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Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74: Part I: Canons of Iconography

Vāstu-śāstra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74

Language
English

Contents

Part I: Canons of Iconography

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After a very brief exposition of the background of Hindu Iconography—the Institution of worship—let us now take up the Canons of Iconography, the science and art of image-making. Here the first and foremost thought goes to the different iconographical sources that we have to take into our account. There are primarily two principal sources, the literary and the artistic. Both these traditions, the Śāstra and the Sthāpatya must be purviewed before the scientific canons are to be expounded. Accordingly this topic of the sources of the Study of Hindu Iconography will form the subject-matter of the first chapter of this part.

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Thus equipped with the traditional lore on the one hand and the traditions of the art as evolved in the different centres, scattered over all the parts of this great land, on the other, we would be better fitted to attempt a classification of images, the subject-matter of the second chapter.

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In the third chapter, we shall discuss those Canons of Iconography which are particularly related to Icono-planning and Iconometry. Iconometry, the Canons of Measurement and the different standards thereof, was a very rigid institution in India. No deviation from the prescribed formulae was allowed. The Pramāṇa was the life-breath in the iconoplastic art and we shall discuss it at length. The S. S. has only echoed the time-honoured tradition of the rigidity or non-flexibility of the prescribed Canons of Pramāṇa when it says :

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"प्रमाणे स्थापिताः देवाः पूजार्हाश्च भवन्ति हि" Ch. 40. 13½

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‘Gods and goddesses become fit to be worshipped only when they are set up with correct proportions’.

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Adherence to the Canons of Measurement was the only criterion, to evolve out a beautiful image—‘शास्त्रमानेन यो रम्यः स रम्यो नान्य एव हि’. Thus it is evident how the rules of proportionate measurements in carving out an icon were essential in Indian Iconography.

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As regards Iconoplastic Art, we know that in India the manufacturing of icons was neither a trade nor an industry by itself, it had a sanctity alround. Sculpturing and modelling of images were not done in haphazard fashion. Image-making was as sacred as any religious ceremoney or ritual. It was undertaken under a proper discipline of mind and body. We still hear that the sculptors of Khajuraho temples were the ‘yogis’. Only yogi-sthapatis, fully initiated not only in the art and science of sculpture, but also in the morals of mind and wisdom, the Prajñā and Śīla (cf. writer’s H. S. A. Vol. I ‘Sthapati and Sthāpaka’) could have produced the marvels of art and have earned the laurels of the world.

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Further again, it is our common knowledge even today that sometimes, rather often times, the worshipper himself, was an image-maker. The temporary liṅgas made of clay, sand, rice, curd, etc. used to be shaped then and there; hence such productions were a part of daily routine in Indian life, the Sandhyā-vandana, the morning and evening prayers and oblations. Therefore the Iconoplastic art of India was not confined to stone-sculpture or wooden models or burnt-clay images or the paintings on the canvas of wall, paper and cloth alone. Moreover, icons being the cult-objects, the stations of the adherents of the cults varied from a king to a beggar. Naturally, therefore, substances of the image-making also differed. The Dhatujā or Ratnajā class of images could adorn the palace of a king or the family-chapel of a wealthy merchant. Varāhmihira’s dictum regarding variations in the dresses and ornaments of the images taking after those prevalent in a particulars part of the country, could equally hold good in the manufacturing of images, in accordance with the tastes and conveniences of the people worshipping them. All this gave rise to innumerable varieties of the substances which we shall presently see in the chapter 4, ahead.

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In studying Hindu Iconography, after we have taken into our account, the differents sources of the manuals and the monuments, we have classified the Indian images accordingly and have also determined their proportions of measurement and the manifold substances, there is still something very important to be said before the Pratimā-lakṣaṇas of various deities belonging to different religious sects and sub-sects, are attempted. This is the Doctrine of Mudrās, the symbolism in Art, very intimately associated with Cult-Icons in India.

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This topic of Mudrology has been attempted with some innovations here. It is said that Mudrās are charactristic of Buddhist and Jain images only. This has been refuted here and it has been held that what are called mudras in Buddhist Iconography like Varada, Vyākhana, Yoga, and Śānta, etc. are also characteristic of Brahmanical images like those of Brahmā and Yogic forms of Śiva.

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Furthermore, the different and manifold Rūpa-Samyogas (Bh. V. S. Vol. IV—'Pratimā-Vijñāna' chap. 6, pp. 227-238) like seats, conveyances and emblems of weapons, musical instruments, birds and beasts, etc., so exuberantly depicted in Brahmanical Image, are nothing but Mudras, the symbols. It is through this symbolism of Rūpa-samyoga, the images unfold not only the very life and doings of the deities but also their role in imparting spiritual message, wishing peace and prosperty of the people and giving them protection from fear and want. I have accordingly discussed all the items of Rūpa-samyoga in two separate chapters, 5 and 6.

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In India, the Art of Architecture, the Vāstu-Kalā, of which Iconography is an essential subject (vide 'the Scope and Subject of Architecture'—H. S. A. Vol. I and also Bh. V. S. Vol. I), is both mechanical and fine. A fine art presupposes the arousal of an aesthetic experience and aesthetic experience is based on the sentiments, the Rasas and Rasadṛṣṭis. According to Hindu view of Poetics and Dramatics as well as the science of Fine Arts, an aesthetic experience is not only a pleasure to the senses, it is not only toning up of heart and mind, it is something more, rather much more. It is elevating the soul. This is the spiritual background and it is in accordance with this fundamental tenet of aestheticity in India that writers on Aesthetics have likened an asthetic experience to the experience aroused in Brahma-Realization-‘Brahmānanda-svāda-sahodaraḥ’. Raja Bhoja, one of the greatest exponents of the asthetic school of Sanskrit Poetry and Drama (cf. his ‘Śṛṅgāra-Prakāśa’), has had the credit to introduce and, expound this side-branch of Iconography, the Rasa-citras. The treatment of the aestheticity in the sculptural and pictorial images (vide the S. S. ch. 82) is a unique distinction of the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra in the extant manuals of Vāstu-Sāstra. The author has, therefore, very briefly expounded this new element of Hindu Iconography, in a subsequent chapter.

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A finished image like this must be given a place—a proper place to be set in or intsalled into. This place is not the secular abode of mortals. It is the sacred Garbhagṛha of a Prāsāda or Vimāna, the Hindu Temple, where the Principal Image takes its place and the outer walls of the superstructure of the temple are adorned by the hosts of major and minor images (cf. the varied rich sculptures on the temples of Khajuraho, Bhuvanesvara, etc., etc.). Thus Pratimā, the Image and the images and the Prāsāda, the Temple and its superstructure both are intimately connected with each other. Their relationship is so intimate according to Hindu view of life that they may be likened to, as body and soul, respectively. It has, therefore, also been allotted, one separate chapter to complete a broad outline of the edifice of the science and art of icons—the Iconography.

