Devta Murtiprakaranam tatha Rupmandanam

Author(s): Upendramohan Sankhyatirtha
Publisher: Metropolitan Printing and Publishing House Limited

Page 46

( 34 ) dealing, with a number of topics, if not the whole, of the Pāñcarātra system.86
“... ...of the principal subjects treated in the Pāñcarātra, the scientific student will probably find it best to distinguish the following ten :
(1) Philosophy ; (2) Linguistic occultism (mantra-śāstra); (3) Theory of magical figures (yantra-šāstra) ; (4) Practical magic (māyā-yoga); (5) Yoga ; (6) Temple-building (manlira-nirmann); (7) Image-making (pratisthā-vidhi); (8) Domestic observances (samskāra, āhnika); (9) Social rules (varnāśrama-dharma); (10) Public festivals (utsava)*7.”
An examination of the principal subjects, treated in the Pāñcarātras, will easily show the close relationship of many of these, with the Vāstu and the silpa-śāstras.
In the evolution and the development of the Building, the Plastic and the Graphic Arts of India, --- the Vedānga Jyotişa and the Kalpa (Gulva) Sūtras, the Saiva Agamas and the sakta Tantras, the Puranas and the Pancarātras, etc., have, among the Brāhmaṇic Texts, made similar contributions.
Even the Jainas and the Buddhists, did not lag far behind. It will, however, be out of place to make any discussion of the latter sources, here.
86. Otto Echrader, Op. cit. pp, 2-3 ff. 87. Ibid. p. 26.