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

( 37 )
dancing have similarly been glorified⁹¹ although the artists and
craftsmen themselves, curiously enough, occupy only degraded
positions in society.
Thus the preservation of Śilpa Texts in the hands of the
hereditary artists and craftsmen who were looked down upon, was
beset with some difficulty. But mistakes and lapses in the Mss.
are fortunately seldom, errors of commission, and not a few, may
be due to inexpert scribes. Unless and until better readings,
supported by substantial grounds, can be suggested, it is not
allowable to reject altogether the only available texts which bear the
stamp of tradition through a long succession of generations.
It is, therefore, very necessary to sift very thoroughly the apparently
corrupt and contradictory readings with the entire critical apparatus
at our disposal.⁹²
And when there is a great paucity of materials in the form of
Mss., as is the case with the present text Devata-mūrti-
Prakaraṇam, it is necessary to formulate some general laws, or,
to deduce some principles for future guidance, in preparing a critical
edition. Secondly, it is also very urgent to devise ways and
means, for interpreting the texts of Śilpa, when all extraneous aids
are so inaccessible.

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91. Compare Nandikeśvara's Abhinayadarpaṇam (Critical Ed. of the
    Text with Introd., Transl., Notes and Illustrations. By Manomohan
    Ghosh., Cal. Skt. Series, No. V.), [Nāṭyapraśaṁsā], śl. 7b—11a (and Engl.
    Transl.).
    For the Saṅgīta-śāstra etc., also, it is possible to give numerous
    examples, of such eulogy.
92. It would not be, out of place, to compare here, for example,
    the immense help, which the present writer derived, by subjecting
    the apparently confusing readings to Epigraphic and Palaeographic
    Tests, elsewhere, while preparing his edition of the important Śilpa Text :
    The Buddhapratimā-lakṣaṇam. The Sarasvatī Bhavana Sanskrit Texts,
    No. 48. (Benares, 1933).
    Out of a hopeless medley and confused jumble of data, careful scrutiny
    and repeated efforts enabled the present writer, to deduce a number of
    most important principles.