The development of Vāstu

Mon, 03/08/2010

Vastu Shastra, the age-old traditional practice of architectural alignment, originates in the Sthapatya Veda, a part of the Atharva Veda (one of the four Vedas) and is one of the eminent features of Vedic heritage. Like all the Vedic sciences (such as Ayurveda, Jyotisha etc) this system was produced from the minds of rishis (self-realized sages) who had cultivated the ability to observe nature at its finest level. The concepts of Vastu were transferred to Tibet, South East Asia and finally to China and Japan where it provided the base for the development of what we now known as Feng Shui. It is difficult to pinpoint the historicity of Indian traditions because of their oral origin. These traditions have given more importance to the core teachings rather than to their historical records. Consequently, little is known about the age of the treatise and the personal lives of the authors. Notwithstanding these problems, the richness of the building and design tradition of Vastu cannot be denied. Till about twenty years ago this traditional science of building design and spatial configuration was called by its full name - Vāstu Shilpa Shastra. Vāstu consists of both the space and what is contained in the space while shilpa refers to the form. Therefore this subject traditionally dealt with all aspects of object-making and form creation. This included not only all types of buildings, settlements and villages or cities, furniture, but also chariots and other vehicles, vessels and containers, jewellery, swords and other implements of war, agricultural implements and religious and ornamental sculpture. There were five broad divisions in the traditional community of the designers who dealt with the major activities listed above: they were the

• manu or blacksmith
• mayan or carpenter
• twastha or metal worker
• shilpi or temple designer and
• viswagyan or jeweller/goldsmith

References to Vastu Shastra can also be found in the Mahabharata. The epic narrates of when kings were invited to the city of Indraprastha, for the Rajasuya Yagna of King Yuddhistira, a number of houses were built, all of which followed Vastu guidelines. These houses were free from obstructions and had big compounds with great walls. The symmetry of various elements required for the construction of the palace were also taken into consideration. Even the mayasabha of the Mahabharata was built according to the ancient principles of Vastu Shastra. 
Vastu finds mention in Ramayana as well. The construction of the holy city of Ayodhya, where Lord Rama was born and ruled, shared a similarity with the plan written in the great architectural text Manasara. Even the Ramsetu of Ramayana was based on Vastu principles. Since the science goes far back to the times of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna there are many interesting mythological stories concerning the origin of Vaastupurush (the deity). Buddhist literature also makes numerous mentions of buildings based on Vastu. It is said that Lord Buddha used to deliver discourses on architecture and he was very much conscious of the construction of the buildings in order. There is a mention of various viharas, temples, houses, buildings in the various Buddhist texts, based on vastu. 
 The principles of Vedic architecture can and have been applied for town planning and design of vehicles and furniture. In the ancient civilizations of Mohenjodarro (Indus valley civilization) and Harappa; the cities were found to be laid out according to the principals of Vaastu shastra. From ancient literature, it is found that that the construction of various temples and architectures like temples and palaces was based on Vastu only. The Vaastu temples of India and other places are the pure expression of laws of the universe. The location and construction of the famous Balaji Temple, the most prosperous in India, are all according to Vaastu.