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The Gupta age marks the beginning of special treatises on architecture, as far as the extant Indian works on Architecture are concerned. Indian architecture is classified into three broad divisions of styles namely, Nagara, Dravida and Vesara. In its intitial stage of development Indian Architecture did not bother about watertight classification of styles as suggested above. The Sulbha-sutras and the manifold injunctions found in Grhya and Srauta Sutras regarding the Puja-Vastu-the altars and Sadas, their layouts, proportionate measurements and materials etc. formed the guiding code for the sthaptis and the sthapakas of the old. But as time passed and current of architecture took an independent course it become an independent theme for producing independent manuals of the Sastra and there was a great line of Acharyas forthcoming. The whole code was Brahmanised and our great gods Siva, Visnu and Brahma were made primary source from whence the Vastuvidya i. e. the science of architecture is revealed. No divine lore could remain unpassed to the Asuras hence the two schools flourished side by side. Thus their course of Vastu-vidya gave rise to two distinct styles namely Dravida and Nagara, the former belonging to the school of Maya flourishing in South beyond the Vindhyas and latter rising from the school of Visvakarma 102 Laghu-Silpa-Jyotis-Sara, 3-5 103. Ch. II. 1-4 104. Ch. VII, 36-49. 105. Part II Ch. II, Section VII

260 The Structural Temples of Gujarat having flourished in the Northern India. So when we study the works of architecture both architectural i. e. treatises on Vastu and Silpavidya and non-architectural like Puranas, Agamas etc. we are bound to come to conclusion that there were at least two distinct and different architectural traditions in our land. Further, it should be noted that the devotional architecture is the outcome of Bhakti-cult founded by the Puranas and Agamas. The Pauranic Dharma being more popular in the Uttarapatha, enjoined the consecretion of gods and goddesses in the Devalayas, with Vapi, Kupa, Tadagas as the most virtious act. Similarly what the Puranas did for the north, the Agamas did for the south. These two relegious traditions corresponding gave rise, to two architectural traditions in the works on the Vastu-vidya, the science of architecture, 106 Many of the works are mainly devoted to the Nagara form of Indian architecture while some other works are mainly concerned with the Dravidian form. As for the temples in Gujarat they hardly contain any example of the Dravidian form. Hence works on the Dravidian form of architecture will be of no avail in our investigation. We may, therefore, confined ourselves to work on the Nagara form, which also generally contain a short account of the other forms as well. 106. Many of the Silpa manuscripts are copied by the Silpis who better knew to handle the construction itself than to write. These manuscripts contain the indispensable theoretical and practical prescriptions about the construction of houses, palaces, temples fortifications and Idols. For every silpi these are the treasures which were bequeathed by father to son from generation to generation. For him the instructions must be absolute correct irrespective of an accuracy as to grammer, praseology and orthography, which were of subordinate importance to him. This was the reason or source of corruption which we find in these manuscripts. Further the development of ideas and working methods also helped to be obsolete some of the traditional principles, which gradually became unintelligible. These are the some of the reasons why the modern manuscripts display a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings in exposition of the true principles. In

Sources of Architectural Canons 261 The prominent exponant of the Nagara school of Vastu (architecture) and Silpa (sculpture) is Visvakarma.