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

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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