वास्तु मण्डन (मण्डन सूत्रधार - गृह, राजप्रासाद, दुर्ग एवं नगर-वास्तु सटीक)

xiv Vāstumaṇḍana HIS WORKS 'At least 8 works of Maṇḍana are well reputed. These are by name Prāsāda Maṇḍana, Vāstumaṇḍana, Vāsturājavallabha, Vāstuśāstra, Vāstusāra, Rūpamaṇḍana, Rūpāvatāra and Devatāmūrtiprakaraṇa. The exact date of none of these works is so far known, but a relative chronological position of a few can be ascertained by a comparative appraisal. The Vāsturājavallabha for instance, seems a recast and an abridged one, of the Vāstumaṇḍana; the Vāstusāra is just a summary of either Vāsturājavallabha or the Vāstumaṇḍana' writes M.A. Dhaky in his article, The Vāstuśāstras of Western India. Maṇḍana Sūtradhāra was a connoisseur in architecture as well as in sculpture. He was said to have had been entrusted with the assignment of designing and building the fort of Kumbhalgarh. In Vāstumaṇḍana, we find references of similar forts. In the unique library of Kavindracarya (17ᵗʰ century AD.) some manuscripts on architecture were stored. Among them we find

1. Rājavallabhamaṇḍana (2146)
2. Vāstumaṇḍana (2849)
3. Prāsādamaṇḍana (2150)
4. Rūpamaṇḍana (2151), etc. (GOS No XVII, 1921). The Rājavallabhamaṇḍana and some other texts of Maṇḍana Sūtradhāra fetched tremendous popularity within two centuries. Copies of his work reached Benaras the unanimously revered nerve centre of Indian culture. From Benaras, Maṇḍana's works probably promulgated to other places. His works are now available in Kashmir as well as in Madras, in Baroda and in West Bengal. He must have been looked upon as an authority on this subject in his period. It is evident that his handbooks on architecture and sculpture earned unstinted popularity with artists and craftsmen of the time. Out of his works many have been published and are available, but these books are not critically edited. From his writings it seems that the author is well-versed in a variety of subjects, e.g., principles of architecture, town planning, location of different buildings, tanks etc. environmental science, soil technology, astrology, rituals connected with the starting of the construction, etc. He was not only endowed with unprecedented expertise over the science of architecture and allied branches of learning but also had unplumbed poetic talent. However, his Sanskrit was rather abstruse and esoteric. It appears that sometimes he has jumbled up local terms with Sanskrit language. Since many words are not found in any lexicon of the time hence it is very difficult to execute translation. Words like Sandhipāla, Priyamukha, Viṁśopa, Puradvīpa, Kuḍyadvāra, Gavāṅgāyadi kaṇapāli (p. 47). Jādyakumbha (p. 87), Dhiṅkuli (Ch. 3) are not traceable in the lexicons.