The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c14.s4: Śilpaśāstras
The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c14.s4
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Śilpaśāstras
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Most of the *Śilpaśāstras*, available in manuscript or in print, belong really to this period, nay, to its latter half, say, to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A few are being enumerated in the following statement.
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Maṇḍana (c. 1525) wrote *Rājavallabhamaṇḍana* (architecture)⁸ The author was an inhabitant of Udaypur.
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⁸ Edited with Gujarati translation by *Narayan Bharati Yasavanta, Bharati*, Baroda, 1891.
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By the sixteenth century the masters of *vāstu-vidyā* were known to be more numerous than the eighteen of the *Matsya-Purāṇa* as indicated in the period from Harṣa to Hemādri. The *Todarānanda* mentioned the following⁹ authorities:
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⁹ B. B. Dutt: *Town Planning in Ancient India* (Calcutta 1925), p. 17.
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1. Varāhamihira,
2. Chyavana,
3. Kāśyapa,
4. Vriddhagarga,
5. Utpala,
6. Māṇḍavya
7. Bharadvāja,
8. Vridhhavaśiṣṭha,
9. Lalla.
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Śrīkumāra's *Śilparatna* is a systematic and comprehensive treatise of large size in Sanskrit verse dealing not only with the construction of houses, villages and other allied things but also with iconography and things connected therewith. The last chapter deals with painting. The author was an inhabitant of Kerala in South India and may have flourished in the sixteenth century, as suggested by Gaṇapati Śāstri, the editor of the text.¹⁰
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¹⁰ Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, 1922.
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The author of the *Manuṣyālayachandrikā*¹¹ was an inhabitant of Kerala in South India. He acknowledges his debt to Nārāyaṇa's *Tantrasamuchchaya* (c. 1450). The first chapter deals with the examination of the soil, the second with the auspicious days, etc., the third with measurements, the fourth with classes of buildings and rooms. Out-houses, wells and tanks also have been discussed in the treatise which is entirely in verse.
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¹¹ Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, 1917.
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Viśvakarmā wrote *Bhūvanapradīpa*.¹² The text is partly in Sanskrit verse and partly in Oriya prose. It deals with temple architecture.
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¹² N. K. Bose: *Canons of Orissan Architecture* (Calcutta 1932).
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In the printed edition use has been made of five manuscripts in Sanskrit, which happen to be different recensions of *Bhūvanapradīpa*.¹³ The two other manuscripts used are copies of a book, entitled *Śilpipothi* in Oriya, which deals with the erection of thatched huts. Certain general matters regarding the selection of building sites, the classification of soils etc., are common to both the treatises. But the *Bhūvana-pradīpa* specialized in the architecture of temples. All the manuscripts appear to be quite recent in language and style.
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¹³ Bose, p. 5.
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An Oriya treatise entitled *Śilpaśāstra*¹⁴ is already in print. The author is supposed to have been Bauri Mahārāṇā.
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¹⁴ Published by Mohan Sahu (Cuttack fourth edition 1923).
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Among the works attributed to Viśvakarman is to be found in Gujarat the manuscript of the *Aparājita vāstu śāstra*,¹⁵ an architectural treatise.
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¹⁵ *Catalogue of Sanskrit Mss. contained in the private libraries of Gujarat, Kathiawad, Kach, Sindh and Khandesh* edited by G. Bühler, (Bombay 1872), p. 276.
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A treatise dealing with aviaries as well as houses is the *Pakṣimanuṣyālayalakṣaṇa*.¹⁶
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¹⁶ *List of Sanskrit Mss. in the private libraries of South India* edited by G. Oppert, Vol. II, p. 371.
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A treatise on tanks and wells is the *Kūpādijalasthānalakṣaṇa*, of which a manuscript is available in Travancore.
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A treatise on painting is the *Chitrasūtra*.¹⁷ Another work on the same subject is called *Chitrabhārata*.¹⁸
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¹⁷ Aufrecht: *Catalogus Catalogorum* (Leipzig), Vol. I. p. 187.
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¹⁸ Monier Williams *Sanskrit Dictionary*.
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A work on sculpture is known as *Tārālakṣaṇa*, another as *Mūrtti-dhyāna*.¹⁹
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¹⁹ Aufrecht, Vol .I. pp. 229, 464.
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Treatises on gems and precious stones are to be found under various names, e.g.,²⁰
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²⁰ Oppert, Vol. I., p. 478, Vol. II. p. 320; Aufrecht, Vol. I. p. 281, Vol. II. pp. 26, 138.
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1. *Ratnalakṣaṇa*
2. *Ratnaparīkṣā*
3. *Navaratnaparīkṣā*
4. *Ratnadīpikā* by Chaṇḍeśvara.
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The tradition of Hindu positive thinking in regard to the arts and crafts has then come down to our own times.