रूपमण्डन एवं देवमूर्त्ति-प्रकरणम् (मण्डन सूत्रधार - प्राचीन मूर्तिकला एवं देव-प्रतिमा लक्षण सटीक)

( 13 ) has as yet come under my own observation, is exclusively on the subject of sculpture as connected with the function of statues ; but it is so diffuse, that if we suppose the whole work to be written in a similar style, it must considerably exceed the volume of Mānasāra, the largest at present of my collection.”³⁸ There is also, the Sanatkumāra-vāstuśāstra³⁹, of Sanat- kumāra, who acknowledges his debt to other Ācāryas, among whom are Candra and Yama, Bhārgava, Aṅgiras, Manu, Vyāsa, Bhṛgu. 38. Rām Rāz ; Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus, (London, M. DCCC. xxxiv.) p. 8. “The small portion which has come under my observation of the work called sacalādhicára,—‘the universal authority’, does not furnish sufficient data to form any opinion of the precise time at which it was composed ; and in the section which gives rules for carving statues, “...the only part...seen, I find no mention of the saints...” “who have been admitted among the inferior divinities.” “It is generally believed to have been composed by Agastya, under the auspices of the founder of the Púndya government, a circumstance which, if admitted, would give to this Work a very high antiquity. Mr. Wilson,...places this event three or four centuries before the Christian æra, although in another place he fixes the date of the civilization of the South of India, ten centuries before Christ, but the data on which this conjecture is formed is imperfect. There exists a long list of the princes of the Púndya, and their contemporary Chola and Chéra dynasties, many of whom appear to have reigned long anterior to the Christian æra, and their celebrity to have attracted the notice of Ptolemy. The few facts,...recorded of those dynasties ...are unfortunately inadequate to the formation of...sketch of their history, or to trace their chronology . . ; but the various accounts...of these ancient monarchies, though they usually commence with the earliest ages, and are blended with...fictions, would still afford...proofs of the establishment of these principalities at an earlier period than...hitherto assigned. And as the Mahábhárat, which is believed to have been composed by Vyása, in the beginning of Kaliyug, makes mention of the Púndya and Chola governments, we must give them credit for higher antiquity.” Ràm Ràz, op. cit., p. 10-11. 39. P. K. Acharya : Op. cit., p. 102. For Mss., see Eggeling, III. 3151, 2680 ; Oppert, Vol. I, No. 8239. In Orient. Mss. Libr., Madras, Cat. Vol. XXII, Nos., 13060-13068, there are nine Mss., mostly fragments.