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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
( 4 )
and possessed knowledge in all departments of Sanskrit. He was rich, healthy and beautiful. After finishing studies he took to Sannyasa, thus showing his indifference to the world. On his demise his invaluable library was dispersed.
Many of the texts by the Sutradhara Maṇḍana had titles ending in Mandana in the sense of decoration' and it is not impossible, that all his works had originally such titles. On the other hand, the learned Kavindracārya knew the Rajavallabha and the Rajavallabha-silpa to be two separate works; perhaps, the one was on Vastu (architecture), while the other was on Silpa (sculpture).
The Rajavallabha-manḍana and some other texts by Mandana, seem to have been very popular. Within two centuries, after compilation, we find copies of his texts deposited in the invaluable library of Kavindracārya From Mewar, the works of Mandana found their way to Benares, the great nerve-centre (Marma-sthana) of Indian culture.
From Benares, Mandana's works probably spread to other places westwards13 as well as eastwards1. Mss. of his works are also met with in the South15, where they might have been easily carried from the Central India. Thus it is evident that Mandana's handbooks on architecture and sculpture, enjoyed considerable popularity with artists and craftsmen.
13. Apparently one of Mandana's works as published with diagrams by Bharati at Baroda, 1891, see P. K. Acharya: Op. cit., p. 103.
14. The Rajavallabha-mandana was published by Raja Radhākānta Deva in his Encyclopaedic Dictionary, Śabda-kalpa-druma. See 'under Silpa-śāstram शिल्पशास्त्रम्.
15. Copious extracts from the Rupa-mandana have been made in T. A. Gopinatha Rao: Elements of Hindu Iconography. Madras.
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