Devta Murti Prakaran

Author(s): Vinaysagar, Bhagvandas Jain, Rima Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharati Academy

Page 13

(Eleven)
original Sanskrit text, along with a Hindi and English translation. The Hindi translation is by the late Pandit Bhagwandas Jain, while the English one has been attempted by me. A few photographs of idols and structures from Kumbhalgarh - fabricated according to Mandan's instructions - accompany the text to illustrate the written descriptions provided in the Devata-Murti-Prakarnam. The photography was carried out with the kind permission of the Archaeological Survey of India, which is gratefully acknowledged here. In addition, a small number of pen-&-ink drawings made by the late Pt. Jain have been used to illustrate this work. The translation of certain stanzas into Hindi, left partially finished upon the demise of Pt. Bhagwandas Jain, has been completed by Mahopadhyaya Shri Vinay Sagar.
As Director of the Prakrit Bharati Akademi, Jaipur, Mahopadhyaya Vinay Sagar-ji has also seen to the overall production of this book, for which I am most grateful to him. The Prakrit Bharati Akademi, a non-profit non-governmental organisation, has emerged as an important cultural centre over the last decade or so. It has published more than a hundred books, to date, on Iridian history, traditions, religions, and other
subjects (some of them being translations of original manuscripts), . as part of its objectives of bringing out the different facets of
Indian cultural life for the benefit of modern scholars and general readers alike. .
I would also like to thank Shri D.R. Mehta, the motivating force behind the establishment Prakrit Bharati Akademi, for entrusting me the task of translating the Devata-Murti-Prakaram, following discussions with my sculptor-mother, Usha Rani. With fifty years of sculpting behind her, my mother proved an invaluable source of knowledge about various technical aspects. She also read through the entire translation before it went to the press. The rest of the Hooja Family - father Bhupendra Hooja, brother Rakesh, sister-in-law Meenakshi, and nephews Rajat and Rakshat - as always, provided listening ears and critical comments too during the arduous task of translation between 1987-89 when the