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

[ 25 ]
it, a forgery. Whether the remnants of an old Arthaśāstra have
been preserved in the Śukranīti or not must be investigated first.’
The Śukranīti in an older form may be anterior to the Matsya-P.,
which mentions Śukrācārya, as one of the eighteen authorities
of architecture—Vāstuśāstropadeśakas.⁷³ The Śukranīti deals
with architecture and sculpture in chapter IV, sections 4 and 6.
There are frequent and casual references to both these subjects
in other portions of the treatise as well.⁷⁴
‘Varāhamihira’s Bṛhatsaṃhitā is one of the most important
works of the Indian literature. It is a principal work on natural
Astrology. As this subject is of importance in all departments of
life, all the varied branches of the public and the private
life have been treated in the work. Hence it partakes to some
extent of an encyclopædic character and is concerned with
numerous other arts and sciences’.⁷⁵
Thus the Bṛhatsaṃhitā, usually classed under the astro-
nomical and astrological treatises, is but a semi-Purāṇa, dealing, as
it does, with heterogeneous subjects like the Purāṇas themselves.
... In this treatise there are but five chapters devoted to both
architecture and sculpture. But the subjects have been treated with
a master hand. ... Quite consistently with his sense of proportion
Varāhamihira devotes only one chapter to sculpture, in which
details of images are described in a scientific manner which is
the Śukranīti, B. K. Sarkar based The Positive Background of Hindu
Sociology I, II (The Sacred Books of the Hindus, Allahabad)”.
73. Matsya-Purāṇam, (Ānandāśram Ed., 1907), chap. 252. See Note
25. supra.
74. P. K. Acharya : A Dictionary of Hindu Arch., p. 799 ; also see
Śukranīti Text ; and the Engl. Transl. by B. K. Sarkar.
75. M. Winternitz : Geschichte III, p. 567.
Bṛhatsaṃhitā :—Ed. by H. Kern (Bibliotheca Indica) ; Ed. by Mm.
Sudhākara Dvivedin with the Commentary of Bhaṭṭotpala (Vizianagram
Sanskrit Series) ; Transl. for the greater part by H. Kern. JRAS.
(1870—75). Complete Translation by Chidambaram Iyer (Madura, 1884).
D—4