Sambodhi 2010 Vol 33

Author(s): J B Shah, K M patel
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 47

Vol. XXXIII, 2010
Prāsāda as cosmos
41
remaining unaltered. A still later Māru-Gurjara vāstu compilation-the Ratnatilaka—whose fragment has been recently discovered—has the self-same chapter, but at places phrases obviously aimed at elaboration and amplification of the original text have been included. This has, in fact, ruined the rhythm, upset the balance, marred the restraint and destroyed the layout of the original.
The text of the Vāstuśāstra is simple and pristine, its wordings very apt; in any case preferable to the modified version of the Aparājitaprcchā whose phrase-alterations do not improve upon the original in either content or presentation. It is preferable, even more, to the Ratnatilaka whose graftings are both banal and awkward.
The Sanskrit text of the relevant chapter of the Vāstuśāstra is reproduced at the end. I give in the following pages a translation approximating the intent and sense of the original. Since the Vastusāstra is a work composed in Western India and pertains to the architectural tradition of that region, obtaining in the latter half of the eleventh century, the templemodel before the eyes of the composer must, understandably, have been Western Indian and in the Māru-Gurjara style. The structural details implied and the terminology employed therein are, as a result, of the Western Indian tradition. TRANSLATION :
ON PLACEMENT OF DEITIES INSIDE TEMPLE-MOULDINGS [Visvakarman says:)"
'And listen : Presently I shall dwell on [the subject of] the placement of deities on the prāsāda; 12 [this relates to) their settling in the prāsāda-limbs and to the order that (must be followed.]
"Let Kūrma be in the dharaśilā13 and Varāha in the kharasila;14 and the three spirit clans-the Pannaga-s, the Yaksa-s and the Kimnara-s-be in the three bhitta plinths.15
'Let Nandin rest in the jādyakumbha16 and Hari stay in the kaņālikā.”? And let Ganesa be in the gajapītha18 and the Aśvin-s in the aśvapītha.!Let the 'best among men'20 be present in the narapītha. 21
"Let the earth reside in the khuraka hoof22 and Srstī pervade the kumbhaka23 up to the limits of the latter's peripheral projections; and let the three Samdhyā-524 be installed (on the kumbha faces] at the three bhadra25 offsets. May Gauri settle in the kalaba torus and Kubera in the antarapatra recess. Let Gandharva-s enter