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Let us now come to the Pratimā-lakṣaṇas. It is for the first time that necessary information on this very vast subject has been sorted out and gathered together in single chapters, devoted to the three principal iconic cults, the Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism. The interpretation of the Pratimā-lakṣaṇas of a particular deity in a critical and comparative estimation, is one of the special features of the treatment of the Brahmanical Images. Besides to avoid unwieldy lakṣaṇas, only tabulations are given of the sub-varieties of different categories of icons. Another feature of the Pratimā-lakṣaṇa is an appendage of an anthology of Pratimā-lakṣaṇa in one of the appendices in the end.

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It may be pointed out that among the three chapters, devoted to this topic, the chapter on Brāhmaṇa-pratimā-lakṣaṇa, is naturally larger and more exhaustive for the simple reason that the author is primarily a student of the texts of Vāstu-Śāstra (particularly the S. S. and the A. P), where only Brahmanical images figure (though Aparājita-Pracchā touches on the Jain images also). For the sake of completeness however, a bare outline of Budhist and Jain iconography is also attempted and I am sure it may serve a very useful purpose.

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STUDY OF HINDU ICONOGRAPHY—THE SOURCES

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Study of Hindu Iconography provides a study of religion—this we have already seen. As a matter of fact, Iconography is an outcome of the religious life itself. The religious view of life in India was not theological in character. It embraced all the aspects of culture. Naturally, therefore, iconography is only a branch in the broad cultural history of this land. Materials for the study of iconography are of mainfold data. The archaeological data has been well investigated by the eminent scholars, like Fergusson, Havell, Coomaraswamy and so many other stalwarts in this fascinating field of Indology. The Epigraphic and Numismatic data also come under the former and it has been done full justice to, by J. N. Bannarjea, in his ‘The Development of Hindu Iconography’ in which the learned author has devoted two long chapters showing the bearing of this data on the study of Iconography. Again the literary data so abundant and exhaustive in the Purāṇas and Āgamas and so many texts of Vāstu-Śāstra, has also been made use of, in his monumental work the ‘Elements of Hindu Iconography’ by T. Gopinath Rao. But it may be pointed out that this class of material supplying the traditional and Śastric information on the iconographical tradition has not been properly studied. Much water has since flown and a fresh attempt is called for. Therefore, there is still plenty of material, which can be utilised by not one scholar but a body of them to correlate and corroborate both the existing monuments and sculptural representations provided by the texts.

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We on our part will take ourselves to the main literary sources in which some of the medieval texts like the S. S. and the A. P. are more helpful, the iconographical contents of which have been studied by the writer, for the first time, in contemporary iconographical studies. Some passing remarks will also be made on the artistic traditions, the different centres of Indian art, the open books of Indian Iconography. But the latter theme is a very difficult subject. It has not been studied properly and hence it provides a vast field for student-researchers to take up the subject. Every temple-site, be it Bhuvanesvara, or Khajuraho in the North or Ramesvaram and Minaksi-Sundaresvaram in the South, is full of iconographical details. The sculpture worked out there and depicted on the temple-walls is itself a fascinating field of enquiry. All these need thorough examination and correlation to evolve out the different styles of Sculpture and Iconography as we have done in the field of Architecture.

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Let us now take up the literary sources—

A. Literary Sources

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Iconographical literature may be divided into the following seven sub-divisions :

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| 1. | Purāṇas | 2. | Āgamas |
| 3. | Tantras | 4. | Śilpa-śāstras |
| 5. | Pratiṣṭhā-paddhatis | 6. | Dhyānas |
| | | and 7. | Sādhanās. |

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Before we take up all the literary sources one by one, I must raise a very pertinent problem regarding these sources whether they rise from one fountain-head or they are independent to one another. Unity in diversity is the key-note of Indian culture. Iconography, only one stream of this broad current of Indian culture, cannot be an exception. Hence, though it is very difficult to maintain, it may be said that rise of these different sources from a single primordial source is not impossible of solution. The Vedic lore is the primordial source from which all these currents have flown. The story of the course of a river is the history of inter-mixture of so many side-currents in it. Naturally the sacred course of Vāstu-vidyā (of which Iconography is a part) flowing from that fountain-head of Kalpa, when reaches the ocean of Purāṇas, assumes an enormous current of many confluences. The marked confluence, like that of Gaṅgā and Yamunā at Prayāga, is clearly perceptible here also. The Aryans and Dravidians both had their own art-traditions. Viśvakarmā and Maya are regarded as ancient projinitors of this tradition of Vāstu-vidyā. They are also the founders of the two famous schools of Indian Architecture, the Northern or Aryan and the Southern or Dravidan Schools.

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Here we have to just make a few observations about the origin and development of these manifold sources. In our opinion, all these sources really owe their origin from the Stuti-mantras, the Hymns of the Vedas from which the Dhyānas of the different deities were conceived by the poets, the religious teachers and the devoted bhaktas. The Pratimā-lakṣaṇas as given in the text of both the classes of works—the Architectural-proper like the Śilpa-texts and Non-architectural ones like the Purāṇas, Āgamas, Tantras etc., are only a dictation, as it were, stereotyped statements, the Canons. The spontaneous outbursts of the devotional fervour of the image-worshippers composed in the highest mystic state of mind and heart, were the starting points in the evolution of the most essential characteristics of the images of gods and goddesses, the cult-deities and the objects of highest veneration and devotion. These Stutis or Dhyānas, therefore, are still kept secret in the different religious sects, the various Sampradāyas, the central seats of the religious sects-like Vaisṇavism, Śaivism, Śāktism, Jainism, Buddhism etc. etc.

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The primeval sources of Hindu Iconography, therefore, lay hidden in these Maṭhas and temples. For the artistic—the sculptural traditions of India, if the temple-sites are our open books, surely some of these sectarian temple-organisations—the Maṭhas can also unfold to us, a very brilliant account of iconographical sources to be reconstructed in their historical perspective and evolutionary processes.

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It is therefore also a very profitable branche of Indian iconographical researches to be undertaken in right earnest to advance these studies further up. For the present, it is not our purpose to dabble with this side-branch of Hindu Iconography. It is pointed out only to direct the further studies on this most fascinating branch of oriental knowledge, one of the richest possessions of our religious and classical heritage.

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Again there are clear references (cf. Bh. V. S. Vol. I. p. 19) to ancient Ācharyas by such names as Brahamā, Bhṛgu, Bṛhaspati, Vasiṣṭha, Nārada, Nandiśa, Parāsara, Bhardvāja, Agastya, Kāśyapa etc. etc. as many as twenty-five, most of whom are all Vedic Ṛṣis. They should not be deemed either as a mere exaggeration or' simply a myth. The celebrated commentator of Vārāhi Bṛhatsaṁhitā, Utpala, quotes the authority of Vasiṣṭha and Nagnajit (cf. Br. S. 57.17). Again among the Śilpa-texts a good many treatises pass by the authorship of such sages as Agastya (Sakalādhikāra) Kāśyapa (Amsumadbheda), etc. etc. Hence all this unmistakably shows that Vāstu-śāstra was one of the auxiliary limbs of the primordial knowlede, the Vedas and these so many sages propounding the ancient lore, were themselves the Vedic Ṛsis. Thus the common supra-source of all these sources is not very difficult to understand.

