6. Scope and Focus (of the Present Study) and Conclusion

Most of the prominent architectural texts enlisted earlier have been edited and some have been studied elaborately by Indian and foreign scholars. Dr. P. K. Acharya has done an extensive study on the Mānasāra, which is said to be the earliest among the texts of the Southern School. Similarly, the Mayamata has been edited by Mm. T. Ganapati Sastri and translated by Bruno Dagens; and the Śilparatna has been edited by Mm. T. Ganapati Sastri and K. Sambasiva Sastri.

The Viśvakarma Vāstuśāstra has been published with a commentary Pramāṇabodhinī of Śrī Anantakṛṣṇa Bhaṭṭāraka by the Mahārāja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library at Tanjore in 1990. Dr. D. N. Shukla has in two volumes (Hindu Science of Architecture and Hindu Canon of Iconography and Painting, 1960) analysed and presented his study on Bhoja's monumental treatise, the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra. The Aparājitapṛccha of Śrī Bhuvanadevācārya (Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1950), has been edited by P. A. Mankad with a detailed introduction.

The text taken up for the present study is the Kāśyapa Śilpaśāstra which has not yet been critically studied, though many scholars like Dr. P. K. Acharya find similarity between this text and the Mānasāra and the Śilparatna. Generally known by the title of Kāsyapa Śilpaśāstra, this text is also known by the names of Aṃśumadbhedāgama, Kāśyapīya or Aṃśumadkāśyapa.

Like many other Śilpaśāstra texts, the present text in its first part contains the prescriptions for the building of a temple with all the preliminary rituals and the second part deals with the rules for making of images of the deities. The text with 92 chapters, is vast and so this thesis has restricted its study to only the description of Prākāra, Maṇḍapa and Gopuras as in chapters 43-45 of the text.

These three features of the temple have been chosen for study specifically because the Prākāra is inclusive of the Maṇḍapa and is embellished with a Gopura. Also all the three have certain common features that add to the beauty of the structure. Again these features of the temple construction have not been independently studied so far.

Conclusion:

So far, a brief history of Hindu architecture right from the Vedic times, an introduction to temple architecture and their various styles has been clearly presented. Also, a short survey of the Āgamas has been recorded here for the present text under study namely, the Kāśyapa Śilpaśāstra is also known as the Aṃśumatkāśyapa, one of the Śaivāgamas. The forthcoming chapter of the thesis will deal with the author Sage Kāśyapa and the text under study, Kāśyapa Śilpaśāstra.