Vastu Sastra (Vol - II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting)

I deem it a privilege and also my duty to write a foreword for D. N. Shukla's book on Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting which forms Vol. IX of the Bharatiya Vastu- sastra Series. Dr. Shukla himself planed out the series and he has already published five volumes of it. Of these as many as four are in Hindi, the fifth one on Hindu Canons of Painting being in English. This shows the bulk and magnitude of the work already done by him and he intends to follow it up by bringing out Volumes on Hindu Canons of Architecture, which will constitute the remainder of the series. It has been possible for this comparatively young scholar to do so much work of this highly technical character for he has combined in him a very intimate knowledge of Sanskrit with a first hand experience about the architectural, iconographic and pictorial remains of ancient and medieval India. This is a combination rarely to be found among scholars engaged in the pursuit of similar studies, and I am sure he will be able to throw much further light on this branch of Indology. I have long been acquainted with the progress of his work and I can say without any hesitation that he has all along been sincere and conscientious in his scholarly researches. His treatment of the carious topics connected with his subject has always been critical and his appraisal of the views of previous writers has been fair and just. I have no doubt that the Government of the Uttar Pradesh and the Government of the Indian Union will extend to him their full patronage in the matter of the publication of his further researches.

It should be emphasized in this connection that he is not only advancing the bounds of our knowledge in this fascinating branch of Indology but he is also enriching the technical side of Hindi literature by writing many of these books in the Rashtrabhasha.

In fine I can only observe that the present work on the Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting is one of considerable merit and I am sure it will receive attention and appreciation from the world of scholars which it so thoroughly deserves.

-- J. N. Banerjea