*Siva\*), supposed to have been written in the fifteenth century by a \*Vaishnava\*,ast in refutation of the doctrines of his opponents, or rather in commendation of his own, a work which is held in high estimation, especially among the \*Vaishnavas\* in Southern India, the author, in the course of his arguments to prove the supremacy of \*Vishnu\* over \*Siva\*, has been led incidentally to cite certain passages from the \*Silpa Sástra\*, which describe the sites to be assigned for the erection of temples for \*Vishnu\* and \*Siva\*: the former to be in the middle of the town or village, as the most acceptable place for a deity whose characteristic attributes are benignity, mercy, and preservation; and the latter without the village, as proper for one possessed of opposite qualities. This work recognizes a great number of the treatises abovementioned, and enumerates twenty-nine of them by their titles, concluding the list with the words “and others;” but which of these works it was that he consulted on the point of discussion, the author does not inform us : there is reason, however, to believe that many of them had been lost long prior to the period at which he wrote. - [Previous: c4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.raz-1834.c4.5) - [Next: c4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.raz-1834.c4.7) - [Up: c4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.raz-1834.c4) ## Linked texts (1) - [Viśvakarmaśilpa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.silpa.visvakarman.visvakarmasilpa) — Viśvakarman, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.raz-1834.c4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.raz-1834.c4.6) · Pramāṇa