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We have already seen that the origin and development of Architecture (temple-building) was syochronous with the origin and development of Sculpture (the manufacturing of icons—the cult-objects, the images of the deities to be enshrined or installed into the temples). This clearly speaks why such literary sources like Purāṇas, Āgamas, Tantras, Prtiṣṭhā-paddhatis on the one hand, and the Śilpa-texts on the other should have devoted a good space to the subject. Both these classes of works belong to the two different schools of Indian Architecture. Thus it may not be incorrect to say that the literary sources of iconography can be broadly sub-divided only into two groups, those belonging to the Dravidian school and those to Aryan one.

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The seven above-mentioned divisions of the literary sources, however, is more convenient. We may not abandon it and so go by it. This is more so important as it shows strides of development of iconographical literature as well. Let us now take them one by one.

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**Puranas.**—The wealth of architectural details in Purāṇas is simply exuberant. Casual references are frequently met with in all the eighteen or nineteen great Purāṇas. Among them some nine Purāṇas have treated the subject more systematically.

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Now the architectural details of these Purāṇas can be broadly classified into two groups, the one dealing with architectural-proper—the buildings, the secular (residential houses) and the religious (the temples) and the other with sculptural rather more correctly iconographical themes. This latter material is abundantly found in the Purāṇas like Matsya, Agni, Skanda, Garuḍa, Linga, Bhaviṣya and Viṣṇu (particularly in the Viṣṇudharmottara).

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From the point of view of our purview of the subject and also from the development of the lore, Mastya, Agni, and Viṣṇu-dharmottara may be taken as representative Purāṇas, reflecting high strides that Hindu Iconography had reached in them. We may therefore leave other Purāṇas and concentrate ourselves on the three of them only and briefly mention their contents.

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**Matsya.**—Matsya is considered to be a very ancient Purāṇa. It is regarded older than Agni and Viṣṇu. Its architectural coutributions are of a very high order. Iconographical details are described in as many as the following ten chapters :

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| No. | Subject | Chapter | No. | Subject | Chapter |
| 1. | Devārcānukīrtne Pramāṇa-kathanam | 252 | | kathanam | 261 |
| 2. | Pratimā-lakṣaṇam | 259 | 5. | Pīṭhikā-kathanam | 262 |
| 3. | Ardhanārīśvarādi-Pratimā-svarūpa-kathanam | 260 | 6. | Linga-lakṣaṇam | 263 |
| 4. | Prabhākarādi-pratimā- | | 7. | Kuṇḍādi-pramāṇam | 264 |
| | | | 8. | Adhivāsana-vidhi | 265 |
| | | | 9. | Pratiṣṭhā-prayogaḥ | 266 |
| | | | 10. | Devaṭā-mānam | 267 |

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Iconometry is a special feature of this Purāṇa. Icono-plastic art along with other iconographical details are more or less traditional, but among Śaiva icons, a distinct departure in the Purāṇa is of anthropomorphic forms of Śiva having so many varieties like Ardhanārīśvara, etc. and the Lingodbhava-mūrtis which as we shall see are a special feature of the Āgamas. The composite images like Śiva-Nārāyaṇa are also described in it.

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Other deities having an honoured place in this Purāṇa are Brahmā, Garuḍa, Kārtikeya, Gaṇeśa, Kātyāyanī, Mahiṣāsurmardinī, Indra and Indrāṇī. Proportionate measures of an image in Tāla-measurements are its special contribution.

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**Agni.**—Among the Purāṇas, the architectural and sculptural details of Agni-Purāṇa may be considered to be the most elaborate. Out of sixteen chapters devoted to the Śilpa-śāstra, Iconography has had the lion-share of as many as the following thirteen chapters :

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| No. | Subject | Chapter | No. | Subject | Chapter |
| 1. | Prāsādā-devatā-sthāpana | 43 | 7. | Suryādi-pratimā-lakṣaṇa | 51 |
| 2. | Vāsudeva-pratimā | 44 | 8. | Catuṣṣaṣṭi-pratimā-lakṣaṇa | 52 |
| 3. | Piṇḍikā-lakṣaṇa | 45 | 9. | Liṅga-pratimā-lakṣaṇam | 53 |
| 4. | Śāligrāmādi-mūrti-lakṣaṇa | 46 | 10. | Liṅga-mānādi-kathanam | 54 |
| 5. | Matsyādi-daśāvatāra-kathanam | 49 | 11. | Piṇḍikā-lakṣaṇa-kathanam | 55 |
| 12. | Vāsudevādi-pratiṣṭhā-vidhi | 60 |
| 6. | Devī-pratimā-lakṣaṇa | 50 | 13. | Lakṣamī-pratiṣṭhā-vidhi | 62 |

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This tabulation clearly speaks of the exhaustiveness and the richness of the material. Practically all the deities of the Pañcāyatana have been described from the iconographer's point of view. Among the Vaiṣṇava Icons, apart from the Daśāvatāra-Mūrtis, some extraordinary forms like Vāsudeva have also found place. The details on Śālagrāma are most elaborate and not to be found elsewhere. As many as two dozen varieties of Śālagrāma are described (cf. the tabulation ahead vide—Brahmanical images). Similar details and varieties thereof, are described of the phallic emblem of Śiva.

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**Viṣṇudharmottara.**—After Matsya and Agni, iconographical details of Viṣṇudharmottara are the richest and completest. A special feature of the Purāṇa is its elaborate treatment on painting. In the third part of this Purāṇa, the first forty-three chapters deal with the Theory of Painting and the last forty-two deal with Iconography proper. The former details will be looked into in the third part of the work—the Painting. Here let us peep into the contents of the last forty-two chapters dealing with the science and art of image-making. About one hundred deities having an iconic form are described here. Such an elaborate treatment will not be found elsewhere and it indicates the zenith of Hindu Iconography which had taken strides of development all round, in which not only the traditional Pañcāyatana class of deities were fit for cult-objects, not only Dikpālas, Nāgas, Yakṣas, Gandharvas, Navagrahas, Ādityas, were adorable ones, but also Vedas, Smṛtis, Darśanas, Purāṇas, Itihāsas as well a aliments like Fever; virtues like Fame, Prosperity, Devotion, Strength, Knowledge and Renunciation, etc., etc. too were spoken of as having an iconic form and tradition. “Directions are given with regard to the making of Lingama, Vyoman and Aiduka. Whereas the first symbol is widely used, the more complex forms of Vyoman and Aiduka are uuknown hitherto as actual objects of worship. Both of them seem to be the remnants of an aniconic cult, the plastic equivalent to some degree of the graphic yantras. Their geometry strongly contrasts with the florid features of the anthropomorphic forms. Yet a connection is established, between them, the yantra and the anthropomorphic image, by the minute description of the lotus on which the worship of the gods should be performed”—Kramrisch. A complete list of these icons described in the pages of the illustrious work is given in the writer’s Pratimā-Vijñāna and the reader is refered to, for an interesting reading.

