Devta Murtiprakaranam tatha Rupmandanam

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

Page 50

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In close analogy to the rules of interpretations, the Paribhashas of Vyakarana and Mimāmsā Sāstras, we must formulate some rules, for these Silpa Texts, too.
As the (Silpa) Vastu Sastras are technical and obscure in language, no violent corrections or half-hazard emendations of texts are warrantable. Similar is the case with the Tantrik and Kindred Texts.
Some of the first rules, that should be made, may be as
follows:
(a) Not a single syllable should be ommited or even a half, in the (Silpa) Vastu and the Tantrik Texts.
मात्रालाघवो नाऽनुमन्तव्यो वास्तु-शिल्प-तन्त्रशास्त्रादिषु ।
(b) As in the Mīmāmsā Śāstra, we should try to account for and harmonise any apparent contradictions. When some of the texts are really contradictory, they may be considered to be due to differences in recensions, sections or topics.
सति भिन्नवाक्यत्वे शाखाभेदः प्रकरणभेदो विषयभेदो वाऽवगन्तव्यः ।
(c) Corrections should be reduced to the minimum e. g., like addition of an Aksara, as a-kāra or anusvāra.
स्तोकमात्रा संशुद्धिः । योगोऽकाराऽनुस्वारादीणाम् ।
(d) For determining the correct readings not only the metrical and the grammatical considerations should be regarded as important but also the Epigraphic data are equally valuable. पाठनिर्णये छन्दोव्याकरणवत् प्रामाण्यं लिपिशास्त्रस्य ।
Besides these four main principles, other important ones might suggest themselves or be evolved.
Now, we must turn back to the important question of the interpretation of texts. As has been stated before, there is a great paucity of aids to explanation. Commentaries, notes, so far as both the (Silpa) Vastu and the Tantra Sastras are concerned, are