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

( 33 ) from loss of traditions in North India, the Āgneya list of the Pāñcarātra Āgamas is conclusively proved to be authentic. “Now, in the case of the Pāñcarātra, tradition mentions one hundred and eight Saṃhitās, and in a few, texts about this number are actually enumerated. Such lists, coquetting with the sacred number 108, are, of course, open to suspicion.” “The fact, however, that none of the available lists of Saṃhitās, including those which pretend to give 108 names, actually conforms to this number but all of them enumerate either more names or less, is one thing telling in their favour ; and when, as is the case, it can further be shown that a respectable number of the texts enumerated are still available, while not a few of the others are found to be quoted or summarised in the later literature, and that a number of Saṃhitās which are not included in any of the lists, are either extant or quoted—then the value of the latter can no longer be denied. We have, consequently, collated those lists, four in all, and with them a fifth list found in the Agni- Pūrāṇa, and as a result offer the...table in which all the names... have been arranged in alphabetical order.” “The Kapiñjala list...comprises 106 names, the list of Pādma Tantra...112, that of Viṣṇu Tantra...141, that of Haya- śīrṣa Saṃhitā...34, and that found in the 39th adhyāya of Agni (Āgneya)-Purāṇa only 25. A still shorter list, namely that of the apocryphal Nāradīya, has not been taken into account.” The literature of the Pāñcarātras, like other sectarian literatures, falls into two broad divisions comprising respectively of works of inspired or divine origin and of human authorship The latter class,...treats chiefly what are called vidhi and prayoga and consists of digests, commentaries, extracts and studies on special subjects, and the like. The former class,...consists of the Saṃhitās or “compositions” (compendia), that is, metrical works D—5