Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c7.10

v1.c7.10

**Dr. J. N. Banerjea**—Dr. D. N. Shukla, M. A., Ph. D., at present of the Gorakhpur University, earned the Ph. D. Degree of the University of Lucknow sometime ago by his well-written thesis on Bhoja's Samarangana-Sutradhara, a mediaeval Sanskrit Anthology throwing a flood of light on architecture (Vastuvidya and other allied arts of ancient India). The works now submitted by him for the D. Litt degree of the same University are on Hindu Iconography, Hindu Canons of Painting, Pratima Vijnana and Pratima Lakshanam, the first two being in English and the last two being written in Hindi. These works, all printed, contain valuable information about the iconographic and pictorial art as practised by the Silpis of ancient India. Numerous are the source materials which have been culled by him from a wide range of Sanskrit texts of a varied character—Vedic, Epic and Puranic, technical literature like the Silpasastras, and works, in verse and prose of eminent authors like Kalidasa and others. Relevant text in Prakrit and Pali have also been utilised by him in throwing light on different aspects of the theme in question. He has also made sparing use of the iconographic and pictorial remains of ancient and mediaeval India to illustrate his point, and it would have been better if such use had been more exhaustive. Some well-chosen and well reproduced illustrations of relevent specimens would have enhanced the quality of his researches. It should be observed, however, to his credit, that he has seldom failed to refer to the many authoritative works on ancient and mediaeval Indian painting and iconography which contain numerous illustrations. His appraisal of the views of respective scholars about the different problems raised by him has been critical and scholarly. Attention may only be drawn to p. 201 of his Hindi book on Pratima Vijnana, where he rightly pointed out that my comment on the list of different materials for image-making as given in the Samarangana-Sutradhara was based on a faulty reading of the text, and the word lekhya in the passage should really be lepya. He has collected numerous iconographic texts containing the descriptions of different images from a large number of authoritative original works in his Hindi work on Pratimalakshanam, which will be of great use to research scholars in this field of Indology. His two works on Hindu Canons of Painting and Iconography (Introductory and Part I portions only) in English also contain much useful matter, and I wish he will be able to complete the latter work in no distant future. I should like to suggest that he makes full use of the representative icons belonging to the different creeds which have been found in the Uttar Pradesh, and their number, variety and workmanship are certainly great. I need not prolong my report any further. I hereby recommend the award of the D. Litt. Degree of the University of Lucknow to Dr. D. N. Shukla for his meritorious publications. His works in the Rashtrabhasha have enriched the technical branch of the Hindi literature.