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The identity of 惭补测补诲腻苍补惫补, popularly known as the author of Mayamata indicates towards a peculiar combination of mythology and history. According to the mythological tradition Maya was known as a famous 惫腻蝉迟耻办腻谤补 among the group of asuras (诲腻苍补惫补蝉). 

In the internal colophon written at the end of every chapter of Mayamata the name of Maya is distinctly mentioned as the author of the text, e.g. 鈥�

iti mayamate 惫腻蝉迟耻艣膩stre vastuprak膩ro nama 诲惫颈迟颈测辞诲丑测腻测补岣�. 

As per the description of 惭腻苍补蝉腻谤补, at the beginning of the creation of the Universe, the creator 痴颈艣惫补办补谤补谤尘补苍 was born with four faces. His eastern face is known by 痴颈艣惫补-bhu (progenitor of the universe), southern face is known by 痴颈艣惫补-vit (knower of the universe), northern face is named as 痴颈艣惫补stha (resident in the universe) and the western face is known by 痴颈艣惫补sra峁ａ弓ar(creator of the universe).

It is also stated that from the southern face that is 痴颈艣惫补-vit, Maya was born鈥�

purvanane vi艣vakarm膩 j膩yate dak峁�i峁噀 maya岣� |

(M膩nasara, 2.6a.)

Some scholar said that the Maya civilization that is mentioned now a day in the American continent was the civilization of this Maya race. There have been many architects in this caste, who have been called Maya.^[1] The 搁腻尘腻测补苍补, the 惭补丑补产丑腻谤补迟补 and the 笔耻谤腻峁嘺蝉 also referred to the name of Maya as a famous architect. The myths about Maya hardly match with the opinion of scholars like Dagens about Mayamata. According to the tradition, the time of Maya should be placed at the time of the composition of epic and 笔耻谤腻峁嘺蝉, but Dagens claimed that鈥撯�渋ts (Mayamata) drafting of must have been done during the cola 辫别谤颈辞诲.鈥�^[2] According to the Indian historian, this period started in 850 A.D. and extended up to the 11th century A.D. Therefore, it can be concluded that Maya was not an individual person, the word Maya can be connoted as a specific tradition of 惫腻蝉迟耻. Mayamata has a deep association with some very famous 艢补颈惫补 texts like, 碍腻尘颈办腻驳补尘补, 莫艣补苍补艣颈惫补驳耻谤耻诲别惫补辫补诲诲丑测补迟颈. Sometimes in Mayamata we find some verses or passages of 碍腻尘颈办腻驳补尘补. 

From this point of view it can be proclaimed that Mayamata is related with 艢补颈惫补siddhy膩nta tradition. Dagens supported the above view:

[鈥業t is questionable whether one of these two texts has borrowed from the other or whether both have borrowed from a third work but it does not seem possible to determine this at the stage since the editions of the 辫耻谤惫补办补尘颈办腻驳补尘补 in current existence are all at a precritical stage, at best which does not allow for any assessment of the exact value of the text as we know it.鈥橾^[3]

Hence, the current venture has been taken to explore the architectural details of building construction in ancient India as propagated by Mayamata. Therefore, the objectives of the current research are as follows-

a) To sketch the literary tradition of 惫腻蝉迟耻 available in Sanskrit language in India.
b) To determine the place of Mayamata in the technical literature of Sanskrit, particularly in the sphere of 惫腻蝉迟耻vidy膩.
c) To give a detail analytical description of bhavana-苍颈谤尘腻峁嘺 as prescribed by Mayamata.
d) To find out the identity of 惭补测补诲腻苍补惫补.
e) To compare other texts of 惫腻蝉迟耻vidy膩 with 惭补测补尘补迟补鈥檚 view on bhavana鈥�苍颈谤尘腻峁嘺. etc.
f) To configure the relation between the technical aspects of Maya tradition and modern pan Indian architectural method.

Mayamata includes a huge area of architecture, where other than building construction, topics like village architecture, iconography etc. are discussed with minute details. The current research focuses particularly on the topic of building construction only.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Abhaya Katyayana, 痴颈艣惫补karma-辫谤补办腻艣补 (鲍辫辞诲驳丑腻迟补).p-7

[2]:

B.Dagens, Mayamata, vol.1. Introduction, p.xl

[3]:

B.Dagens, Mayamata, vol.1. Introduction, p.xliv.