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**Brhat-Samhita.**—It is a semi-Purāṇa and hence from its characteristic Pauranic lore and also from the relative antiquity, its iconographical contents are very important. The contents, though succinct and brief and to the point, nevertheless bespeak of sound judgment and authority. It is one of the most authoritative and representative treatises on Hindu Iconography. Its value is more enhanced as the Pratimā-lakṣaṇa and other iconometrical and icono-plastic details are not simply erudite, they have the character of a practical artistic tradition and its canons are represented in some of the master-pieces of Indian Art—both in Architecture and Sculpture of ancient India.

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B. S. has only four chapters on Iconography : the Pratimā-lakṣaṇa the 58th; the Vanasampraveśādhyaya (i. e. for collection of the meterial—the wood, etc. from the forest for manufacturing the images, etc.) the 59th; Pratiṣṭhā-vidhi--the installation-ceremony, the 60th; the Pañca-mahā puruṣa-lakṣaṇa (i. e. the standards of measurements to be adopted in moulding and shaping of an image) the 69th. In the chapter on Pratimā-lakṣaṇa, the following gods and goddesses have been dealt upon :

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| 1. | Dāśarthi Rāma | 10. | Śiva (Vāmārdhe Girisutā) |
| 2. | Vairocani Bali | 11. | Buddha |
| 3. | Viṣṇu (Dvibhuja, Caturbhuja and Aṣṭabhuja) | 12. | Arhata-deva |
| | | 13. | Ravi |
| 4. | Kṛṣṇa-Baldeva (Nandā in the middle) | 14. | Liṅga |
| | | 15. | Matṛs |
| 5. | Pradyumna | 16. | Revanta |
| 6. | Śāmba | 17. | Yama |
| 7. | Brahmā | 18. | Varuṇa |
| 8. | Kumāra (Skanda) | 19. | Kubera |
| 9. | Indra (with his elephant, the Airāvata) | 20. | Gaṇeśa (the lord of Pramathas.) |

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**Agamas.—**The Āgamic material for the reconstruction of Hindu Iconography has very ably been utilized by Sri Gopinath Rao, the celebrated writer of the ‘Elements of the Hindu Iconography’ (in four volumes). Therefore all these details need not be repeated here. In my ‘Out-line of Vāstu Vidyā, Vol. I. in the series of Hindu Science of Architecture, with special reference to Bhoja’s Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra and Bhuvanadeva’s Aparājita-pracchā, I have tried to evaluate their contents in greater details. Incidently, however, I may repeat a few remarks here also. ‘The Agamas, like the Purāṇas, deal with architectural subjects, their contributions to the Ślipa-Śastra are, however, more extensive and valuable. Some of the Āgamas deal with very technical matters, which are not met with in the Purāṇas. Some Āgamas, to all intents and purposes, are but architectural treatises. The Kāmikāgama, for instance, devotes sixty chapters out of a total of seventy five, to architecture and sculpture, and its treatment of the subject can hardly be surpassed by that of an avowedly architectural treatise’—Acharya.

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The number of Āgamas is greater than, Purāṇas. They are twenty eight (while Purāṇas, only eighteen). The principal Āgamas dealing with iconographical subject are Kāmika, Karṇa, Suprabheda, Vaikhānasa and Aṁśumadbheda. Their special feature is the laudation of Śaivism and Śaiva icons. The Tālamāna is their chief contribution to the canons of Iconometry. Purāṇas excel in Iconology, Āgamas beat them in Iconography. Their iconographical prescriptions are a common property of the artisans of the South. Thus they were hand-books or guide-books of Art. Let us locate their most important chapters dealing with Iconography:—

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Kamikagama

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| No. | Subject | Chapter | No. | Subject | Chapter |
| 1. | Lingalakṣaṇa-vidhi | 62. | 4. | Devatā-sthāpana-vidhi | 67. |
| 2. | Ling-Pratiṣṭhā-vidhi | 64. | 5. | Pratimā-pratiṣṭhā-vidhi | 68. |
| 3. | Pratimā-Lakṣaṇa-vidhi | 65. | 6. | Vṛṣabhasthāpana-vidhi | 74. |

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Karnagama

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Part (I)

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| No. | Subject | Chapter | No. | Subject | Chapter |
| 1. | Liṅga-lakṣaṇa-vidhi | 9. | 7. | Mahābhiṣeka-vidhi | 41. |
| 2. | Pratimā-lakṣaṇa | 11. | 8. | Liṅgasthāpana-vidhi | 59. |
| 3. | Strīmāna-daśa-tāla-lakṣaṇa. | 12. | 9. | Ratna-Linga-sthāpana-vidhi | 62. |
| 4. | Kaniṣṭha-daśa tāta-lakṣaṇa. | 13. | 10. | Parivāra-bali | 66. |
| | | | 11. | Bhakta-sthāpana-vidhi | 88. |
| 5. | Navatālottama-lakṣaṇa | 14. | 12. | Mṛtsaṁgraha (repeated) | 36. |
| 6. | Mṛtsaṁgraha-vidhi | 19. | | | |

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| No. | Subject | Chap. | No. | Subject | Chap. |
| 13. | Pīṭha-lakṣaṇa | 7. | 16. | Bimba-Śuddhi | 13. |
| 14. | Śakti-lakṣaṇa | 8. | 17. | Nayanonmīlana | 15. |
| 15. | Mṛtsaṃgraha (again repeated) | 11. | 18. | Bimba-śudhi (repeated) | 18. |
| | | | 19. | Śivalingsthāpana. | 20. |

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Suprabhedagam

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| 1. | Liṅga-lakṣaṇa | 33. | 4. | Śakala-pratiṣṭhā-vidhi | 37. |
| 2. | Sakala-lakṣaṇa-vidhi | 34. | 5. | Śakti-pratiṣṭhā-vidhi | 38. |
| 3. | Liṅga-pratiṣṭhā-vidih | 36. | 6. | Vṛṣabha-pratiṣṭhā-vidhi | 40. |

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The **Vaikhanasagama** has two chapters on sculpture. The ‘Pratimā Lakṣaṇa (Paṭala 22) deals with the general description of images ; and the other ‘Uttam-daśa-tāla’ (p. 43) gives the ten-tāla-measure.

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The **Amsumadbhedagama** need be distinguished from the architectural treatise (Śilpa-Śāstra), bearing the title Amsumadbheda, the authorship of which is attributed to Kāśyapa. It has a single chapter ‘Uttama-daśa-tāla-vidhi’ (Paṭala 28) on the ten-tāla-measure. The other Āgamas also contain a good material but the multiplication is not necessary here.

