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

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(āśīrvacanam), the definition of the subject-matter (vastu-nirdeśa)
etc., in the regular Kāvya style.
An attempt may be made to render these important passages
back into rhythmic Sanskrit, from the German translations in
Dr. B. Laufer's admirable edition of the text—the original
version of which is probably lost, though a Tibetan translation
of it has fortunately been preserved²⁹ᵇ.
आदौ चन्द्रमसं वन्दे महादेवं ततः परं चूडायामिन्दुशकलं मूर्ध्नि यः संबिभर्ति वै ।
विष्णुमथेन्द्रं सूर्यं जलाधिपाग्नी तथा वायुं ततोऽभिवन्देऽहमेष प्रजापति-विश्वकर्माणौ ॥
ततः परं नग्नजितं पादयोः प्रणतोऽस्म्यहं सर्वानपि तथाचार्यान् कृताञ्जलिपुटैः करैः ।
यथानुक्रमतश्चित्रशास्त्राणां वर्णमाश्रितं यथामति यथाशक्ति मया किञ्चित् प्रवक्ष्यते ॥
सम्यक् परीक्ष्य संक्षेपान्मतानि विश्वकर्म-प्रह्लाद-नग्नजितानां
ततो धीमतां कृते हि जिज्ञासूनां समासाच्चित्रलक्षणं मया उक्तम् ।
तेनाधुना शृण्वन्तु तच्चित्रलक्षणं हि मत्तः पण्डितानां धियाम् अये ! ये निष्णाताः ।
The Matsya-purāṇam, the Agni-purāṇam, the Viśvakarma-
prakāśa and the Bṛhat-saṃhitā, probably have handed down the
northern tradition of their times.
The Mānasāra³⁰ is the most complete architectural treatise
29b. These conjectural reconstructions unsatisfactory though, they
might be of interest to those to whom the German and Tibetan editions
are inaccessible or not sufficiently intelligible.
30. P. K. Acharya : Mānasāra. Chapters lxviii, lxx. i, ii ;
also, Ibid : Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-śilpa-śāstra, pp.
164ff. "...Evidences are undoubtedly more authenticated and substantial
...regarding the connection of the Mānasāra with Matsya-purāṇa (450 A.D.)
on the one hand and the Bṛhat-saṃhitā (550 A.D.) on the other....We shall
be justified in placing the Mānasāra before the Bṛhat-saṃhitā and some-
where close to the Matsya-purāṇa. In any event, we venture to hold that
the evidences...warrant the extension of the period of Mānasāra from 500
to 700 A. D." P. K. Acharya : Op. cit., p. 198.