[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [The Purana Index](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dikshitar-1951) › v1.c3.s5.4 # The Purana Index v1.c3.s5.4 The Purāṇa Index v1.c3.s5.4 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dikshitar-1951.v1.c3.s5.4) There is also an interesting reference to Vaikhānasa. It presupposes an elaborate form of image worship and furnishes details as to the architecture of the temples. The Vaikhānasa sūtra is referred to by the Baudhāyana Dharma Śāstra. In the epoch of the Matsya Purāṇa and very much earlier, the Vaikhānasa school had come to stay and the Pāñcharātra was yet a thing of the future Further the Purāṇa mentions the worship of the moon as an independent deity It is only from the days of Varāhamihira that the worship of the moon came to be merged as it were in that of the sun. Though we have no temples extant solely dedicated to the moon, traces of ancient modes of worship of that deity still linger in the Tamil land, for instance, the Piraiṭoludal or seeing the moon on the third day after the New Moon. There is also an interesting reference to the use of betel leaves. We need not go into other references but we may safely say that the date of the Matsya Purāṇa is probably to be spread over a number of centuries commencing with the 4th century B.C. and ending with the 3rd century A.D. - [Previous: v1.c3.s5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dikshitar-1951.v1.c3.s5.3) - [Next: v1.c3.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dikshitar-1951.v1.c3.s5.5) - [Up: v1.c3.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dikshitar-1951.v1.c3.s5) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dikshitar-1951.v1.c3.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dikshitar-1951.v1.c3.s5.4) · Pramāṇa