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**Tantras.**—Mantras and Tantras represent two streams of Indian religious lore and point out to the two sources of the composite Hindu civilization and culture. From the primeval Veda Trayī of the Aryans, the rise of Catur-Vedas with the inclusion of Atharva-Veda, the primordial source of the Tāntric knowledge, a distinct admixture of Aryan and Non-Aryan elements of Hindu culture, was then an established fact. Mantras are Vedas and Tantras the secret formulae expounded and elaborated in the Sectarian Saṃhitas. Naturally, therefore, worship in India had two distinct forms—the Vaidikī and Tāntrikī. A third type the Miśra also arose—vide Bh. P. 27. 7. ‘Vaidikastāntriko miśrah iti tribidho makhah’. While sacrifices, offerings in fire, were characteristic of Vaidikī Pūjā, Tantric-cult and its ritual developed Yantra-devices and so many other complications as well (cf. Pratimā-Vijñāna ch. 7). The Miśra, the mixed one, may be classified as Pauranic worship where Upacāras are a special feature.

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The word Tantra also means a Śastra and it naturally, therefore, is associated with religio-philosophical systems of a particular sect, Śaivism, Vaiṣṇavism or Śaktism. Those propounding the tenets of Saivism are called the Āgamas, others of Vaiṣṇavism and Śāktism the Pañcarātras and Saptarātras respectively. As time passed, Tantras however, came to be entirely associated with the Śakti-cult—Śāktism—and a brief resume of this cult along with Tantricism may be referred to, in writer's Pratimā-Vijñāna ch. 7.

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Now Tantras as an iconographical source are really of very far-reaching importance. These unfortunately have not yet been tackled and studied properly. Many medieval religious digests have been based on Tantras. A very interesting work of this character is 'Tantra-Sāra' of Kṛṣṇānanda Āgamavāgīśa. It contains extensive quotations from various Tantras like Rudra-yāmala, Brahma-yāmala, Kubjikā-mata Śāradā-tilaka and others; many of these contain dhyānas of Tantric gods and goddesses, which help to explain their iconographical features.

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The list of the Tantras is also very formidable [Vide 'Hindu Science of Architecture Vol. I (Hindi) p. 22]. Tantras like Hayaśīrṣa is full of iconographical material and a critical study of this great work can throw a flood of light on the different branches of Brahmanical Hindu Iconography. Its chief contribution is its non-sectarian treatment.

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**Śilpa-Śāstras.**—Now comes the turn of the ilpa-ŚŚāstras. The number of this class of architectural-proper treatises (Purāṇas, Āgamas, etc. being non-architectural treatises) is very great. We will have, therefore, to take only the representative ones into our account here with one or two exceptions. We know—vide Vol. I. 'An outline of Vāstu-vidyā'—that there were two schools of Indian Architecture, the School of Maya, the Southern or Dravidian School, and that of Viśvakarmā, the Northern or the Āryan or Nāgara School. The respective texts of both these schools are already tabulated—vide Hindu Science of Architecture Vol. I. (Hindi), Page 21. Among them the following will be briefly looked into here as they are representative works on this side-branch of Architecture showing phases of development of the iconographical art:—

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| Southern. | Northern. |
| 1. Mayamata | 1. Viśvakarma-prakāśa-cum-Śilpa. |
| 2. Mānasāra | 2. New Viśvakarma Vāstuśāstra |
| 3. Kāśyapīya-Amśumadbheda | 3. Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra |
| 4. Agastya-Sakalādhikāra | 4. Aparājita-Pracchā |
| 5. Śrīkumāra's Śilpa-ratna. | 5. Rūp-maṇḍana. |

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**Mayamata.**—It is an ancient treatise and the most authoritative text on the Drāvida Vāstu-Vidyā. A detailed critical examination of the treatise and its author has been made in Vol. I of these studies. Its iconographical details are limited to linga-icons and they are very rich.

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**Manasara.**—Mānasāra is more complete a treatise and it is regarded as the most standard, rather the fountain-head, of all the Śilpa-texts, by Dr. P. K. Acharya. This contention of the learned Doctor is no more tenable and a detailed examination is attempted in the Vol. I ‘Outline History of Vāstu-Śastra’. ‘Of the seventy chapters of the Mānasāra, the first eight are introductory, the next forty-two deal with architectural matters, and the last twenty are devoted to sculpture, where sculptural details of idols of deities of the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jains, statues of great personages and images of animals and birds are given.’ These are :

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| 1. | Tri-mūrti-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | .. 51 | 11. | Garuda-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | 61 |
| | (The Triad—Brahmā-Viṣṇu-Śiva) | | 12. | Vṛṣabha-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | 62 |
| | | | 13. | Simg़ha-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | 63 |
| 2. | Liṅga-lakṣaṇa | .. 52 | 14. | Pratimā-vidhāna | .. 64 |
| 3. | Pīṭha-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | .. 53 | 15. | Uttama-daśa-tāla-vidhāna | 65 |
| 4. | Śakti-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | .. 54 | 16. | Madhyama-daśa-tāla-vidhāna | .. 66 |
| | (the female deites) | | 17. | Pralamba-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | |
| 5. | Jain-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | .. 55 | | (The Plumb-lines) | .. 67 |
| 6. | Buddha-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | 56 | 18. | Madhu-cchiṣṭa-vidhāna.. | 68 |
| 7. | Muni-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | .. 57 | | (The casting of the image). | |
| 8. | Yakṣa-vidyādhara-vidhāna | 58 | 19. | Aṅga-dūṣaṇa-vidhāna | .. 69 |
| 9. | Bhakta-lakṣaṇa-vidhāna | .. 59 | 20. | Nayanonmīlana-vidhana | 70 |
| 10. | Vāhana-vidhane--Haṁsa-lakṣaṇa | .. 60 | | (The chiselling of the eye) | |

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**N. B.** Thre are some more chapters having their intimate bearing on this subject *viz*. Ratha-lakṣaṇa (43), Simhāsana-lakṣaṇa (45) Kalpa-vṛkṣa-vidhāna (48), Abhiṣeka-lakṣaṇa and (49), Bhūṣaṇa-lakṣaṇa (50). Here in the last chapter the subject of decorations of the images, especially the headgear, is described.

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It may be remarked here that a study of the contents of these chapters on Iconography will reveal that the scholars have not given their serious thought to a very specialized treatment of the sculptural art as is expounded in the pages of this one of the most popular texts on Śilpa-Śāstra. Even Dr. Acharya, one of the two pioneers (the other being, Rama Raz cf: his Essay on Hindu Architecture) did not care to reveal the marvel of the sculptural art.

