Vishnudharmottara Purana (Art and Architecture)

by Bhagyashree Sarma | 2021 | 59,457 words

This page relates ‘Review of Literature’ of the study on the elements of Art and Architecture according to the Vishnudharmottara Purana: an ancient text whose third book deals with various artisan themes such as Architecture, Painting, Dance, Grammar, etc. Many chapters are devoted to Hindu Temple architecture and the iconography of Deities and their installation rites and ceremonies.

9. Review of Literature

In the field of Purāṇic literature, the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa can be regarded as a great piece of work as it possesses numerous kinds of subject matters. But only a few works have been done on this work. These works are- Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, third part by Priyabala Shah, which is an English translation of the book Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa; The Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, part III Treatise on Indian Painting and Image-Making Primary Source Edition by Stella Kramrisch and a Hindi Translation of the work Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa by Sri Kapildeva Narayana. Those are basically translated works, some with an introductory note. Among these three editions of the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, the edition of Priyabala Shah is a very good one where the introductory note includes the discussion regarding the date and authorship of the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa as well as an informative section on Painting and Image making. In the edition of Stella Kramrisch, the English translations of the collection of the verses of the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa belonging to painting are found. Moreover, the introduction of Indian painting given by Stella Kramrisch in her edition of the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa is full of information. In the Hindi translated edition of Sri Kapildeva Narayana, the original Sanskrit text of the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa as well as the Hindi translation of it are amalgamated.

Apart from these, some research papers have been written on the basis of this work under the titles of The Paintings at Ajanta executed on the cannons of the Citrasutra of Vishnudharmottarapurana by Vishwajit Singh, The Sarvatobhadra temple of the Vishnudharmottarapurana and the Viṣṇu temple at Deogarh by Alexander Lubotsky, Life and Afterlife of Sādṛśya: Revisiting the Citrasūtra through the Nationalism-Naturalism Debate in Indian Art History by Parul Dave-Mukherji and The Temple of Bashesar Mahadeva at Bajaura: Application of the Vishnudharmottarapurana by Laxman S. Thakur. Also a research work is done on the topic of Society and Culture as reflected in the Vishnudharmottarapurana by Alaka Tiwari in 1993 from Allahabad University for the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy.

From the above discussion it can be said that there is no work in which an analytical research on different Art and Architecture on the basis of the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa has been done so far. Moreover, the treatment of modern relevance of these Art forms and Architecture appears to be a pristine study in this regard.

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