Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c72.15

v2.c72.15

Now with the dawn of the devotional movements, the propagation of the image-worship as advocated by the Purāṇas and the Āgamas aiming at the new orientation of the religious life of India after the sacrificial cult of the Vedas, a powerful impetus was provided for the erection of the temples and places of pilgrimage in every part of India giving rise to so many sacred places—dhāms, maṭhas, tīrthas and sacred shrines and temples all over India. Side by side this architectural upsurge, the corresponding and consequent necessity of the installation of the images of gods, more especially those of the two famous gods, Śiva and Viṣṇu, of the Hindu Trinity, was felt. Thus the origin and development of Architecture was synchronous with the origin and development of sculpture. It was with this background that almost all the treatises, all the manuals of architecture, both architectural like Viśvakarma-Prakāśa, Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra, Aparājita-pracchā, Mayamata, Mānasāra, Agastya-sakalādhikāra, Śilparatna and a host of others and non-Architectural like Purāṇas, Āgamas, Tantras and Pratiṣṭhā works, etc. have devoted a good many chapters on the treatment of sculpture also.