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Mānasāra represents that period of Indian sculptural traditions when correct Proportions were the essence of Art. It is from this fundamental angle that this work has treated not only sculpture, but also architecture. The very name ‘Mānasāra’ (the essence of Measurement) is the key-note of the treatment of the subject. To me, Mānasāra is neither a Ṛṣi—the author of the work—nor a title without significance. It is proportions—the different and detailed canons of Measurement that are life and breath of this work. The so-called barbarous Sanskrit, in which it was written as contended by scholars, was the Sanskrit of the artisans of India as handed down through oral transmission by the Ācharyas of the Science—the Sthāpakas. Naturally it got corrupted. My study of the work convinces me of the distinct character of this work when finished art had to rigidly follow the canons of measurements.

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**Agastya-Sakaladhikara.**—This treatise is exclusively on sculpture (‘Sakala’ means an icon). Its author is the hoary sage who had aryanized the Dravidian country. He is frequently cited as an authority on architecture. The text being in the line of the Āgamic tradition of worship and the object of worship being the great God Śiva, only Śaiva icons form the subject-matter of this treatise. The following chapters will show this bearing:

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| (*a*) 1. | Mānasamgraha | 6. | Vṛṣabha-vāhana-lakṣaṇa |
| 2. | Uttama-daśa-tāla | 7. | Tripurāntaka-lakṣaṇa |
| 3. | Madhyama-daśa-tāla | 8. | Kalyāṇa-sundara-lakṣaṇa |
| 4. | Adhama-daśa-tāla | 9. | Ardhanārīśvara-lakṣaṇa |
| 5. | Pratimā-lakṣaṇa | 10. | Pāśupati-lakṣaṇa |
| 6. | Vṛṣabha-vāhana-lakṣaṇa | 11. | Bhikṣāṭana-lakṣaṇa |
| 7. | Naṭeśvara-vidhi | 12. | Caṇḍeśānugraha-lakṣaṇa |
| 8. | Ṣoḍaśa-pratimā-lakṣaṇa | 13. | Dakṣiṇāmūrti-lakṣaṇa |
| 9. | Dāru-samgraha | 14. | Kāladahana-lakṣaṇa |
| 10. | Mṛt-samskāra | 19. | Pratimā-lakṣaṇa |
| 11. | Varṇa-samskāra | (*c*) 20. | Upapīṭha-vidhāna |
| (*b*) 1. | Māna-samgraha-viśeṣaḥ | 21. | Śūla-māna-vidhana |
| 2. | Uttama-daśa-tālā | 22. | Rajjubandha-samskāravidhi |
| 3. | Madhyama-daśa-tāla | | |
| 4. | Somāskanda-lakṣaṇa | 23. | Varṇa-samskāra |
| 5. | Candra-śekhara-lakṣaṇa | 24. | Akṣimokṣaṇa. |

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**N. B.** These a, b, c, denote the different compilations in the different manuscripts; Chapts. 15-18 apparently missing.

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Agastya’s and Kāśyapa’s treatises, to all intents and purposes, are identical and so both of them cannot be deemed representative. Between the two, Kāśyapa’s work is not only more authoritative, more copious and complete, but also much more popular among the artisans of the South. It is their hand-book and, therefore, it is really the representative work. I have written a few words on Agastya’s work, for my veneration to the hoary sage.

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**Kasyapiya-Amsumad-bheda.**—Amsumad-bheda of Kāśyapa is one of the largest text on Vāstu-Śastra. It deals with sculpture more elaborately than the Mānasāra. It has devoted as many as thirty-nine chapters to sculpture in place of some twenty chapters of Manasara. As this treatise is the follower of the Āgama by name, and the Śaiva-icons being the special attention in the Āgamas, the Śaiva-icons are predominant here as well. Its delineation on the Tāla-measure is another speciality. The following chapters reveal this fact :

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| 1. | Sapta-mātṛkā-lakṣaṇa | .. 46 | 19. | Gaṅgādhara-mūrti-lakṣaṇa | 64 |
| 2. | Vināyak-lakṣaṇa | .. 47 | 20. | Tripura-mūrti-lakṣaṇa .. | 65 |
| 3. | Parivāra-vidhi | .. 48 | 21. | Kalyāṇa-sundara-lakṣaṇa | 66 |
| 4. | Liṅga-lakṣṇoddhāra | .. 49 | 22. | Ardhnāarīśvara-lakṣaṇa | .. 67 |
| 5. | Uttama-daśa-tāla-puruṣamāna | .. 50 | 23. | Gajaha-mūrti-lakṣaṇa .. | 68 |
| | | | 24. | Pāśupatī-mūrti-lakṣaṇa .. | 69 |
| 6. | Madhyma-daśa-tāla-puruṣamāna | .. 51 | 25. | Kaṅkāla-mūrti-lakṣaṇa.. | 70 |
| | | | 26. | Haryardha-Hara-lakṣaṇa | 71 |
| 7. | Uttama-nava-tāla | .. 52 | 27. | Bhikṣātana-mūrti-lakṣaṇa | 72 |
| 8. | Madhyama-nava-tāla | .. 53 | 28. | Caṇḍeśānugraha | .. 73 |
| 9. | Adhama-nava-tāla | .. 54 | 29. | Dakṣiṇā-mūrti-lakṣaṇa .. | 74 |
| 10. | Aṣṭa-tāla | .. 55 | 30. | Kālaha-mūrti-lakṣaṇa | .. 75 |
| 11. | Sapta-tāla | .. 56 | 31. | Liṅgodbhava-lakṣaṇa | .. 76 |
| 12. | Pīṭha-lakṣaṇoddhāra | .. 57 | 32. | Vṛkṣa-samgraha | .. 77 |
| 13. | Sakala-Sthāpana-vidhi | .. 58 | 33. | Śūla-lakṣaṇa | .. 78 |
| 14. | Sukhāsana | .. 59 | 34. | Śūlapāṇi-lakṣaṇa | .. 79 |
| 15. | Sukhāsana | .. 60 | 35. | Rajjubandha-lakṣaṇa | .. 80 |
| 16. | Candraśekhara-mūrti-lakṣaṇa | .. 61 | 36. | Mṛt-samskāra-lakṣaṇa | .. 81 |
| | | | 37. | Kalka-samsakāra-lakṣaṇa | 82 |
| 17. | Vṛṣabha-vāhana-mūrtilakṣaṇa | .. 62 | 38. | Varṇa-samskāra-lakṣaṇa | 83 |
| | | | 39. | Varṇa-lepana-medhya-lakṣaṇa | .. 84 |
| 18. | Nṛtta-mūrti-lakṣaṇa | .. 63 | | | |

