Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c10.s3.2

v1.c10.s3.2

“This four-fold Sthāpatya—(as described in the previous chapter)—Śāstra, Karma, Prajñā and Śīla—is now being described with its eightfold limbs” (45-1). Among them the first and foremost is the settling and forming (Vikalpanā) of the Vāstu-puruṣa. This is the first limb of the body of Hindu Architecture. It is pre-requisite of all architectural work, sacred and domestic, religious and civil. The second limb consists of the planning of town, door-work, laying out of the roads, the planning of fortification, the enclosure, the Prākāra, etc., the aṭṭālaka together with the layout of the lanes, bylanes and the plotting out the whole area of the habitation of men and dedication to gods. The third limb is represented by only one subject—the architecture of Hindu-temple—the Prāsāda, being the foremost planning of Hindu Architecture. The 4th, 5th and 6th are the raising of the Indra’s flag, the Royal palace with its paraphernalia of kingly establishments, the planning of the residential houses castewise and professionwise respectively. The seventh limb, spoken of, is the measurement of a sacrificer’s shed, the sacrificial altar and the procedure of the Koṭihoma. The eighth, the last one, represents the planning of the forts and camps of kings, the encampments (ibid 2-9).