Vastu shastra

For the 2004 film, see Vaastu Shastra (film).

Angkor Wat, a Hindu-Buddhist temple and World Heritage Site, is the largest religious monument in the world. This Cambodian temple deploys the same circles and squares grid architecture as described in Indian Vāstu Śastras.[1]

Originating in ancient India, Vastu Shastra (Sanskrit: वास्तु शास्त्र, vāstu śāstra – literally "science of architecture"[2]) is a traditional Hindu system of architecture[3][4] based on ancient texts that describe principles of design, layout, measurements, ground preparation, space arrangement, and spatial geometry.[5] The designs aim to integrate architecture with nature, the relative functions of various parts of the structure, and ancient beliefs utilising geometric patterns (yantra), symmetry, and directional alignments.[6][7]

Vastu Shastra are the textual part of Vastu Vidya – the broader knowledge about architecture and design theories from ancient India.[8] Vastu Vidya is a collection of ideas and concepts, with or without the support of layout diagrams, that are not rigid. Rather, these ideas and concepts are models for the organisation of space and form within a building or collection of buildings, based on their functions in relation to each other, their usage and the overall fabric of the Vastu.[8] Ancient Vastu Shastra principles include those for the design of Mandir (Hindu temples)[9] and the principles for the design and layout of houses, towns, cities, gardens, roads, water works, shops, and other public areas.[5][10][11] The Pandit or Architects of Vastu Shastra are Sthapati, Sūtragrāhin(Sutradhar), Vardhaki, and Takṣhaka.[12]

In contemporary India, states Chakrabarti, consultants that include "quacks, priests and astrologers" fueled by greed are marketing pseudoscience and superstition in the name of Vastu-sastras. They have little knowledge of what the historic Vastu-sastra texts actually teach, and they frame it in terms of a "religious tradition", rather than ground it in any "architectural theory" therein.[13]

  1. ^ R Arya, Vaastu: The Indian Art of Placement, ISBN 978-0892818853
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference narlikar_CUP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Bettina Baumer (2019), Form, Space and Consciousness – Architectural principles in the Vastushastras, in Eloquent Spaces: Meaning and Community in Early Indian Architecture, S. Kaul (Editor), Routledge, Chapter 2, ISBN 9780367225988
  4. ^ Quack, Johannes (2012). Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India. Oxford University Press. p. 119. ISBN 9780199812608. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference pka was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference stellakramrisch76 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference vsgt2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Vibhuti Sachdev, Giles Tillotson (2004). Building Jaipur: The Making of an Indian City. p. 147. ISBN 978-1861891372.
  9. ^ George Michell (1988), The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226532301, pp. 21–22
  10. ^ GD Vasudev (2001), Vastu, Motilal Banarsidas, ISBN 81-208-1605-6, pp. 74–92
  11. ^ Sherri Silverman (2007), Vastu: Transcendental Home Design in Harmony with Nature, Gibbs Smith, Utah, ISBN 978-1423601326
  12. ^ Vibhuti Chakrabarti (2013). Indian Architectural Theory and Practice: Contemporary Uses of Vastu Vidya. Routledge. pp. 3, 2–4. ISBN 978-1-136-77882-7.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference chakrabartip181 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).