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Silparatna

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Śilparatna of Śrikumāra is a later medieval southern text on Vāstu-Śastra. This is a highly useful work on Iconography and is very comprehensive, dealing with practically all classes of icons—Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, Śākta and others belonging to Pañcāyatana groups, along with the images of miscelleneous deities as we have seen in Viṣṇudharmottaram. The Śilparatna, from the point of view of the historical development of the art, is the fourth representative work on the southern or Dravidian Style of Architecture and Sculpture. Mayamata, Mānasāra, Aṁśumadbheda and Śilparatna, all these four texts of the Drāvida Vāstu-vidyā epitomise the four stages of development of the art. In its infancy the art was symbolic, the worship, for which the service of the art was employed, too was symbolic. Naturally therefore the worship of the phallic emblem and the manufacturing of the linga and its pedestals were the initial stage of development. This is what Mayamata portrays. Now apart from the liṅga-pūjā and liṅga-icons, the worship of other deities, particularly the Triad—Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśa and the icons of this famous Trinity, along with their vehicles—Hamsa, Garuḍa, and Vṛṣabha, were in vogue. This was the second stage of development, as is manifest in the pages of Mānasāra. The third stage was a bit fanatic and its adherance only to a particular god, viz. Śiva, become an established canon, both in art and religion. This is what we understand by the perusal of Agastya’s, or Kāśyapa’s works. This antithesis brought a synthesis as a natural course, as is evident from Śilparatna, a work of broad catholicity and tolerance, depicting the universal reverance not to one class but to all the classes of deities and their icons.

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Śrikumara lived at the close of the 16th century and compiled this work on the authority of the vast Śilpa-literature at the instance of Deva Narayana, ancient ruler of North Travancore, as is evident from textual quotations. Thus it is not far from the truth that Śilparatna is the culmination of Drāvida Vāstu-Vidyā and Dravidian style of arts, mirroring exuberant growth of Gopura-Architecture of towering height and magnificent imposure as well as the fullest development of Hindu Iconography in all its remifications having no particular sectarian bias, the characteristic feature of the earlier texts like the Sakalādhikāra and Aṁśumad-bheda. The only criticism against this renowned texts is its copying the material verbatum from the Āgamas. A perusal of the Pratimālakṣaṇas (cf. The Appendices ahead) will convince us of this fact.

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Let us now give the tabulation of the chapters (vide Ś. R. Pt. II) to support this estimation made above:

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Chapter I—It is titled ‘Bimbādisādhana-vidhi’. The chapter deals with the preliminary matters like astronomical calculations when the work of fashioning the phallus and the collections of the material, etc. are to be undertaken. Further details are the seven-fold classifications of icons, examination of the stone to be employed in linga and its defects (Śilā-doṣa). Then are described the different varieties of linga in accordance with their substances—precious stones, iron (the eightfold) wood, clay, miśra, lekhya, sand; and in the last is described the Liṅga-pīṭha.

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Chapter II—entitled ‘Linga-lakṣaṇa’ firstly (*i*) deals with Sukhāsanādi 18 special varieties of Lingodbhava-Mūrtis, then are described—

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| (*ii*) | Linga-vikalpa—the generic ones | (*vi*) | Sarva-sama-linga |
| | | (*vii*) | Sarvatobhadra, etc. |
| (*iii*) | Linga-Pramāṇa | (*viii*) | Linga-Pīṭha and the avoidance of chhāyā-doṣa |
| (*iv*) | Lauha-Linga-vidhi | | |
| (*v*) | Linga-bheda | (*ix*) | Other details of linga and |
| | (*x*) | Bāṇa-linga-vidhi. | |

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Chapter III—entitled ‘Lakṣaṇodhāra-vidhi’, deals with the further details of Linga-constructions, along with their pedestals, the yoni, etc.

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Chapter IV—entitled ‘Pratimotsedha-vidhi’ deals with the different heights of the idols of different categories and incidently touches the Tāla-measures.

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Chapters V to XV—all deal with the different varieties of the Tāla-measure—beginning from the Uttama-daśa-tāla, ending in Catuṣ-tāla.

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Chapter XVI—entitled ‘Kirīṭakaṭakādilakṣaṇa’ deals with the ornaments, hand-poses, drapery and weapons, implements, etc. and the list is as follows :

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| | Urah-sūtra. | Śara. |
| Kirīṭa. | Canna-vīra. | Ṭaṅka. |
| Kuṇḍala. | Graiveyahāra (necklace). | Mṛga. |
| Graiveya. | Akṣamālā. | Cakra. |
| Kaṭaka. | Skandhamālā. | Śaṅkha. |
| Keyūra. | Kaṭi-sūtra. | Damaru. |
| Mudraka. | Jālaka. | Kamaṇḍalu. |
| | Bhujaṅga-valaya. | |
| Varda, etc. hand-poses | Bastram—the clothes. | Padma. |
| Yajñyopavīta. | Dhanu. | Nāla. |

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Chapter XVII—entitled ‘Śūlasthāpana-lakṣaṇa’, delineates upon the installation of the Śūla, the characteristic emblem of the chief deity. It describes it in connection with both the male and the female deities.

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Chapter XVIII—‘Rajjubandha-lakṣaṇam’, is also technical in prescriptions of the moulding out the icon.

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Chapter XIX—‘Mṛllepana-vidhi’—deals with clay-coating, etc.

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Chapter XX—entitled ‘Devī-Kumāra-lakṣaṇam’, describes icons of Devī and Kumāra.

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Chapter XXI—‘Vāhana-lakṣaṇam’ describes the animal-vehicles like bull, horse and elephant.

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Chapter XXII—is devoted to the Śaiva-icons and deals with the following varieties of Śiva-images.

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| Sukhāsana. | Pāśupata. | Yoga-dakṣiṇāmūrti. |
| Somāskanda. | Kaṅkāla. | Kālāri. |
| Candraśekhara. | Harihara. | Liṅgodbhava. |
| Vṛṣārūḍha. | Bhikṣāṭana. | Śrīpañcākṣarī. |
| Nine Nṛttamūrtis. | Caṇḍeśānugraha. | Rudras. |
| Gaṅgādhara. | Dharma-vyākhyāna- | Mṛtyumjaya. |
| Tripurāntaka. | dakṣiṇā-mūrti. | Śaivāṣṭākṣaram. |
| Kalyāṇamūrti. | Vīṇādhara-dakṣiṇā- | Dakṣiṇāmūrti. |
| Ardhanārīśvara. | mūrti. | Aghora & Kinnasraśiva |
| Gajahā-mūrti. | Jñāna-dakṣiṇāmūrti. | & Sadyojāta, etc. etc. |

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Chapter XXIII—deals with Vaiṣṇava icons in the following heads:

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| Aṣṭākṣarī. | Kārtavīrya. | Śrīrāmaṣaḍakṣarī. |
| Gāyatrī. | Śrīpañcāmṛtam. | Rāmadhyāna. |
| Śrīkarāṣṭākṣaram. | Santānagopālam. | Gopālakabheda. |
| Sudarśanam. | Tadbhedaḥ. | Aṣṭādaśakṣarībheda. |
| Nṛsiṁgha. | Āvahantī. | Vāsudevādi catuṣkam. |
| Vidāraṇa Nṛsiṁgha. | Puruṣasūktam. | Keśava etc. |
| Tadbheda-Ṣaḍakṣarī. | Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. | Viśvarūpa. |
| Varāha. | Dvāviṁśatyakṣarī. | The weapons and their |
| Caturakṣarī. | Viṁśatyakṣarī. | places in worship |
| Dhanvantari. | Tadbheda. | Aṣṭādaśākṣarī. |
| Tadbheda. | Hayagrīva. | Tadbheda. |

