Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c73.145

v2.c73.145

Bādarāyaṇa Veda-Vyāsa rose to his height of intellectual, mental and spiritual power and put all the Vedic lore in a popular language for ready acceptance of the masses. The Purāṇas were written. The Avatār-vāda, the main theme of the Purāṇas was promulgated. The Triad,—Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśa were glorified as great gods. By accepting Buddha as an incarnation of Viṣṇu Himself, the Purāṇas, this way, as it were, completely devoured the hetrodox Buddhism from the land of its inception. This catholocity gave a death-blow to Buddhism. Paurāṇic Dharma was a land-mark in the character of worship also. From individualistic sacrificial performances, the congregation at Tīrthas was a collective worship among the Hindus. The rise of Tīrthas, the construction of the Temples and the installation of Images therein, were some of the broad features of this New Testament. Though the main theme of the Purāṇas was the glorification of the Hindu Trinity—Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśa, the great god Viṣṇu however, captured the imagination most. The religion of Purāṇas gave rise to a principal cult of Vaiṣṇavism. What Purāṇas did mainly on this part of India—the North—the Uttarāpatha, the Āryāvarta proper, the Āgmas did for the glorification of the god Śiva and thus the South became the stronghold of Śaivism. And the Śakti-worship—the greatest living cult in India got its codification from the Tantras. Thus these three branches of religious literature, the Purāṇas and Āgamas and Tantras, gave rise to the three powerful sects of Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Śaktism. They had their philosophy, their metaphysics, their mythology and ritual too. It was from these fountain-heads that image-worship as an institution of religion and the image-making as an art got the encouragement for their development.