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

[ 19 ] detail. The oldest Śaivāgama extant the (Uttara) Kāmikāgama is probably not older than the 5th or 6th century A. C.⁵³. We owe it entirely to (the religious zeal of) the Buddhists, the conservation, for posterity, of some Śilpa Texts—both Buddhistic and Brahmanical, and perhaps, even Jaina—a few of which are entirely lost in Sanskrit. Wonderfully accurate translations of the Sanskrit versions, for example, of the Works of Ātreya and of Nagnajit, are preserved in the encyclopædic Tibetan compilation Bstan-ḥgyur.⁵⁴ Dr. Berthold Laufer had brought out a critical edition of the Tibetan version of Citralakṣaṇam⁵⁵ ascribed to Nagnajit. Of special importance are some of the original Sanskrit texts, procured from Nepal, mainly through the initiative of the present writer. And by him some of these have been published for the first time. Further information regarding Śilpa works, preserved in Tibetan translation and procured in their original, have also been given, elsewhere, fully, by the present writer.⁵⁶ Besides these, a few Śilpa Texts of purely Buddhistic nature, are preserved, in Ceylon. They are in corrupt Sanskrit surely probably Post-Buddhistic. The most important among them, is the Sāriputra⁵⁷ ascribed to Sāriputra, a direct disciple of the Blessed One. 53. T. A. Gopinatha Rao : Elements of Hindu Iconography. Vol. I, Part I, p. 55. 54. Cordier : Catalogue du Fonds Tibétain de la Bibliothéque Nationale. Bstan-hgyur, Section. Mdo-hgrel Sūtra-vṛtti, Commentary on the sūtras, classed under the general name Śilpa-vidyā-śāstras, p. 474. 55. See Note 29, Supra. 56. Haridas Mitra : The Buddhapratimā-lakṣaṇam with the Com- mentary Vivaraṇī. The Prince of Wales Sarasvatī-bhavana Sanskrit Texts. No. 48. (Benares, 1933). See the Introduction. 57. Through the kind help of Bhadanta Mañjuśrī, very obliging Buddhist Monk who is well grounded in Pāli and Sanskrit, I was able