Essay name: Architectural data in the Puranas
Author:
Sharda Devi
Affiliation: Himachal Pradesh University / Department of History
This essay studies ancient Indian architectural science as found in technical treatises and the Puranas, with special reference to the Matsya, Garuda, Agni and Bhavishya Puranas. These texts detail ancient architectural practices, covering temple and domestic designs, dimensional specifications, and construction rules.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
12 (of 40)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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cosmography, astronomy, sÄmudrikÄsÄstra, medicine, 12 grammar,
ratnaprÄ«ksÄ, nÄ«ti and dharmÄÅ›astra, etc. 49 The GP is also named often the
huge bird, Garuda, the son of KÄÅ›yapa or TÄrká¹£a (after whom it has the
name TÄrká¹£ya PurÄṇa) and VinatÄ (therefore named as Vainateya by
VÄyu). 50 The GP has three KÄndas: acÄra or karmakÄṇá¸a, pretakanda and
brahmakÄnda. Out of these the second is the real GP. These three
KÄṇá¸as are independent. PretakÄṇá¸a is the chief and early parts of the
GP. It is probable that the acÄrakÄṇda is added afterwards by about ninth.
century AD. Brahmakanda is still later as it has the influence of the
BhÄgavata PurÄṇa, still it is not later than the tenth century AD. Sternbuch
has conclusively proved that 390 verses pertaining to law and politics
collected in the chapters from 108 to 115 of this PurÄṇa by the name
NitisÄra or Bá¹›haspati SamhitÄ have a close similarity with that of the
CÄṇakyanitiÅ›Ästra. It was translated by a Tibetan translator Rin-Chen
bzan-po in the tenth century AD. So the date of this work would fall in the
eight or ninth century AD. The essence of this work is to be found in the
Brhaspati Samhita of the GP, so the date of this work may be ascribed to
the ninth century AD. Alberuni has referred to it by name, and Bhoja has
cited many ślokas from the work. So its lower limit can be fixed in the tenth
century AD. The GP cannot be earlier than about the middle of the ninth
century AD. It is highly probable that the extant GP was compiled between
AD 850-1000.