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Chapter XXIV—deals with the different forms of Devi-Murtis especially Durgā the presiding Goddess of the Śāktas:

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| Mūladurgā. | anadurgā. | Tripurā. |
| Bhuvaneśvarī. | Trailokya-mohinī. | Tripuṭā. |
| Vāgīśvarī. | Indrāṇī. | Bhūmī. |
| Śrī. | Svayamvarā. | Śūlinī. |
| Tvaritā. | Prāṇaśakti. | Gāyatrī. |
| Dhūmāvatī. | Aṣvārūḍha. | Gaurī. |
| Kālī. | Vajraprastāriṇī | Annapūrṇā. |
| Bhelakhī. | Nityaklinnā. | Saptamatṛs. |
| Mātaṅgī. | | |

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Chapter XXV—deals with other miscellaneous deities and they are:

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| Indra. | Bījagaṇapati. | Kāma. | Trivikrama. |
| Agni. | Heramba. | Vīrabhadra. | Matsya-mūrti. |
| Saṁvādāgni. | Bāla-gaṇapati. | Hanūman. | Kūrma. |
| Samardhi. | Subrahmaṇya. | Garuḍa. | Prabhā. |
| Raksohāgni. | Nāgayakṣi. | Aśvinau. | Brahmā. |
| Yama. | Śāstā. | Pitṛṣ. | Kumāra. |
| Nirṛiti. | Satyaka. | Apasaras. | Nāgas. |
| Varuṇa. | Śaktigaṇapati. | Saptṛṣis. | Asuras. |
| Vāyu. | Laksmi-nārā- | Ekādaśarudras. | Dānavas. |
| Dhanda. | yaṇa. | Kṣetrapāla. | Pisācas, |
| Soma. | Ardhanārīśvara. | Vāmana. | Veṭālas. |
| Brahmā. | Śaṁkara-nārā- | Nṛvarāha. | Navagrahas. |
| Śeṣa. | yaṇa. | Nṛsimha. | Gṛdhras. |
| Mahāgaṇapati. | Sūrya. | | |

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Chapter XXVI—entitled ‘Bimba-doṣa-lakṣaṇam’ describes the defects of the Image both of a male and female deity from head to foot.

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Chapter XXVII—entitled ‘Pīṭhādi-lakṣaṇa’ gives details of the pedestal on which the image is to be placed in all its parts in accordance with the different styles and shapes and other architectural and sculptural canons on this important iconographical subject.

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Chapter XXVIII—entitled ‘Pratiṣṭha-Vidhāna’ deals with the installation of an image and the connected ceremonials as well as the digging up of the pits—the kuṇḍas, etc. etc.

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Chapter XXIX—entitled ‘Jīrṇnoddhāra’ is an ancient institution both in connection with temples and their idols and the procedurial details are described here at greater length.

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Chapter XXX—entitled ‘Linga prāsāda-karaṇa’ is a new problem for an iconographical treatise. An Ārṣa or Pauruṣa or Svāyambhuva *i. e.* a linga rose by itself or founded by a Rishi, or a man or if found out in a forest, it has to be installed in a proper temple. The details are given how to do it.

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Chapter XXXI—entitled ‘Manuṣyālaya-lakṣaṇam’ is not clear why the topic of the secular architcture cropped up here. The whole of the 2nd part of Śilparatna as edited and published in Trivindram Sanskrit Series is devoted to Iconography. The chapter on house-architecture, therefore, seems to be an interpolation or a misarrangement.

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Chapters XXXII, XXXIII and XXXIV—are also of non-iconographical character, as, they deal with the different kinds of wells (vide XXXII); seats (Āsana) cots, fans, conveyances and yantras like jala-yantra, Ikṣu-yantra, Nādi-yantra, etc. (the subject matter of XXXIII); the rules of the wages of the artisans, vide XXXIV and the last XXXIV incidently again deals with dhanu, etc.—the weapons, **Viśvakarmīya-Śilpa.**—Let us now take up the northern or Aryan texts. Amongst them first and foremost consideration goes to the treatises going by the name of Viśvakarmā, the Architect of the Devas, and the founder Āchārya of the Aryan Vāstu-vidyā, having got it from Brahmā, the Creator of the universe. In Hindu mythology Brahmā and Viśvakarmā go together. From the architectural point of view the couple is complementary to each other. Brahmā is the Sthāpaka Āchārya, Viśvakarmā is the Sthapati Architect. One conceives, the other executes. Every creation is a planning before-hand. Creation too is a pre-planned act—the Mānasī Sṛṣṭi. Even today before building-operations are started, the planning—engineering or overseeing—is an essential prerequisite. Origin of the Vāstu-śāstra from the Primordial Being, the Pitāmaha, is a very interesting story and the readers are referred to the Vol. I. of these studies.

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Though Viśvakarmā's work is the most popular treatise, there seems to have been more than one title to his work—Viśvakarma-prakāśa, Viśvakarma-vāstu-śāstra, Viśvakarmīya-śilpa, Viśvakarmīya-śilpa-śāstra. The one designated as Viśvakarma-prakāśa and published by Venkaṭeśvara Press, Bombay (1952 sambat), is devoted purely to astronomical-cum-astrological and architectural matters ; while the other bearing the title Viśvakarmīya-śilpa, is chiefly sculptural. Dr. Tarapada (cf. A study of Vāstu-vidyā) takes both these treatises separately and thinks of them belonging to the two different schools of Vāstu-vidyā—Nāgara and Drāvida. In my opinion it is not right. In my own view the two versions form in fact the complete treatise, and this contention is supported by Dr. Acharya (H. A. I. A. P 169) also.

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A special feature of this latter compilation namely Viśvakarmīya-śilpa is that it is written in Tāntric style, having Śiva as its narrator. The contents are classified under the following 17 chapters :

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(*i*) Viśvakarmotpattih karma-viśeṣa-bhedena vyavahṛta-takṣaka-vardhakyādiśabda-vyutpattisca.

(*ii*) Satyādi-yuga-jāta-naroccatā-pramāṇam, yajñīya-kāṣṭhena prastareṇa va deva-pratimā-nirmāṇe mānādi.

(*iii*) Takṣakasya garbhādhānādi-samskāra-kathanam, garbhotpatti-kathanādi ca.

(*iv*) Śiva-lingādi-pratiṣṭhārtham sabhā-nirmāṇādi

(*v*) Graha-pratimā nirmāṇa-pramāṇam, ling-pīṭha-nirmāṇa-pramāṇādi ca.

(*vi*) Ratha-nirmāṇa-vidhi-kathanam.

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