Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c21: Chapter XXX.
Vāstu-śāstra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c21
- Language
- English
Chapter XXX.
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Aśvaśāla—(The Stables for the Horses).
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Nowhere in any other extant work on the Vāstu-Śāstra are such brilliant, beautiful and detailed accounts of the Aśvaśālā given. Aśvaśāla being one of the most important accessory buildings in the royal compound (and the horse being the most dignified royal vehicle) when described by an author, who was himself a king and that king was Bhoja of Dhārā, it is natural that the description should be copious and most upto date. Such is the case in the present chapter. Every detail is charming and hence it is tempting to translate the whole chapter rather than to summarise it.
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An Aśvaśāla should be planned in the very compound of the owner viz. royal compound on the site of Gandharva or Puṣpadanta. Its dimensions vary in its respective varieties of the superior, the middle and the inferior types from 100 Aratnis to 80 and to 60 respectively. Then follow the auspicious places where this structure is to be made onan auspious date with the auspicious wood. A stable for horses should in no case be built on the prohibited sites, nor should prohibited wood be employed, it should be selected with great care.
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In the planning of an Aśvaśāla special care is to be taken regarding its placing in such a manner in the vicinity of the royal palace, that at the time of coming out of the stable, the horses should occupy the left side of the king. It should be in the South of the Queen’s chamber and when the king enters there, neighing should be heard on the right. Aśvaśālas should be built architecturally beautiful with the application of the corridors, windows, arches, Kuḍyas and Nāgadantas. Its gates should be placed either towards, the East or towards the North. Aśvaśālā, according to the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra, is a beautiful specimen of wooden architecture, in which all its component parts, beams, windows, arches, shutters, pillars, etc., etc. are all made of wood in superior craftmanship.
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Then the author proceeds with the details of the several establishments of the shed, such as Yavasthāna (grass-pot) Khādana-koṣṭha (what we call Nānda). Details of the probing of the horses are also given. It is enjoined that every season the stable for horses need be cleaned, the storage and collection of the implements in a horse-stable and other necessary articles are also enumerated.
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Then follow the detailed rules of the bathing, clothing, worship and other daily routine of the horses. Again the rules regarding the fastening of the horses in the quarters of the respective directions are given. Particular rules are also given of the ailing horses and their housing etc. quite separately from the healthy ones for fear of the infection. At the end of the chapter the necessary buildings of the Aśvaśāla are described and they are:—
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1. Store House.
2. Laying-in-Chamber for she-horses.
3. Dispensary.
4. Veterinary hospital.
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The particular directions regarding the placing of these four auxiliary members of the establishment are: they should not contain any śālā, though decorated with Kuḍyas, Prāgrīvas and arches.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
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Āyatana-Niveśa—(The Shrines).
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This chapter requires a special notice. The Āyatana is a bit confusing. It should be taken here in the sense of a shrine the accepted meaning in the literature, though its earlier denotation of a house also was in vogue. By the time of Bhoja, Āyatana, I am sure, must have acquired a meaning of a shrine or temple as is evident from the last verse of this chapter (cf ‘Surabhavanāni’). My interpretation of the word Āyatana in the sense of a shrine is necessitated by a confusing impression created by the contents as prepared by the learned editor Pt. T. Ganapati Sastri who takes this word in both the *senses*. If the word Āyatana is indicative of the royal houses or the accessory royal mansions, the separate treatment of the Palace architecture (inclusive of the accessory buildings and establishments like the queen’s chambers and the residences of the princesses and princes’ etc.) must not have been done in two separate chapters (cf. 15th and 30th). According to my interpretation of the term, Āyatana this chapter deals with the shrine as got built by the devoted servants of the king and beloved members of his family in the same enclosure or compound in which the temples, the Prāsādas have been built by the king himself. This is evident from the very arrangement of this chapter in continuation to the Temple-Architecture.
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(C) Residential Houses.
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CHAPTERS XXXII to XXXVI.
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1. Ekaśālas
2. Dviśālas
3. Triśālas
4. Catuśśālas
5. Pancaśālas and other classifications upto Daśaśālas.
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The contents of all these five chapters have been extensively utilised in the study of house-architecture the Śālā-houses and other buildings. Hence for brevity’s sake I will not repeat them here. It is enough to indicate here that the planning of human dwellings—the residential houses of the middle class people, the poor and the rich cannot be of the same quality, size, dimensions, and richness of material and ornamentation, as the means and purposes of the people belonging to differents trata of society differ in planning a house. Again the house of an ordinary man, a king and a god must also differ. In all the texts this distinction between residential quarters of men of ordinary means and the ostentatious buildings like Harmya, Vimāna or Prāsāda are not maintained. Hence it is one of the chief contributions of the author of this work to present a very big variety of the śālā-houses from one-roomed accommodation to ten-roomed one, suited to the needs and means of all classes of residents. In these chapters not only the broad classifications of the ten types of Śālā-houses, one-roomed to ten-roomed, are made, but their manifold varieties and sub-varieties are also described in detail, together with some of the allied topics relating to the court-yards and other component parts of the residential houses. It is enough here to indicate in brief the number of each type of śālā-houses:
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| 1. | Ēkaśāla | 108 | 50 | As given in the |
| 2. | Dviśāla | 52 | 500 | Aṣṭāṅga. |
| 3. | Triśāla | 72 | 100 | |
| 4. | Catuśśāla | 256 | 841 | |
| 5. | Pañcaśāla | 1025 | | |
| 6. | Saṭṣāla | 4096 | | |
| 7. | Saptaśāla | 18176 | | |
| 8. | Aṣṭaśāla | 65536 | | |
| 9. | Navaśāla | 262.44 | | |
| 10. | Daśaśāla | 1048576 | | |
Cites (1)
- Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā — Vāgbhaṭa, Sanskrit